e genius of
Hamilton, the prescient gifts of Jay, and the skill of Burr to marshal
men for selfish purposes, but he was at home in debate with the ablest
men of his time, a master of sarcasm, of trenchant wit, and of
felicitous rhetoric.

[Footnote 82: "The tall and graceful figure of Chancellor Livingston,
and his polished wit and classical taste, contributed not a little to
deepen the impression resulting from the ingenuity of his argument,
the vivacity of his imagination, and the dignity of his
station."--Chancellor Kent's address before The Law Association of New
York, October 21, 1836. George Shea, _Life of Alexander Hamilton_,
Appendix.]

Livingston's candidacy for governor was clearly a dash for the
Presidency. He reasoned, as every ambitious New York statesman has
reasoned from that day to this, that if he could carry the State in an
off year, he would be needed in a presidential year. This reasoning
reduces the governorship to a sort of spring-board from which to vault
into the White House, and, although only one man in a century has
performed the feat, it has always figured as a popular and potent
factor in the settlement of political nominations. George Clinton
thought promotion would come to him, and Hamilton inspired Jay with a
similar notion, although it is doubtful if the people ever seriously
considered the candidacy of either; but Livingston, sanguine of better
treatment, was willing voluntarily to withdraw from the professional
path along which he had moved to great distinction, staking more than
he had a right to stake on success. In his reckoning, as the sequel
showed, he miscalculated the popularity of Jay as much as Hamilton did
that of George Clinton in 1789.

The Chancellor undoubtedly believed the tide of Federalism, which had
been steadily rising for six years, was about to ebb. There were
sporadic indications of it. Perhaps Livingston thought it had already
turned, since Republicans had recently won several significant
elections. Two years before DeWitt Clinton and his associates had
suffered defeat in a city which now returned four assemblymen and one
senator with an average Republican majority of more than one thousand.
This indicated that the constant talk of monarchical tendencies, of
Hamilton's centralising measures, and of the court customs introduced
by Washington and followed by Adams, was beginning to influence the
timid into voting with Republicans.

But counteracting influence