dle.

[Footnote 234: DeWitt Clinton, 103,452; Samuel Young, 87,093.--_Civil
List, State of New York_ (1887), p. 166.]

Samuel Young's political fortunes never recovered from this encounter
with the illustrious champion of the canals. He was much in office
afterward. For eight years he served in the State Senate, and once as
lieutenant-governor; for a quarter of a century he lived on, a
marvellous orator, whom the people never tired of hearing, and whom
opponents never ceased to fear; but the glow that lingers about a
public man who had never been overwhelmed by the suffrage of his
fellow-citizens was gone forever.

CHAPTER XXX

VAN BUREN ENCOUNTERS WEED

1824

Political interest, in 1824, centred in the election of a President as
well as a Governor. Three candidates,--William H. Crawford of Georgia,
John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, and Henry Clay of Kentucky,--divided
the parties in New York. No one thought of DeWitt Clinton. Very
likely, after his overwhelming election, Clinton, in his joy, felt his
ambition again aroused. He had been inoculated with presidential
rabies in 1812, and his letters to Henry Post showed signs of
continued madness. "I think Crawford is _hors de combat_," he wrote in
March, 1824. "Calhoun never had force, and Clay is equally out of the
question. As for Adams, he can only succeed by the imbecility of his
opponents, not by his own strength. In this crisis may not some other
person bear away the palm?"[235] Then follows the historic
illustration, indicating that the canal champion thought he might
become a compromise candidate: "Do you recollect the story of
Themistocles the Athenian? After the naval victory of Salamis a
council of generals was held to determine on the most worthy. Each man
was to write down two names, the first and the next best. Each general
wrote his own name for the first, and that of Themistocles for the
second. May not this contest have a similar result? I am persuaded
that with common prudence we will stand better than ever."[236]

[Footnote 235: DeWitt Clinton's Letters to Henry Post, in _Harper's
Magazine_, Vol. 50, p. 568.]

[Footnote 236: _Ibid._, Vol. 50, p. 586.]

But the field was preoccupied and the competitors too numerous. So,
getting no encouragement, Clinton turned to the hero of New Orleans.
"In Jackson," he wrote Post, "we must look for a sincere and honest
friend. Whatever demonstrations are made from other quarters are
dictated by p