nd his three associates on the new Council of
Appointment got to work, Clinton quickly discovered that he could
expect little from such a body of Bucktails; and he received less than
he expected. For, when the Council had finished, only one Clintonian
remained in office. Oakley, the able attorney-general; Jay, the gifted
recorder of New York; Colden, the acceptable mayor of New York;
Hawley, the ideal superintendent of common schools; Solomon Van
Rensselaer, the famous and fearless adjutant-general; McIntyre, the
trusted and competent comptroller, had all disappeared in a night.
Only Simeon DeWitt, who had been surveyor-general for forty years, was
left undisturbed. Former Councils had been radical and vigorous in
their action, but the Skinner council cut as deep and swift as the
famous Clinton Council of 1801. At its first meeting, clerks and
sheriffs and surrogates and district attorneys fell in windrows. Yet
it was no worse than its predecessors; it could not be worse, since
precedents existed in support of conduct however scandalous.

The removal of Hawley, McIntyre, and Van Rensselaer produced a greater
sensation throughout the State than any previous dismissals, except
that of DeWitt Clinton from the mayoralty in 1815. Gideon Hawley had
held the office of school superintendent for nine years, organising
the State into school districts, distributing the school fund
equitably, and perfecting the work, so that the entire system could be
easily handled by a superintendent. In 1818, he reported five thousand
schools thus organised, with upward of two hundred thousand pupils in
attendance for a period of four to six months each year. He did this
work on a salary of three hundred dollars--only to receive, at last,
in place of thanks so richly deserved, the unmerited rebuke of a
summary dismissal.

The removal of Archibald McIntyre made a sensation almost as great.
For fifteen years, McIntyre had been such an acceptable comptroller
that the waves of factional and party strife had broken at his feet,
leaving him master of the State's finances. The Lewisites retained him
in 1807; the Federalists kept him in 1809; the Republicans continued
him in 1811; the Federalists again spared him in 1813; while the
frequent changes that followed Clinton's downfall left him
undisturbed. He took no part in political contests. It was his duty to
see that the State's money was paid according to law, and he so
conducted the office; but the