his own influence; and to break his strength at the earliest moment he
advocated for attorney-general the candidacy of John Woodworth.
Woodworth was filling the position when the Federalists installed
Abraham Van Vechten; his right to restoration appealed with peculiar
force to his party friends. Ruggles Hubbard of the Council,
representing Woodworth's district, naturally inclined to his support,
but Stranahan had no other interest in his candidacy than a desire to
please Spencer. This left the Council a tie. There can be no question
that Tompkins was in thorough accord with Van Buren's wishes, and that
he regarded Spencer with almost unqualified dislike, but he was a
candidate for President and naturally preferred keeping out of
trouble. Nevertheless, when it required his vote to settle the
controversy he gave it ungrudgingly to Van Buren. In selecting a
secretary of state, the Governor applied the same rule. Spencer's
friend, Elisha Jenkins, had previously held the office, and, like
Woodworth, desired reinstatement; but Tompkins--tossing Jenkins aside
and ignoring Samuel Young, speaker of the Assembly, who was promised
and expected the office--insisted upon Peter B. Porter, now a hero of
the Niagara frontier.

Spencer had long realised that Tompkins was turning against him. It is
doubtful if the Governor ever felt a personal liking for this
political meddling judge, although he accepted his services during the
war with a certain degree of confidence. But now that hostilities were
at an end, he proposed to distribute patronage along lines of his own
choosing. Porter had recently been elected to Congress, and his
presence in Washington would help the Governor's presidential
aspirations, especially if the young soldier's friendship was sealed
in advance by the unsolicited honour of an appointment as secretary of
state. For the same reason, he desired the election of Nathan Sanford
to the United States Senate to succeed Obadiah German. Spencer
favoured John Armstrong, late secretary of war, and when the latter
was thrust aside as utterly undesirable, the Judge announced his own
candidacy. But Van Buren, resenting Spencer's opposition, skilfully
resisted his claims until he grew timid and declined to compete "with
so young a man as Mr. Sanford." Fourteen years divided their ages.

The change Republicans most clamoured for had not, however, come yet.
DeWitt Clinton still held the mayoralty. Spencer urged his removal and