hange his purpose. While
thus persuading him, the discussion had passed to the second
resolution, when George William Curtis, of New York, seized the chance
to renew substantially Mr. Giddings's amendment. There were new
objections, but Mr. Curtis swept them away with a captivating burst of
oratory. "I have to ask this convention," said he, "whether they are
prepared to go upon the record before the country as voting down the
words of the Declaration of Independence?... I rise simply to ask
gentlemen to think well before, upon the free prairies of the West, in
the summer of 1860, they dare to wince and quail before the assertions
of the men in Philadelphia, in 1776--before they dare to shrink from
repeating the words that these great men enunciated." "This was a
strong appeal, and took the convention by storm," wrote a recording
journalist. A new vote formally embodied this portion of the
Declaration of Independence in the Republican platform; and Mr.
Giddings, overjoyed at his triumph, had already returned to his seat
when the platform as a whole was adopted with repeated and renewed
shouts of applause that seemed to shake the wigwam.

The third day of the convention (Friday, May 18) found the doors
besieged by an excited multitude. The preliminary business was disposed
of,--the platform was made,--and every one knew the balloting would
begin. The New York delegation felt assured of Seward's triumph, and
made an effort to have its march to the convention, with banners and
music, unusually full and imposing. It proved a costly display; for
while the New York "irregulars" were parading the streets, the
Illinoisans were filling the wigwam: when the Seward procession
arrived, there was little room left except the reserved seats for the
delegates. New York deceived itself in another respect: it counted on
the full New England strength, whereas more than half of it had already
resolved to cast its vote elsewhere. This defection in advance
virtually insured Seward's defeat. New York and the extreme North-west
were not sufficiently strong to nominate him, and in the nature of
things he could not hope for much help from the conservative middle and
border States. But this calculation could not as yet be so accurately
made. Caucusing was active up to the very hour when the convention met,
and many delegations went to the wigwam with no definite programme
beyond the first ballot.

What pen shall adequately describe this vast aud