most ordinary kind; and I found myself constantly inquiring, "Can it be possible that this is the man from whose brain emanated the trenchant leaders that appeared day after day in the organ of the national democracy? Is this the man who for fifteen years battled Clay and Webster and the other giants acting with them? Is this the man who spoke for General Jackson and Mr. Van Buren and the army of men who followed their lead?" Mr. Blair was a man who indulged in no nonsense. He was always terribly in earnest. He never said a pleasant thing concerning his adversaries. Politics was a serious business with him, and not a subject for levity. So he lashed his political opponents day after day and month after month. There was no good in them. They were corrupt, nay, thoroughly rotten all the way through. In these days such a paper would be without influence, for no man would read it who was not a blind partisan or a bigoted fool. It would not make converts, for people are not converted by abuse. It was a power when General Jackson was at the head of the government, for the times seemed to require an executive with positive qualities. Presidents Monroe and Adams had been negative men, amiable and peace-loving. Jackson was the reverse. He was a man of iron will, had opinions of his own, and when satisfied of their correctness, did not hesitate to stand by them, whatever the consequences might be. His entire administration was bold and aggressive, almost warlike. So the newspaper that spoke for it was anything but pacific. It was stern, implacable, savage. It was on the war-path from the day of its first issue until Mr. Blair retired from it.

In 1848 Mr. Blair withdrew from the regular democratic party and supported Mr. Van Buren for the presidency. After the repeal of the Missouri compromise he took an active part in the organization of the republican party.

CHAPTER IX.

The Independent Treasury-Observations on the Subject of BankingNomination of Harrison-The Campaign of 1840-Seward Re-elected Governor-Impressions of Mr. Van Buren.

In 1839 the whigs again carried Jefferson county, electing their entire delegation to the assembly, consisting of Chas. E. Clarke, Calvin Clark and Stephen Johnson; St. Lawrence county elected Zenas Clark and Asa Sprague; Lewis, Chester Buck; Oswego, Peter Devendorf and William Duer.

To the senate, Sumner Ely of Otsego county, democrat, was chosen.

At this time the democrats favored a divorce of the government from the banking institutions. The organ of the party in this county, the "Jeffersonian," carried at the head of its editorial columns for a year or two these words:

"FOR AN INDEPENDENT TREASURY-AGAINST A NATIONAL BANK.”

Some democratic journals were hostile to all banks. I had the impression myself that men who had solicited and obtained authority from the legislature to engage in the business of banking, with the privilege of issuing their promises to pay as money, ought to be compelled to make their promises good or suffer the consequences. I did not believe in granting bank charters to irresponsible individuals, to those who could not or would not keep their engagements under all circumstances. I was opposed to such charters, insisting that if they were bestowed upon any man or class of men, they should be given to all asking them who could put up the requisite

security that they would fulfill their promises. In other words, the paper under my charge was for free banking, if we were to have banks, and so helped start the movement which resulted in the passage of our general banking law. I think my paper was the first one in the state to declare against the system of granting special charters and to favor the plan which was ultimately adopted.

The campaign of 1840 was altogether unique. There has been nothing like it in our history. The whigs nominated General Harrison, a man without special qualifications for the presidential office, but a most worthy citizen, and who had made a good record as a fighter of Indians in the western territories. He had been a member of the Ohio senate, and of both branches of congress, and commanded at the battle of Tippecanoe, fought on the 7th of November, 1811, and won a brilliant victory over the Indians in command of Tecumseh's brother, the prophet. At the time of his nomination he was living in retirement on a farm at North Bend, Ohio, a short distance below Cincinnati. He was well advanced in life, being sixty-seven years old, and not much was known of him Nothing could be said against him. He suited the masses of his party, who set up a wild hurrah for him the day he was nominated, and they continued to shout and sing his praises until he was wafted into the presidential chair. He was almost literally hurrahed into office. A Baltimore newspaper, in the early part of the campaign, stated that the general lived in a log cabin on the Ohio river, and drank hard cider; whereupon his supporters commenced the building of log cabins everywhere, and there were few settlements in the northern states that could not boast of one of these rude edifices. In most cases they were supplied with hard cider and other beverages. Meetings were held in them at stated intervals, and as the day of the election drew near they were occupied almost constantly. Numerous

mass gatherings were held-held upon very short notice -and they were mass gatherings, some of them monster affairs, for they appeared to be attended by everybody, men, women and children. Persons turned out who had never attended a political meeting before, paying their own expenses. The campaign run itself. It was inexpensive so far as the whigs were concerned, every man desiring "a change" contributing his share to the general fund. The supporters of General Harrison appeared to be animated by a sort of holy zeal, similar to that inspiring religious enthusiasts at certain periods in the world's history. They declined to argue with their opponents. They did not consider it a time for discussing political issues. They were fanatically and frantically for "a change." There was an earnestness about them that would have defeated the best democrat in the country by any whig of fair character. Opposition to them was vain and useless. Every effort the democrats made simply reacted. They might as well have taken themselves to some secure retreat and waited for the storm to pass by. It could no more be breasted than a western cyclone.

The result of the campaign disappointed no one. The democracy were doomed from the outset; and still they made a vigorous fight. They did the best they could. They carried seven states out of the twenty-six, and Mr. Van Buren received sixty of the 294 electoral votes.

Of course, the whigs were greatly elated, and the democrats correspondingly depressed. It was humiliating enough to be defeated, but to be beaten in the way they had been, without any apparent reason, by hurrahs and song singing, was disheartening to the last degree.

However, the whig triumph was short-lived. General Harrison lived only one short month after taking the oath of office. John Tyler then became president, refused to heed the wishes of Henry Clay, the whig leader in con

gress, quarreled with the men who had elected him, and in the end threw the weight of his influence against his party.

So the great whig victory of 1840 came to nought. The party would have been quite as well situated had Mr. Van Buren been chosen. In that event it would have been a unit. As it was, it was terribly divided and demoralized.

Jefferson elected to the assembly in that year William McAllister, William C. Pierpont and Joseph Webb; St. Lawrence county returned Zenas Clark and Solomon Pratt; Lewis, Eliphalet Sears; Oswego, William Duer and Edward B. Judson.

To the senate, Henry A. Foster was chosen from the fifth district.

Thomas C. Chittenden was re-elected to congress from this district; David P. Brewster from that of Oswego; Henry Van Rensselaer from St. Lawrence; and Andrew W. Doig from Lewis.

As their colleagues, appeared (for the first time) John McKeon and Fernando Wood of New York; the brilliant Richard D. Davis of Poughkeepsie; John G. Floyd of Oneida. Among others re-elected were Christopher Morgan, Francis Granger and Millard Fillmore.

William H. Seward was re-elected governor, receiving a plurality of 5,203 over W. C. Bouck, or about half the majority he obtained over Governor Marcy in 1838, (10,421.)

And here I may as well give my impressions of Mr. Van Buren. He was a politician, and undoubtedly one of the shrewdest we have ever had in this state; that is to say, he was cautious and wary, never allowed himself to get excited, never was off his guard, never "slopped over." His opponents said he was sly and cunning; that there was a good deal of the "fox" about him; but I have come to the conclusion, after a careful examination