t drove this argument into the friends of the odious and
profitless measure, until the Governor's party in the election of 1809
had gone down disastrously.

To Obadiah German, a living embodiment of the Jeffersonian spirit, the
most extravagant arguments in support of the embargo came naturally
and clearly. To a man of DeWitt Clinton's high order of intellect,
however, it must have been difficult, in the presence of Jonas Platt's
logic, backed as it was by an unanswerable array of facts, to believe
that the arguments in favour of embargo were those which history would
approve. As if, however, to establish Platt's position, Congress, in
the midst of the New York campaign, voted to remove the embargo, and
to establish in its stead, non-intercourse with Great Britain and
France--thus reopening trade with the rest of Europe and indulging
those merchants who desired to take the risks of capture. For the
moment, this was a great blow to Clinton and a great victory for
Platt, giving him a prestige that his party thought entitled him to
the governorship.

In the legislative session of 1810, however, Jonas Platt developed
neither the strength nor the shrewdness that characterised his conduct
on the stump during the campaign of 1809. William Erskine, the British
minister, a son of the distinguished Lord Chancellor, whose attachment
to America was strengthened by marriage, had negotiated a treaty with
the United States limiting the life of the Orders in Council to June
10, 1809. This treaty had been quickly disavowed by the English
government, and, in referring to it in his message, Governor Tompkins
accused England of wilfully refusing to fulfil its stipulations. "With
Great Britain an arrangement was effected in April last," wrote the
Governor, "which diffused a lively satisfaction through the nation,
and presaged a speedy restoration of good understanding and harmony
between the two countries. But our hopes were blasted by an unexpected
disavowal of the agreement, and an unqualified refusal to fulfil its
stipulations on the part of England. Since the recall of the minister
who negotiated the arrangement, nothing has occurred to brighten the
prospect of an honourable adjustment of our differences. On the
contrary, instead of evincing an amicable disposition by substituting
other acceptable terms of accommodation in lieu of the disavowed
arrangement, the new minister has persisted in impeaching the veracity
of our Administratio