Albert H. Tracy of Buffalo became its chairman. After he
had warmed the delegates into enthusiastic applause by his
happy and cogent reasons for the success of the party, Fran-
cis Granger was unanimously renominated for governor, with
Samuel Stevens for lieutenant-governor. The convention
also announced an electoral ticket, equally divided between
Anti-Masons and National Republicans, headed by James
Kent ^ and John C. Spencer. In the following month, the
National Republicans adopted the anti-masonic state and
electoral tickets. It looked like a queer combination, a
^'Siamese twin party" it was derisively called, in which
somebody was to be cheated. But the embarrassment, if
any existed, seems to have been fairly overcome by Thurlow
Weed, who patiently traversed the State harmonising con-
flicting opinions in the interest of local nominations.
Meantime, the Van Buren leaders proceeded with rare
caution. There had been some alarming defections, notably
the secession of the New York Courier and Enquirer^ now
edited by James Watson Webb, and the refusal of Erastus

* "Chancellor Kent's bitter, narrow, and unintelligent politics were
in singular contrast with his extraordinary legal equipment and his
professional and literary accomplishments." — Edward M. Shepard,
Life of Martin Van Buren, p. 246.
394 FORMATION OF THE WHIG PARTY [Chap. xxxv.
