142 POLITICAL LIFE -VI 



doing my best to prevent an injustice. The result was 

 that I went on hour after hour with my series of biogra- 

 phies, until at last Judge Folger himself sent me word 

 that if I would desist and allow the legislature to adjourn 

 he would make no further effort to carry the bill at that 

 session. To this I instantly agreed ; the bill was dropped 

 for that session and for all sessions : so far as I can learn 

 it has never reappeared. 



Shortly after our final adjournment the Constitutional 

 Convention came together. It was one of the best bodies 

 of the kind ever assembled in any State, as a list of its 

 members abundantly shows. There was much work for 

 it, and most important of all was the reorganization of 

 the highest judicial body in the State the Court of Ap- 

 pealswhich had become hopelessly inadequate. 



The two principal members of the convention from the 

 city of New York were Horace Greeley, editor of the 

 ' ' Tribune, ' 9 and William M. Evarts, afterward Attorney- 

 General, United States senator, and Secretary of State of 

 the United States. Mr. Greeley was at first all-powerful. 

 As has already been seen, he had been able to prevent 

 Judge Folger taking the presidency of the convention, 

 and for a few days he had everything his own way. But 

 he soon proved so erratic a leader that his influence was 

 completely lost, and after a few sessions there was hardly 

 any member with less real power to influence the judg- 

 ments of his colleagues. 



This was not for want of real ability in his speeches, 

 for at various times I heard him make, for and against 

 measures, arguments admirably pungent, forcible, and 

 far-reaching, but there seemed to be a universal feeling 

 that he was an unsafe guide. 



Soon came a feature in his course which made matters 

 worse. The members of the convention, many of them, 

 were men in large business and very anxious to have a 

 day or two each week for their own affairs. Moreover, 

 during the first weeks of the session, while the main mat- 

 ters coming before the convention were still in the hands 



