of his delegation went to the Democratic assemblymen from Hudson- Would they help ? They would — if Colby and his crowd would withdraw his excise bills. Colby would see. He saw the Governor. The Governor saw Dickinson, and Dickinson consented to the dropping of the excise bills. A bargain was struck; Colby’s and Essex County’s bills were passed with the help of Democratic votes. And then Dickinson asked Colby to reintroduce his excise bills.
The young legislator was astonished. He had given his word, and he wouldn’t break it. Dickinson had somebody else to do it, and when Colby threatened to fight, a caucus was called to bind him to it as a “party measure.” Colby appealed to the Governor, and the Governor spoke to Dickinson, but in vain. The caucus was held. Colby protested that the party was bound by his bargain; not he alone, but the accredited Republican leaders had given their word to the Democrats.
“Your word to a Democrat doesn’t mean anything,” they told him in those very terms. His did, he answered. There was a scene, and amid cries of “Down with the traitor; up with the flag,” Colby bolted the caucus. The party jammed through the excise bills, but Colby voted against them. He didn’t see the iniquitous part the caucus plays in the perversion of representative
