Seymour. Fenton's vote exceeded Lincoln's by 1,544. "We believe
this the only instance," said the _Tribune_, "in which a Republican
candidate for governor polled a heavier vote than that cast for our
candidate for President at the same election."[1026] The Legislature
was largely Republican, and the twenty congressmen, a gain of five,
included Roscoe Conkling and John A. Griswold, an intrepid, energetic
spirit--the very incarnation of keen good sense. Like Erastus Corning,
whom he succeeded in Congress, Griswold was a business man, whose
intelligent interest in public affairs made him mayor of Troy at the
age of twenty-eight. In 1862 he carried his district as a Democrat by
over 2,000 majority, but developing more political independence than
friend or foe had anticipated, he refused to follow his party in war
legislation, and with Moses F. Odell, a Democratic colleague from
Brooklyn, boldly supported the Thirteenth Amendment. This made him a
Republican.

[Footnote 1026: New York _Tribune_, January 18, 1869.]

To this galaxy also belonged Henry J. Raymond. He had come into
possession of great fame. His graceful and vigorous work on the
_Times_, supplemented by his incisive speeches and rare intelligence
in conventions, had won many evidences of his party's esteem, but with
a desire for office not less pronounced than Greeley's[1027] he coveted
a seat in Congress from a district which gave a Tammany majority of
2,000 in 1862. To the surprise of his friends he won by a plurality of
386. It was the greatest victory of the year, and, in the end, led to
the saddest event of his life.

[Footnote 1027: Apropos of Greeley's desire for office, Waldo M.
Hutchins when in Congress in 1879 told Joseph G. Cannon, now the
distinguished speaker of the House of Representatives, that in
September, 1864, during a call upon Greeley, the latter exhibited a
letter from Lincoln two days old, inviting him to the White House.
Greeley, mindful of his efforts to substitute another candidate for
Lincoln, said he would not reply and should not go, but Hutchins
finally gained consent to represent him. Hutchins reached Washington
very early the next morning, and the President, although clad only in
undershirt and trousers, received him and began enlarging upon the
importance of a re-election, suggesting that in such event Seward
would enjoy being minister to England, and that Greeley would make an
admirable successor to Benjamin Franklin, the first