ng Convention, and its work
proceeded. There was a feeling of intense anxiety about the result,
and an earnestness and real seriousness which I have never witnessed
in any other Convention. There were leading Whigs and Liberty
party men, whose action in respect to Mr. Van Buren was not yet
generally known. Several delegates remarked, "I want to know what
Samuel Lewis will do before I decide," or, "I want to hear from
Joshua Leavitt." After the nomination of Mr. Van Buren had been
moved, Mr. Leavitt rose from his seat, and all eyes were instantly
turned upon him. He was then in middle life, and his tall and
erect form and fine physiognomy were singularly striking. He was
full of emotion, and seemed at first to lack the power of utterance,
while the stillness of death prevailed in the Convention. He began
by saying: "Mr. Chairman, this is the most solemn experience of
my life. I feel as if in the immediate presence of the Divine
Spirit." He paused here for a few moments, while there did not
seem to be a dry eye in the Convention; but he proceeded grandly
with his speech, defined his position, and seconded the motion for
Mr. Van Buren's nomination, upon which the mingled political
enthusiasm and religious fervor of the Convention broke over all
bounds, and utterly defied description. Men laughed and cried at
the same time, and gave themselves up to the perfect abandon of
their feelings. All divisions had completely died away, and the
nomination of Mr. Van Buren by acclamation became a matter of
course. Charles Francis Adams was then nominated for Vice President,
when the Convention adjourned, and its members returned to their
homes to prepare for the coming canvass under the banner of "Van
Buren and Free Soil--Adams and Liberty."

The new national party was now launched, and the work of the
presidential canvass began in earnest. John A. Dix, then one of
the United States Senators from New York, was nominated for Governor,
with Seth M. Gates, the anti-slavery colleague of Adams and Giddings
in Congress, for Lieutenant-Governor. The Free Soil State Convention
of Ohio set the ball in motion in that State, and the new party,
by securing the balance of power in the Legislature, was able to
place Mr. Chase in the Senate of the United States. Stephen C.
Phillips was nominated for Governor in Massachusetts, where the
movement was very formidable, and exceedingly annoying to the
"Cotton Whigs." Like conventions w