nger declined the anti-masonic nomination;
but the wily Van Buren, who was intently watching the embarrassment of
the National Republicans, took good care to have Crary remain and
Solomon Southwick substituted for Granger. The general sentiment of
the Anti-Masons did not respond to this movement. But the angry
feeling excited by Granger's declination, aided by Van Buren's
finesse, gave Southwick, who had acquired some credit with the
Anti-Masons by an early renunciation of his masonic ties, an
opportunity of advancing his visionary projects of personal ambition.
Thurlow Weed declared that the people had been "juggled" out of a
candidate for governor; but Weed did not know that Van Buren, needing
money to help along the jugglery, wrote James A. Hamilton, the son of
the great Federalist, that unless "you do more in New York than you
promised, our friends in Albany, at best poor, will break down." Crary
was one of the assemblymen who, in 1824, had boldly denounced the
removal of Clinton as a canal commissioner. After his broken promise
to Granger and his bargain with Van Buren, however, he ceased to be
called "Honest John Crary."

Before the meeting of the National Republican convention, Martin Van
Buren was announced as the Jackson candidate for governor. It was
well-known, at least to the Albany Regency, that if Jackson became
President, Van Buren would be his secretary of state. One can readily
understand that Van Buren would willingly exchange the Senate for the
head of the Cabinet, since the office of secretary of state had been
for twenty years a certain stepping-stone to the Presidency. Madison
had been Jefferson's secretary of state, Monroe had filled the exalted
place under Madison, and John Quincy Adams served Monroe in the same
capacity. But Van Buren's willingness to exchange the Senate, an arena
in which he had ranked among the ablest statesmen of the Republic, for
the governorship, was prompted by the force of circumstances and not
by choice. Jackson's election was believed to depend upon New York,
and the carrying of New York, to depend upon Van Buren. The latter, at
this time, was at the zenith of his popularity. His speeches had not
only stamped him as a genuine parliamentary debater, but had gained
for him the reputation of being the congressional leader and chief
organiser of the Jackson party. During his seven and a half years in
the Senate, his name was associated with every event of importance;
his v