ood living, as much as Clinton wanted the
mayoralty that might be lost in another year. Clinton had not yet
drunk the dregs of the bitter cup. False friends and their unpaid
security debts were still to bankrupt him; but he had already seen
enough to know that the setting sun is not worshipped. Under these
circumstances his friendship for Riker was not strong enough to induce
him to throw away his last chance of holding the mayoralty and its fat
fees; and so when Townsend voted for Platt, Riker's affection for
Clinton turned to hate.

CHAPTER XX

A GREAT WAR GOVERNOR

1812-1815

The assumption of extraordinary responsibilities during the War of
1812, justly conferred upon Daniel D. Tompkins the title of a great
war governor. There is an essential difference between a war governor
and a governor in time of war. One is enthusiastic, resourceful, with
ability to organise victory by filling languishing patriotism with new
and noble inspiration--the other simply performs his duty, sometimes
respectably, sometimes only perfunctorily. George Clinton illustrated,
in his own person, the difference between a great war governor and a
governor in time of war. If he failed to win renown on the
battlefield, his ability to inspire the people with confidence, and to
bring glory out of threatened failure and success out of apparent
defeat, made him the greatest war governor the country had yet known.
Daniel D. Tompkins served his State no less acceptably. In the moment
of greatest discouragement he displayed a patriotic courage in
borrowing money without authority of law that made his Administration
famous.

Yet Tompkins' patriotism scarcely rose to that sublime height which
suffers its possessor unselfishly to advance a rival even for the
public welfare. There is no doubt of DeWitt Clinton's conspicuous
devotion to the interests of his country throughout the entire war. He
exceeded his power as mayor in inducing the Common Council to borrow
money on the credit of the city and loan it to the United States; at
the supreme moment of a great crisis, when the national treasury was
empty and a British fleet threatened destruction to the coast, an
impressive address which he drafted, accompanied by a subscription
paper which he headed, resulted in raising a fund of over one million
dollars for the city's defence. The genius of Clinton had never been
more nobly employed than in his efforts to sustain the war, winning
him univer