didate for lieutenant-governor on the Rochester
ticket, who received 4182 majority. "Clinton luck!" was the popular
comment.

[Footnote 250: Clinton's vote was 99,785--a falling off of 3,667 from
1824, while Rochester's was 96,135, an increase of 9,042 over Young's
vote.--_Civil List, State of New York_ (1887), p. 166.]

The closeness of the result prompted the friends of the President to
favour Rochester for United States senator to succeed Van Buren, whose
term expired on March 4, 1827. Several of the Adams assemblymen acted
with the Regency party, and it was hoped that through them a winning
combination might be made. But Van Buren had not been sleeping. He
knew his strength, and with confidence he returned to Washington to
renew his attacks upon the Administration. When, finally, the
election occurred, he had a larger majority than sanguine friends
anticipated. Three Clintonians in the Senate and two in the Assembly,
recognising the coalition of Van Buren and Clinton, cast their votes
for the former. In thanking the members of the Legislature for this
renewed expression of confidence, Van Buren spoke of the "gratifying
unanimity" of their action, declaring that it should be his "constant
and zealous endeavour to protect the remaining rights reserved to the
States by the Federal Constitution; to restore those of which they
have been divested by construction; and to promote the interests and
honour of our common country."

Thus, in much less than two years, Van Buren easily retrieved all, and
more, than he had lost by the election of Clinton and the defeat of
Crawford. His position was singularly advantageous. Whatever happened,
he was almost sure to gain. He stood with Clinton, with Jackson, and
with a party drilled and disciplined better than regular troops. In
his biography of Andrew Jackson, James Parton says of Van Buren at
this time: "His hand was full of cards, and all his cards were
trumps."[251] Andrew Jackson, who had been watching his career, said
one day to a young New Yorker: "I am no politician; but if I were a
politician, I would be a New York politician."[252]

[Footnote 251: James Parton, _Life of Andrew Jackson_, Vol. 3, p.
131.]

[Footnote 252: _Ibid._, p. 136.]

Van Buren's advantage, however, great as it was, did not end with his
re-election to the United States Senate. One after another, the men
who stood between him and the object of his ambition had gradually
disappeared. Ambrose Spence