d, who became known as
the "Dictator." Although no less drastic and persevering, perhaps,
than DeWitt Clinton's, it was a control far different in method.
Clinton did not disguise his power. He was satisfied in his own mind
that he knew better than any other how to guide his party and govern
his followers, and he acted accordingly--dogmatic, overbearing, often
far from amiable, sometimes unendurable, to those around him. Weed, on
the contrary, was patient, sympathetic, gentle, and absolutely without
asperity. "My dear Weed," wrote Seward on December 14, 1838, "the
sweetness of his temper inclines me to love my tyrant. I had no idea
that dictators were such amiable creatures."[303] In a humourous vein,
William Kent, the gifted son of the Chancellor, addressed him. "Mr.
Dictator, the whole State is on your shoulders. I take it, some future
chronicler, in reciting the annals of New York during this period, in
every respect equal to England in the time of Elizabeth, will devote
the brightest colours to 'the celebrated Thurlow Weed, who so long
filled the office of Governor Seward during his lengthened and
prosperous administration.' It behooves you, therefore, to act
circumspectly, and particularly in the advice you give the Governor as
to appointments to office."[304]

[Footnote 303: Thurlow Weed Barnes, _Life of Thurlow Weed_, Vol. 2, p.
63. F.W. Seward, _Life of W.H. Seward_, Vol. 1, p. 381.]

[Footnote 304: Thurlow Weed Barnes, _Life of Thurlow Weed_, Vol. 2, p.
72.]

Few chapters of personal history can be more interesting than that
which tells of the strange, subtle influence exercised by Weed over
the mind of Seward; but it is doubtful if there was conscious control
at any time. Certainly Seward never felt "the weight of chains" about
his neck. Weed probably saw good reason to believe that in Seward he
could have just the sort of an associate who would suit all his
purposes, since their views of public affairs and their estimate of
public men rarely differed. "Our relations had become so intimate," he
says, "and our sentiments and sympathies proved so congenial, that our
interests, pursuits, and hopes of promoting each other's welfare and
happiness became identical."[305] Weed seemed to glory in Seward's
success, and Seward was supremely happy in and proud of Weed's
friendship. Weed and Greeley were so differently constituted that,
between them, such a relation could not exist, although at times it
seemed to give