his
open and damaging attack upon the Regency. He had surrendered
independence if not self-respect, and, in return for his fidelity, had
been ruthlessly cast aside for his less faithful rival. Yet his
purpose was more than revenge. Between the Clintonian prejudice
against Tallmadge, and the People's party's hatred of Clinton, the
Governor hoped he might become a compromise candidate at the Utica
convention. The future, however, had no place for him. He was
ridiculed the more by his enemies and dropped into the pit of oblivion
by his former friends. Nothing in his public life, perhaps, became him
so well as his dignified retirement at Schenectady, amid the scenes of
his youth, where he died at the age of sixty-nine, leaving a place in
history not strongly marked.

Yates' extra session lasted four days and did nothing except to snub
the Governor and give the eloquent Tallmadge, amidst tumultuous
applause from the galleries, an opportunity of annoying the Regency by
keeping up the popular excitement over a change in the choice of
electors until the assembling of the Utica convention. As the days
passed, the sentiment for Clinton became stronger and more apparent.
Thurlow Weed, travelling over the State in the interest of Tallmadge,
found Clinton's nomination almost universally demanded, with Tallmadge
a favourite for second place. This, the eloquent gentleman
peremptorily refused, until an appeal for harmony, and the suggestion
that Adams' election might open to him a broader field for usefulness
than that of being governor, produced the desired change. Probably
Tallmadge felt within himself that he was not destined to a great
political career. In any case, he finally accepted the offer with
perfect good humour, giving Weed a brief letter consenting to the use
of his name as lieutenant-governor. With this the young journalist
arrived at Utica on the morning of convention day.

There were one hundred and twenty-two delegates in the convention, of
whom one-fourth belonged to the People's party. These supported
Tallmadge for governor. When they discovered that Tallmadge's vote to
remove Clinton had put him out of the race, they suggested John W.
Taylor; but a delegate from Saratoga produced a letter in which the
distinguished opponent of the Missouri Compromise declined to become a
candidate. This left the way open to DeWitt Clinton, and, as he
carried off the nomination by a large majority, with Tallmadge for
lieutenant-g