, Vol. 1, p. 290.]

[Footnote 67: _Ibid._, p. 292.]

During these days of excitement, Jay conducted himself with remarkable
forbearance and dignity. It was the poise of Washington. "The
reflection that the majority of electors were for me is a pleasing
one," he wrote his wife; "that injustice has taken place does not
surprise me, and I hope will not affect you very sensibly. The
intelligence found me perfectly prepared for it. A few years more will
put us all in the dust, and it will then be of more importance to me
to have governed myself than to have governed the State."[68] This
thought influenced his conduct throughout. When armed resistance
seemed inevitable, he raised his voice in opposition to all feeling.
"Every consideration of propriety forbids that difference in opinion
respecting candidates should suspend or interrupt that natural good
humour which harmonises society, and softens the asperities incident
to human life and human affairs."[69] At a large dinner on the 4th of
July, Jay gave the toast: "May the people always respect themselves,
and remember what they owe to posterity;" but after he had retired,
the banqueters let loose their tongues, drinking to "John Jay,
Governor by voice of the people," and to "the Governor (of right) of
the State of New York."

[Footnote 68: _Ibid._, p. 289.]

[Footnote 69: _Ibid._, p. 293.]

Clinton entered upon his sixth term as governor amidst vituperation
and obloquy. He was known as the "Usurper," and in order to reduce him
to a mere figurehead, the Federalists who controlled the Assembly, led
by Josiah Ogden Hoffman, the brilliant New York lawyer, now proposed
to choose a new Council of Appointment, although the term of the old
Council had not yet expired. The Constitution provided that the
Council should hold office one year, and that the Governor, with the
advice of the Council, should appoint to office. Up to this time such
had been the accepted practice. Nevertheless, the Federalists, having
a majority of the Assembly, forced the election of a Council made up
entirely of members of their own party, headed by Philip Schuyler, the
veteran legislator and soldier, and then proceeded to nominate and
confirm Egbert Benson as a judge of the Supreme Court. Clinton, as
governor and a member of the Council, refused to nominate Benson,
insisting that the exclusive right of nomination was vested in him.
Here the matter should have ended under the Constitution as Jay
inte