regard to the Bank of the United States. General Jackson had laid rough
hands on this institution and removed to the State banks the public money
which had till then been entrusted to its keeping. Many of our best men
had then a high opinion of the utility of the bank, and thought much
better of its management than, as afterwards appeared, it deserved. The
Whig party declared itself in favor of the bank. Mr. Calhoun and the
Southern politicians of his immediate school joined them on this question,
and Mr. Verplanck, who regarded the bank with a friendly eye, found
himself on the same side, which proved to be the minority. The time
arrived for another election of members of Congress from this City. The
Democratic party desired to re-elect Mr. Verplanck, if some assurance
could be obtained from him that he would not oppose the policy of the
Administration in regard to the bank. That party understood very well his
merits and his usefulness, and made a strong effort to retain him, but he
would give no assurance, even to pursue a neutral course, on the bank
question, and accordingly his name was reluctantly dropped from their
list of nominations. A long separation ensued between him and those who up
to that time had been his political associates.

In 1834, the Whig party, looking for a strong candidate for the Mayoralty
of the City, offered the nomination to Verplanck, who accepted it. On the
other side, the Democrats brought forward Cornelius W. Lawrence, a man of
popular manners and unquestioned integrity. Those were happy days when, in
voting for a Mayor, the citizen could be certain that he would not vote
amiss, and that whoever succeeded in the election, the City was sure of an
honest man for its chief officer. One would have thought that this
consideration might make the election a quiet one, but it was not so; the
struggle was for party supremacy, and it was violent on both sides. At
that time the polls were kept open for three days, and each day the
excitement increased; disorders took place; some heads were broken, and at