tion should be recognised involved the
whole party, and the audience assembled surpassed any previous
attendance. The presence of a multitude of federal officials as
delegates and leaders indicated that the Administration at Washington
also took a deep interest. There was much doubt and solicitude as to
the result, for no opportunity had been given the factions to measure
strength since the convention of 1870. The nomination of a minority
candidate for speaker of the Assembly in the preceding January had
been claimed as a Fenton victory, but the selection of James W.
Husted, then at the threshold of a long and conspicuous career, did
not turn on such a hinge. Husted had strength of his own. Although
never to become an orator of great power and genuine inspiration, his
quickness of perception, coupled with the manners of an accomplished
gentleman, brilliant in conversation and formidable in debate, made
him a popular favourite whose strength extended beyond faction. Now,
however, the issue was sharply drawn, and when Alonzo B. Cornell
called the convention to order, the opposing forces, marshalled for a
fight to the finish, announced Andrew D. White and Chauncey M. Depew
as their respective candidates for temporary chairman. White's recent
appointment as a commissioner to San Domingo had been a distinct gain
to the President's scheme of annexation, and he now appeared at the
convention in obedience to Cornell's solicitation.[1311] To gain a bit
of advantage Depew, in the interest of harmony, he said, withdrew in
favour of G. Hilton Scribner of Westchester, who had headed a young
men's association formed to allay strife between the rival senators.
The suggestion being accepted, Depew then moved to make Scribner and
White temporary and permanent chairmen. Upon the temporary chairman
depended the character of the committees, and Cornell, with a frown
upon his large, sallow, cleanly shaven face, promptly ruled the motion
out of order. When a Fenton delegate appealed from the Chair's
ruling, he refused to put the question.

[Footnote 1311: White, _Autobiography_, Vol. 1, p. 164.]

Instantly the convention was upon its feet. Demands for roll-call and
the shouts of a hundred men stifled the work of the gavel. Police
interference increased the noise. In the midst of the confusion the
stentorian voice of John Cochrane, a Fenton delegate, declared "the
roll entirely wrong."[1312] This aggravated the situation. Finally,
when dele