ed John Birdsall from accepting
its nomination to Congress, because of the obloquy sure to follow
defeat; but its strength, evidenced in the campaign of 1828, opened
his eyes; and, while absent in Albany, unsuccessfully seeking a
judgeship from Governor Throop, Thurlow Weed had him nominated. On his
way home, he stopped at Rochester to call upon the great apostle of
anti-Masonry, reaching the house before sunrise. "He was wrapped in a
long camlet cloak," says Weed, "and wore an air of depression that
betokened some great disappointment. 'You have been east?' I asked,
for I had not heard of his absence from home. 'Yes,' he answered.
'Then you don't know what happened at Batavia yesterday?' He replied
in the negative, and I continued: 'We had a convention and nominated a
candidate for senator.' When he laughingly inquired, 'Who?' I said,
'Why, we nominated you.' He instantly jumped two feet from the floor
and whooped like an Indian. Then, with brightened countenance and
undisguised elation of spirit that he was to have a seat in the Senate
for four years, he informed me of his disappointment in not obtaining
either the judgeship, or the presidency of the branch of the United
States Bank about to be established at Buffalo."[260]

[Footnote 260: _Autobiography of Thurlow Weed_, p. 340.]

Thus far, Thurlow Weed had won more reputation than money in
Rochester. He dwelt in a cheap house in an obscure part of the
village. Sometimes he had to borrow clothes to be presentable. "One
day," says Henry B. Stanton, "I was standing in the street with him
and Frederick Whittlesey when his little boy came up and said:
'Father, mother wants a shilling to buy some bread.' Weed put on a
queer look, felt in his pockets, and remarked: 'That is a home appeal,
but I'll be hanged if I've got the shilling.' Whittlesey drew out a
silver dollar and gave the boy who ran off like a deer."[261] Yet, at
that moment, Weed with his bare arms spattered with printer's ink, was
the greatest power in the political life of Western New York.

[Footnote 261: H.B. Stanton, _Random Recollections_, p. 25.]

But a scheme more helpful to Weed and to his party than the election
of young men of large promise was just now on foot. The need of a
newspaper at Albany, to represent the sentiments of the Anti-Masons
had long been recognised; and, to enable Weed to establish it, he had
been re-elected to the Assembly in the autumn of 1829. In the course
of the winter the