De Witt Clinton cautiously kept away from this meeting, allowing his lieutenants to do the work of outwitting Tammany. A committee of ten was appointed to consider whether a coalition of the chiefs were practicable; whether, if it were, the people would agree to it; whether the Whig (opposition Republican) clubs should be destroyed and whether the Tammany Society should be reenforced. The meeting came to naught. In this effort to win over the Tammany chiefs, De Witt Clinton abandoned his protégé and dependent, Cheetham, who had made himself obnoxious to them. Finding Clinton’s political and financial support withdrawn, Cheetham, out of revenge, published the proceedings of this secret meeting in the _American Citizen_, and, awakening public indignation, closed the bargaining. A few nights later a Tammany mob threw brickbats in the windows of Cheetham’s house. By his death, on September 19, 1810, Tammany was freed from one of its earliest and most vindictive assailants. FOOTNOTES [1] _Journal of the Assembly_, 1821, p. 532, also p. 758. [2] _Ibid._, 1826, p. 750. [3] _MS. Minutes of the Common Council_, Vol. 16, pp. 239-40 and 405. [4] _MS. Minutes of the Common Council_, Vol. 16, pp. 288-89. [5] _Ibid._, p. 316. [6] _Ibid._, p. 50. [7] _Ibid._, Vol. 18, p. 194. [8] _Ibid._ [9] _Ibid._, Vol. 20, pp. 355-56. [10] _Ibid._, Vol. 20, p. 308. The full report on Mooney’s administration appears in _Ibid._, pp. 376-92. [11] Although the subsequent laws of the Tammany Society forbade the successive reelection of a Grand Sachem, the incumbent of the office was frequently permitted to “hold over.” [12] Advertisement in the _Columbian_, May 14, 1810. [13] Wortman had been a follower of Clinton and had been generously aided by him. He suddenly shifted to Tammany, on seeing better opportunities of advancement with that body. CHAPTER IV SLOW RECOVERY FROM DISASTER 1809-1815 The Tammany men fared badly for a time. During 1809 the Council of Appointment removed numbers of them from office. In November the Federalists elected a majority of their Aldermanic ticket, and in April, 1810, they elected their Assembly ticket by the close majority of 36. Even when the Federalists were beaten the following year, it brought no good to Tammany, for a Clintonite Council of Appointment dispensed the offices. Clinton, though ousted from the Mayoralty in 1810 to make room for the Federalist Jacob Radcliff, was again made Mayor in the Spring of 1811.