Perhaps the most notable circumstance of Comptroller McIntyre's term, and certainly one of the most notable in the whole history of the office, was his controversy with Daniel D. Tompkins. During the War of 1812 Governor Tompkins had been the agent both of the State and of the National Government, and in this dual capacity he had received and disbursed very large sums of money. For much of this money he had taken, or could produce, no vouchers, and, consequently, in 1819 he stood upon the Comptroller's books a debtor, if not a defaulter, to the State in the large amount of $120,000. He claimed, and his friends claimed for him, that he had honestly disbursed all the money that he had received, and that the apparent deficit was due to his acknowledged unbusiness-like methods, and in his failure to keep books of account, and to take vouchers. He was then Vice-President of the United States, and it was thought by the "Bucktail" Republicans that he was the only man who, in the State election of 1820, could beat Governor Clinton for re-election. This unsettled balance, which had been standing for several years on the books of the Comptroller, was a serious obstacle to the execution of their plan. Accordingly, the Legislature of 1819 passed an act requiring the Comptroller to settle the residue of the accounts of Governor Tompkins, and in the settlement to allow him the same premium on the amount of money borrowed by him "on his own responsibility" as was allowed others for like service; and further requiring the Comptroller to credit the Governor with sums paid by him, legally, to any person, and to call upon such persons to account for the money. Contrary, it was said, to what had been understood by those who had been instrumental in passing the act of 1819, Vice-President Tompkins, instead of presenting a claim for premium merely sufficient to offset the claim of the State against him, presented one for $250,000, and supported this claim by opinions both of experts and lawyers. This bill furnishes a commentary on the credit of the State in the perilous times of the War of 1812, or perhaps upon the value of the services of financial agents at that time. The brokerage charged by Governor Tompkins was at the rate of twenty-five per cent. The Comptroller, feeling that this was not the legislative intent, and ever watchful as he was of the State's interests, declined to allow the claim, on the ground that the Governor had not borrowed the money "on his own responsibility," but on the joint responsibility of the State and himself. The Comptroller offered to submit the soundness of his position to the Judges of the Supreme Court, and to join with the Judges, if it was desired, the Chancellor or the Attorney-General. But this Mr. Tompkins declined on the ground that all of these proposed referees were politically hostile to him. Correspondence relating to the matter, and marked by great bitterness of tone, took place between these eminent