y a fearless independence
and a power to dominate people in spite of antagonism of great and
successful rivals.

Clinton was now only at the opening of his great career. Even at this
time his contemporaries seem to have made up their minds that he had a
great career before him, and when he and Governor Jay met as members
of the new Council of Appointment, on February 11, 1801, it was like
Greek meeting Greek. If Jay was the mildest mannered man in the State,
he was also one of the firmest; and on this occasion he did not
hesitate to claim the exclusive right of nomination for office as had
Governor Clinton in 1794. Clinton, on the other hand, following the
course pursued by Philip Schuyler, boldly and persistently claimed a
concurrent right on the part of the senatorial members. The break came
when Jay nominated several Federalists for sheriff of Orange County,
all of whom were rejected. Then Clinton made a nomination. Instead of
putting the question Jay made a further nomination, on which the
Council refused to vote. This ended the session. Jay asked for time to
consider, and never again convened the Council; but two days later he
sent a message to the Assembly, reviewing the situation and asking its
advice. He also requested the opinion of the Chancellor and the
Supreme Court Judges. The Assembly replied that it was a
constitutional question for the Governor and the Council; the Judges
declined to express an opinion on the ground that it was
extra-judicial. Three weeks later Clinton, Spencer, and Roseboom
reported to the Assembly, with some show of bitterness, that they had
simply followed the precedent of Egbert Benson's appointment to the
Supreme Court in 1794, an appointment, it will be remembered, which
was made on the nomination of Philip Schuyler and confirmed, over the
protest of Governor Clinton, by a majority of the Council.

Jay's failure to reconvene the Council seemed to gratify Clinton--if,
indeed, his action had not been deliberately taken to provoke the
Governor into such a course. Appointments made under such conditions
could scarcely satisfy an ambitious leader who had friends to reward;
and, besides, the election of a new governor in the following month
would enable him to appoint a corps of men willing to do the bidding
of their new master. On the other hand, Governor Jay closed his
official career as he began it. His first address to the Legislature
discovered an intention of adhering to the dogm