The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-07-08
SOME n BOOKS.
Politlca, History Of The state Of New Yor

played q piVoJai part III Eiooi"on'N
lions, partly through it's own electoral Votes
and partly through Its influence upon the
adjoining States Of Nec Jersey and Con
nectiout, that students Of the nations
political history have long deemed q kpowl-
edge Of its party divisions Indispensable Tor
an Interpretation OF the past and for q fore.
east OF the future. Such knowledge will
now, for the FIRST time. be made generally
anoaaafble hg q work two volumes OF which
are now published, A Political History Of
The Stale Of Nsw York, by On ALvA A
WOOD ALEXANDRA, Member Of Congress,
and formerly United States District Attorney
for tho Northern District Of New York
OH. Holt q Coz The instalments OF the
book now forthcoming carry us from TIA
10 1881. II is the authors hope to bring
the record down to the year 1893 In an adj
ditional volume. Tho information pre-
sented in the two volumes now before us
must haye cost an immense amount OF
labor, which, however, was well bestoWedi
for the outcome Of II meets, as we have
said, a want widely felt and repeatedly
expressed during the last hundred years.
As the author points out In o preface, Oliver
Woloott, who had been q member OF Wash.
ington's Cabinet, and was afterward Gov
ernor OF Connecticut. declared in the early
part Of the last century. when !Clintopians
and Bucktails had split the old Republican
party into warning factions; After living
q dozen years in New York, I don't pretend
10 comprehend it's politics. 1t 10 q labyrinth
of wheels within wheels, and 1t 10 understood
only by the managers" In later years,
) Daniel s.. Dickinson, who, one might have
thought, could rave qualified as an expert.
spoke Of "the tangled web Of New York
politics, y and Horace Greeley complained OF
Hthe zig-zag, wavering lines and unoouth
political designations which puzzled and
wearied readers" from 1910 to 1850, during
which period Democrats were divided into
Conservatives and Radicals, Hunkers and
Barn Burners, and Hards and Softs, and
when Wings were distinguished as Con-
science Wings and Cotton Wings and Wool
lies and Silver Grays. So, too, James Parton,
In his life Of Andrew jackson, . speaks Of
shat most unfathomable Of subjects, the
politics Of the State Of New York.
Notwithstanding the scale on which this
work Is constructed, the reader is cautioned.
against expecting a catalogue of all the
men who have played considerable parts
In the Empire Commonwealth. What the
author has essayed to do Is to depict the
figures that rose oonspiouously above their
fellow men and exercised a masterful in
fiuence upon public thought and action.
II it be true that the history OF every COM
nNunity Is the history Of a few leading msn
In it, 1t has been especially true Of the State
OF New York, wherein, from the outset, the
institution of -bossism" was established by
law, and after 1t ceased to be upheld by
the State Constitution or by statute oon-
tinued to prevail by force Of custom. The
Constitution Of l7T7, which remained opera
tive for nearly half q century, by creating q
small Council OF Appointment, to which
almost every civil fu%notionary owed his
Office, rendered inevitable the ~ascendanoy
OF q few men, and. although the abolition
OF the council in 1921 made individual CON-
troll more difficult, the traditional system
left its methods deeply and intellectually
impressed upon party management.
Thus has 1t como to pass that to an OK
tent unparalleled In any other State OF the
Union. with the possible exception of Vir-
ginia In the ante -bellum epoch, the political
history OF New York is to be sought In the
biographies Of successive political leaders.
IL LIOot dibtlhB DIN IA ~ NV
are enumerated by the author In q para
graph OF his preface. For some time after
the Revolution it was George Clinton and
Alexander Hamilton who led the opposed
political forces, and later. while Aaron Burr
was pushing to tho front, the great genius
OF De Witt Clinton, nephew OF George Gin
ton, began to assert itself. Mr.. Alexander
points out that the defeat Of Burr for Gov
ernor and the death Of Hamilton must have
left De Witt Clinton in complete control
but for his inability to find a strong man
for Governor whom he could use. In 1912
Martin Van Buren, first revealed the possess
sion Of superior gifts for management, and
for nearly two decades thereafter, until the
death Of the great canal builder, Van Buren's
signal capacity was taxed to Its uttermost In
the contest between Buoktails and Gin
tonians. Thurlow Weed succeeded De Witt
Clinton In marshalling the forces opposed
10 Van Buren,, the latter's mantle gradually
falling upon Horatio Seymour. Our author
recognizes that clustered about each Of
these lesders-save only De Witt Clinton,
who stands forth an isolated hgure-was a
ooterie Of distinguished men whose power
OF intellect has made their names familiar
In our national history. II De Witt Clinton
had to dispense with tho aid Of eminent
coadjutors 1t was because strong men In
high positions rebelled against becoming
GRAND boys to do his arrogant bidding.
The creator of the Erie Canal, however,
needed no lieutenants, for the illustrious
achievement by which at once he aided
the farmer and enriched the merchant
outweighed the power Of Van Buren,, the
popularity OF Tompkins int the phenome-
nal dextsrity Of the Albany regents. We
are further told in the preface, which the
reader will find even more useful than
,preiaces generally are, that In describing
the period from 1900 to 1880 the author has
purposely avoided the term Democrat
because all anti-Federalist factions In New
York then claimed to be Republican, 1t
Ia true that the Clay electors In the cam
paign Of 1924 adopted the title Democrat
Ticket but in 1928 and for several years
after the definite formation Of the Wing
party In 1884 the followers Of jackson, re-
pudiating the title Of Democrat, still called
themselves Republicans.