e Nineteenth Congress, after the power
of the Albany Regency had been temporarily broken by the election of
John Quincy Adams to the Presidency, that Taylor finally received the
reward to which he was so richly entitled.

At this moment of the Regency's domination, Joseph C. Yates showed
himself the coming man. Though it was the desire of his party that he
take the nomination for governor in 1820, the cautious, modest Justice
of the Supreme Court had discreetly decided not to sacrifice himself
in the year of DeWitt Clinton's greatest strength. Conscious of his
own popularity with the people, he was prepared to wait. But he had
not to wait long. During the last two years of Clinton's
administration, Yates had distinguished himself in the Council of
Revision, by voting for the bill creating a constitutional
convention--a vote which was applauded by Van Buren, although overcome
by Clinton; and when the time approached for the selection of another
gubernatorial candidate, he rightly saw that his hour was come. Yates
was not cut out for the part which a strange combination of
circumstances was to allow him to play. He was a man of respectable
character, but without remarkable capacity of any kind. He had a
charming personality. He was modest and mild in his deportment, and
richly gifted with discretion, caution, and prudence. Vindictiveness
formed no part of his disposition. The peculiar character of his
intellect made him a good Supreme Court judge; but he lacked the
intellectual energy and courage for an executive, who must thoroughly
understand the means of getting and retaining public support.

A majority of the leading politicians of the party, appreciating
Yates' mental deficiencies, ranged themselves on the side of Samuel
Young, who enjoyed playing a conspicuous part and liked attacking
somebody. Young was not merely a debater of apparently inexhaustible
resource, but a master in the use of parliamentary tactics and
political craft. His speeches, or such reports of them as exist, are
full of striking passages and impressive phrases; and, as an orator,
full, round and joyous, with singularly graceful and charming manners,
he was then without a rival in his party. But his ultra-radicalism and
illiberal, often rude, treatment of opponents prevented him from
obtaining all the influence which would otherwise have been fairly due
to his talents and his political and personal integrity.

There were, also, other aspirants.