Upon his election as United States Senator Mr. Wright resigned and was succeeded by Azariah C. Flagg, of Plattsburgh, a lawyer and a Regency Democrat, who was elected on January 11, 1834. He had been a Member of Assembly from Clinton county in 1823 and 1824, and held the office of Secretary of State from 1826 to 1833. He had run counter to public opinion in 1823 as the leader of the Assembly opposition to the Electoral law--a law designed to give to the people directly the power of chosing the presidential electors, instead of leaving that power vested in the Legislature, as had been the law theretofore. The Albany Regency had determined to prevent any change, and succeeded in warding off legislative action. The measure, however, met the cordial approval of the people, and that fact, together with the removal of Governor Clinton as Canal Commissioner--a position in which his uncompensated services had been of the greatest value--swept Clinton, whose political fortunes then seemed at their lowest ebb, triumphantly into the gubernatorial chair. But it was a principle of the Albany Regency, and of Martin Van Buren, then at its head, never to forget a man who had fallen or suffered in their service; and it was in reward for Mr. Flagg's unpopular opposition to the Electoral bill that in 1826 he was chosen Secretary of State. Mr. Flagg has the distinction of having served longer as Comptroller than any other incumbent of the office, with the exception of Archibald McIntyre. He held the office from January 11, 1834, to February 4, 1839, and again from February 7, 1842, to November 7, 1847. During his first term he was a member of the commission for the erection of the State Hall, and that building still stands as a monument to the Commission's good judgment in architecture, and in the adaptation of means to an end. Upon the completion of the State Hall the old State Hall, corner of Lodge and State streets, was sold by the Commission. By chapters 2 and 150 of the Laws of 1837 the Comptroller was made the custodian of moneys received from the United States, since known as the United States Deposit Fund. Theoretically this money was not given to the several States, but was to be subject to repayment whenever called for. The National Government will hardly, at this late day, call for these moneys. If it did not feel compelled to do so in the trying financial straits of the war it is not likely that it will do so in times of peace. But these moneys have always been kept as a separate fund, substantially as required by the act of 1837, and the principal, through all changes of, and losses from, investment, has been kept intact. [Illustration: P C Fuller (signature) _13th COMPTROLLER_]