s or Jonas Platt. It recalls
the mistake of the historic conclave which elected a Pope whom the
cardinals believed too feeble to have any will of his own, but who
suddenly became their master. One can easily understand Clinton's
dilemma. He wanted the bill disapproved without his aid; Woodworth's
action compelled him to do the very thing he had planned to avoid. To
the day of his death, Clinton never got over the affront. "Yates and
Woodworth were both frightened and have damned themselves," he wrote
Henry Post, on the 27th of November, 1820. "The latter supposed also
that he would distinguish himself by his independence. I don't know a
fellow more intrinsically despicable. I intend the first convenient
opportunity to cut him to the quick. Y---- is a miserable fellow--the
dupe of his own vanity and the tool of bad principles!"[218]
Woodworth's action was severely criticised; and when, shortly
afterward, the Bucktails in the Senate sitting as a Court of Errors,
reversed a judgment against him for several thousand dollars,
overruling the opinion of Chancellor Kent, it seemed to impeach the
purity of his motives.

[Footnote 218: DeWitt Clinton's Letters to Henry Post, in _Harper's
Magazine_, Vol. 50, p. 415.]

After Clinton had voted in the Council, the convention bill, thus
vetoed, did not get the necessary two-thirds support. At the regular
session of the Legislature, which began in January, 1821, an amendment
was accepted submitting to the people the simple question of a
convention or no convention. Of the one hundred and forty-four
thousand votes cast, one hundred and nine thousand favoured a
convention. Delegates were then elected; and the convention, having
been organised, continued in session from August 28 to November 10,
1821.

This convention passed into history as a remarkable gathering of
distinguished persons. With a few exceptions, all the men then living,
whose names have figured in these pages, took an active part in its
deliberations; and by their eloquence and ability contributed to a
constitution which was to answer the purposes of a rapidly growing
State for another quarter of a century. John Jay, the constitution-maker
of 1777, then seventy-six years of age, who still lived upon his farm,
happy in his rustic tastes and in his simple pleasures, was
represented by his gifted son, Peter A. Jay of Westchester; Daniel D.
Tompkins came from Richmond; Rufus King from Queens; Nathan Sanford
and Jacob Radc