rs, ill health, and excessive labour, but that
since the delegates insisted upon his renomination, he acquiesced in
their choice.[1010]

[Footnote 1007: "The nomination of Horace Greeley for elector-at-large
is a bitter pill. The Weed men make no secret that Fenton's name is
the only thing that will save the ticket."--New York _Herald_,
September 8.]

[Footnote 1008: Held at Albany on September 14.]

[Footnote 1009: New York _Herald_, September 14, 1864.]

[Footnote 1010: _Ibid._, September 16.]

Seymour's action was variously interpreted. Some pronounced it tricky;
others, that he declined because he feared defeat.[1011] But there was
no evidence of insincerity. He wanted the office less in 1864 than he
did in 1862. It had brought labour and anxiety, and no relief from
increasing solicitude was in sight if re-elected. But his friends,
resenting the New York delegation's action in withholding from him its
support for President, determined to be avenged by renominating him
for governor. They knew that Dean Richmond, whose admiration for the
Governor had not been increased by the latter's performance at
Chicago, wanted a candidate of more pronounced views respecting a
vigorous prosecution of the war, and that in his support of Allen he
had the convention well in hand. Wisely distrusting the Regency,
therefore, they worked in secret, talking of the honour and prestige
of a complimentary vote, but always declaring, what Seymour himself
emphasised, that the Governor would not again accept the office. Not a
misstep left its print in the proceedings. Before the chairman put the
motion for his renomination, a delegate from Oneida, rising to
withdraw the name, was quieted by the assurance that it was only
complimentary. An Albany lieutenant of Dean Richmond, obtaining the
floor with the help of a stentorian voice, began to block the
movement, but quickly subsided after hearing the explanation from a
delegate at his side that it was only complimentary. When the motion
had carried, however, and the Oneida gentleman began fulfilling the
Governor's directions, came the cry, "Too late, too late. We have
nominated the candidate!" So perfectly was the _coup d'etat_ arranged
that the prime mover of the scheme was appointed chairman of the
committee to wait upon the Governor. Afterwards people recalled, with
a disposition to connect Seymour with this master-stroke in politics,
that he had never declined by letter, and that the reas