and the Americans, had placed themselves under the
leadership of Seward, Lincoln, and Douglas, who now clearly
represented the political sentiments of the North. If any hope still
lingered among the Democrats of New York, that the sectional division
of their party might be healed, it must have been quickly shattered by
the fierce debates over popular sovereignty and the African
slave-trade which occurred in the United States Senate in February,
1859, between Jefferson Davis, representing the slave power of the
South, and Stephen A. Douglas, the recognised champion of his party in
the free States.

Under these circumstances, the Democratic national convention, called
to meet in Charleston, South Carolina, on April 23, 1860, became the
centre of interest in the state convention, which met at Syracuse on
the 14th of September, 1859. Each faction desired to control the
national delegation. As usual, Daniel S. Dickinson was a candidate for
the Presidency. He believed his friends in the South would prefer him
to Douglas if he could command an unbroken New York delegation, and,
with the hope of having the delegates selected by districts as the
surer road to success, he flirted with Fernando Wood until the
latter's perfidy turned his ear to the siren song of the Softs, who
promised him a solid delegation whenever it could secure his
nomination. Dickinson listened with distrust. He was the last of the
old leaders of the Hards. Seymour and Marcy had left them; but
"Scripture Dick," as he was called, because of his many Bible
quotations, stood resolutely and arrogantly at his post, defying the
machinations of his opponents with merciless criticism. The Binghamton
Stalwart did not belong in the first rank of statesmen. He was neither
an orator nor a tactful party leader. It cannot be said of him that he
was a quick-witted, incisive, and successful debater;[504] but, on
critical days, when the fate of his faction hung in the balance, he
was a valiant fighter, absolutely without fear, who took blows as
bravely as he gave them, and was loyal to all the interests which he
espoused. He now dreaded the Softs bearing gifts. But their evident
frankness and his supreme need melted the estrangement that had long
existed between them.

[Footnote 504: "'Scripture Dick,' whom we used to consider the
sorriest of slow jokers, has really brightened up."--New York
_Tribune_, March 17, 1859.]

In the selection of delegates to the state conventi