wer for the Federalist Council of 1800 to continue its
sittings. Of course Federalists were wrong in 1794, and Republicans
were wrong in 1800, but there was as much poetic justice in the
situation as a Republican could desire. As soon as the Assembly had
organised, therefore, DeWitt Clinton, Ambrose Spencer, Robert
Roseboom, and John Sanders became the Council of Appointment. Sanders
was a Federalist, but Roseboom was a Republican, whose pliancy and
weakness made him the tool of Clinton and Spencer.

DeWitt Clinton had at last come to his own. Until now his life had
been uncheckered by important incident and unmarked by political
achievement. He had run rapidly through the grammar school of Little
Britain, his native town; through the academy at Kingston, the only
one then in the State; through Columbia College, which he entered as a
junior at fifteen and from which he graduated at the head of his
class; and through his law studies with Samuel Jones. In 1789 came an
appointment as private secretary to his uncle, George Clinton. When
Governor Jay sought the assistance of another in 1795, Clinton resumed
the law; but he continued to practise politics for a living, and at
last found himself in the Assembly of 1797. He was then twenty-eight,
strong, handsome, and well equipped for any struggle. He had devoted
his leisure moments to reading, for which he had a passion that lasted
him all his lifetime. He was especially fond of scientific studies,
and of the active-minded Samuel L. Mitchill, six years his senior, who
gave scientific reputation to the whole State.

In spite of his love for science, DeWitt Clinton was a born
politician, with all the characteristic incongruities incident to such
a life. He had the selfishness of Livingston, the inconsistency of
Spencer, the imperiousness of Root, and the ability of a statesman.
Unlike most other men of his party, he did not rely wholly upon
discipline and organisation, or upon party fealty and courtesy.
Hamilton had cherished the hope that Clinton might become a
Federalist, not because he was a trimmer, or would seek a party in
power simply for the spoils in sight, but because he had the breadth
and liberality of enlightened opinions, the prophetic instinct, and
the force of character to make things go his way, without drifting
into success by a fortunate turn in tide and wind. He was not a mere
day-dreamer, a theorist, a philosopher, a scholar, although he
possessed the gifts