the
subscription list for the purchase of suitable quarters. In spite of
his faults he was a great executive, and before the sun went down on
the day of his removal a large majority of the Republican members of
the Legislature, guided by the deposed mayor, had nominated Daniel D.
Tompkins for governor in place of Morgan Lewis.

In disposing of the mayoralty, Lewis recognised the importance of
keeping it in the family, and offered it to Smith Thompson, both of
whose wives were Livingstons; but only once in forty years did
Thompson's love for the judiciary give way to political preferment,
and then Martin Van Buren defeated him for governor. The mayoralty
finally went to Marinus Willett, an officer of distinguished service
in the Revolutionary war, whose gallantry at Fort Schuyler in the
summer of 1777 won him a sword from Congress and the admiration of
General Washington. But the steadfast, judicious qualities that
commended him as a soldier seem to have forsaken him as a politician.
He supported Burr, he followed Lewis, and he finally ran for
lieutenant-governor against DeWitt Clinton, the regular nominee of his
party, losing the election by a large majority; yet his amiability and
war services kept him a favourite in spite of his political wavering.
It was hard for a lover of his country to dislike a real hero of the
Revolution, even though he forfeited the confidence of his party.

Clinton, who had kept his head cool in victory, did not lose it in
defeat; but the Governor found himself in an awkward and humiliating
position. Although the Federalists had made it possible for him to
organise the Legislature and elect a friendly Council, he dared not
appoint one of them to office, and the few ambitious Republicans who
had marshalled under his standard proved inferior, inexperienced, or
indiscreet. Only one Federalist fared well, and he succeeded in spite
of Lewis. William W. Van Ness aspired to the Supreme Court judgeship
made vacant by Brockholst Livingston's appointment to the Supreme
Court of the United States. The Governor, favouring, of course, a
member of his own family, proposed Maturin Livingston. To this Thomas
Thomas of the Council agreed, but Edward Savage proposed John
Woodworth; John Nicholas inclined to Jonas Platt, and James Burt, the
fourth member of the Council, preferred Van Ness. Platt was a
Federalist, and in his way a remarkable man. His father, Zephaniah
Platt, served in the Continental Congress,