for it (who were out of office), but that there was no ground for criminal prosecution.  I laid their report before the Legislature with a message in which I said:  “There is probably no lawyer of high standing in the State who, after studying the report of counsel in this case and the testimony taken by the investigating commission, would disagree with them as to the impracticability of a successful prosecution.  Under such circumstances the one remedy was a thorough change in the methods and management.  This change has been made.”

When my successor in the Governorship took office, Colonel Partridge retired, and Elon Hooker, finding that he could no longer act with entire disregard of politics and with an eye single to the efficiency of the work, also left.  A dozen years later—­having in the meantime made a marked success in a business career—­he became the Treasurer of the National Progressive party.

My action in regard to the canals, and the management of his office, the most important office under me, by Colonel Partridge, established my relations with Mr. Platt from the outset on pretty nearly the right basis.  But, besides various small difficulties, we had one or two serious bits of trouble before my duties as Governor ceased.  It must be remembered that Mr. Platt was to all intents and purposes a large part of, and sometimes a majority of, the Legislature.  There were a few entirely independent men such as Nathaniel Elsberg, Regis Post, and Alford Cooley, in each of the two houses; the remainder were under the control of the Republican and Democratic bosses, but could also be more or less influenced by an aroused public opinion.  The two machines were apt to make common cause if their vital interests were touched.  It was my business to devise methods by which either the two machines could be kept apart or else overthrown if they came together.

My desire was to achieve results, and not merely to issue manifestoes of virtue.  It is very easy to be efficient if the efficiency is based on unscrupulousness, and it is still easier to be virtuous if one is content with the purely negative virtue which consists in not doing anything wrong, but being wholly unable to accomplish anything positive for good.  My favorite quotation from Josh Billings again applies:  It is so much easier to be a harmless dove than a wise serpent.  My duty was to combine both idealism and efficiency.  At that time the public conscience was still dormant as regards many species of political and business misconduct, as to which during the next decade it became sensitive.  I had to work with the tools at hand and to take into account the feeling of the people, which I have already described.  My aim was persistently to refuse to be put in a position where what I did would seem to be a mere faction struggle against Senator Platt.  My aim was to make a fight only when I could so manage it that there could be no question in the minds of honest men that my prime purpose was not to attack Mr. Platt or any one else except as a necessary incident to securing clean and efficient government.