. History of the state of New York, political and governmental;. ofts; Assembly—78 Whigs, 24 Hards, 24 Softs, 2Free Democrats. The surprising and significant fea-ture of the contest was the closeness of the vote bet^veenthe Hards and Softs. Never were contending factionsmore evenly balanced. Never did a bolting faction,with national and State administrations actively arrayedagainst it, make so formidable a showing as did theHards. So the Whigs, though moribund, returned to powerin the Seventy-seventh Legislature, which met on Janu-ary 3, 1854. Hugh J. Hastings was made Clerk of theSenate, and
. History of the state of New York, political and governmental;. ofts; Assembly—78 Whigs, 24 Hards, 24 Softs, 2Free Democrats. The surprising and significant fea-ture of the contest was the closeness of the vote bet^veenthe Hards and Softs. Never were contending factionsmore evenly balanced. Never did a bolting faction,with national and State administrations actively arrayedagainst it, make so formidable a showing as did theHards. So the Whigs, though moribund, returned to powerin the Seventy-seventh Legislature, which met on Janu-ary 3, 1854. Hugh J. Hastings was made Clerk of theSenate, and among the members of that body were Eras-tus Brooks, of New York; William H. Robertson, ofWestchester count\; Zenas Clark, and Myron , the last-named being reelected. In the AssemblyRobert H. Pruyn, of Albany, was elected Speaker, andRichard U. Sherman Clerk. Among the members fromNew York were George DeWitt Clinton and FrederickA. Conkling. Governor Seymours message began with an elaboratereview of the political history of the State as a stimu- • I. Hiram Demo Hiram Deiiio. judge court of appeals; born, Rome, N. V.,May 21, 1799; lawyer; district attorney of Oneida county,1825-1834; circuit judge fifth district, 1834-1838; judge of thecourt of appeals, 1853-66; died in Utica, N. Y., November ^ I I 1854] THE WAR OF HARDS AND SOFTS 401 lus to zeal and devotion in the public service. He madea number of non-partisan recommendations, whichwere acted upon. One, highly commendable, was thatthe supervision of the public schools be taken from theSecretary of State and vested in an independent officer,and the Legislature accordingly provided for the crea-tion of the office of Superintendent of Public Instruc-tion. Another recommendation was that the Canalamendment to the Constitution be repassed, which wasdone. A third recommendation was that some action betaken to abate the evils of intemperance and the abusesof the liquor trade. The law already forbade the saleof int
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