corded for him.
Thurlow Weed happened to be a witness of the proceeding, and, rushing
to the Assembly chamber, urged Tallmadge to resist its passage through
the house. "I knew how bitterly General Tallmadge hated Mr. Clinton,"
he says, "but in a few hurried and emphatic sentences implored him not
to be caught in the trap thus baited for him. I urged him to state
frankly, in a brief speech, how entirely he was estranged personally
and politically from Mr. Clinton, but to denounce his removal during
the successful progress of a system of improvement which he had
inaugurated, and which would confer prosperity and wealth upon the
people and enrich and elevate our State, as an act of vandalism to
which he could not consent to be a party. I concluded by assuring him
solemnly that if he voted for that resolution he could not receive the
nomination for governor."[228]

[Footnote 228: _Autobiography of Thurlow Weed_, p. 109.]

But Tallmadge remained dumb. Gamaliel H. Barstow, formerly a
Clintonian, walked out of the chamber. Other old friends showed
indifference. Only Henry Cunningham of Montgomery, entering the
chamber while the clerk was reading the resolution, eloquently
denounced it. "When the miserable party strifes shall have passed by,"
he said, in conclusion; "when the political jugglers who now beleaguer
this capital shall be overwhelmed and forgotten; when the gentle
breeze shall pass over the tomb of that great man, carrying with it
the just tribute of honour and praise which is now withheld, the pen
of the future historian will do him justice, and erect to his memory a
monument of fame as imperishable as the splendid works that owe their
origin to his genius and perseverance."[229] One or two others spoke
briefly in Clinton's behalf, and then the resolution passed--ayes
sixty-four, noes thirty-four. Among the ayes were Tallmadge and
Wheaton.

[Footnote 229: _Autobiography of Thurlow Weed_, p. 110.]

Had Clinton been assassinated, the news could not have produced a
greater shock. Scarcely had the Assembly adjourned, before the
citizens of Albany--rushing into the vacant chamber and electing the
old and venerable John Taylor, the former lieutenant-governor, for
chairman--expressed their indignation in denunciatory speeches and
resolutions. In New York City, a committee of twenty-five, headed by
Thomas Addis Emmet, called in person upon Clinton to make known the
feeling of the meeting. Everywhere throughout the Sta