tically become a party issue as much as the contest over the
Bank of the United States. Already two Republican Legislatures had
defeated it, and in a third it was now being urged to success with the
help of a solid Federalist vote and a system of flagrant bribery, of
which the Governor was fully advised. A regard for party opinion, if
no higher motive, therefore, might well have governed Lewis' action.
After the fight had been precipitated, resulting in a warfare fatal to
Lewis, the Governor's apologists claimed that in favouring the bank
he had simply resisted Clinton's domination. The Governor may have
thought so, but it was further evidence of his inability either to
understand the sentiment dominating the party he sought to represent,
or successfully to compete with Clinton in leadership. DeWitt Clinton,
with all his faults, and they were many and grave, had in him the
gifts of a master and the capacity of a statesman. Lewis seems to have
had neither gifts nor capacity.

In January, 1806, DeWitt Clinton, securing a majority of the Council
of Appointment by the election of himself and two friends, sounded the
signal of attack upon the Governor and his supporters. He substituted
Pierre C. Van Wyck for Maturin Livingston and Elisha Jenkins for
Thomas Tillotson. The Governor's friends were also evicted from minor
office, only men hostile to Lewis' re-election being preferred.
Nothing could be less justifiable, or, indeed, more nefarious than
such removals. They were discreditable to the Council and disgraceful
to DeWitt Clinton; yet sentiment of the time seems to have approved
them, regarding Clinton's conduct merely as a stroke of good politics.
In the midst of this wretched business it is pleasant to note that
Jenkins' transfer from comptroller to secretary of state opened a way
for the appointment of Archibald McIntyre, whose safe custody of the
purse in days when economies and husbandries were in order,
distinguished him as a faithful official, and kept him in office until
1821.

After such drastic treatment of the Governor, it is not without
interest to think of Lewis in Albany and Clinton in New York keeping
their eyes upon the election in April, 1806, both alike hopeful of
finding allies in the party breakup. The advantage seemed to be wholly
with the Mayor and not with the Governor. Indeed, Republicans of all
factions were so well assured of Clinton's success that it required
the faith of a novice in politics