joined the
Barnburners.

[Footnote 368: "To understand the issue presented by the Wilmot Proviso
it must be observed that its advocates sustained it on the distinct
ground that, as slavery had been abolished throughout the Mexican
Republic, the acquisition of territory without prohibiting slavery
would, on the theory asserted by the Southern States, lead to its
restoration where it had ceased to exist, and make the United States
responsible for its extension to districts in which universal freedom
had been established by the fundamental law."--Morgan Dix, _Memoirs of
John A. Dix_, Vol. 1, p. 205.]

Hostilities between the Hunkers and Barnburners, growing out of the
slavery question, began at the Democratic state convention, which
convened at Syracuse, September 7, 1847.[369] Preceding this meeting
both factions had been active, but the Hunkers, having succeeded in
seating a majority of the delegates, promptly voted down a resolution
embodying the principle of the Wilmot Proviso. Then the Barnburners
seceded. There was no parleying. The breach opened like a chasm and
the secessionists walked out in a body. This action was followed by an
address, charging that the anti-slavery resolution had been defeated
by a fraudulent organisation, and calling a mass convention for
October 26, "to avow their principles and consult as to future
action." This meeting became a gathering of Martin Van Buren's
friends. It did not nominate a ticket, which would have defeated the
purpose of the secession; but, by proclaiming the principles of
Free-soil, it struck the keynote of popular sentiment; divided the
Democratic party, and let the Whigs into power by thirty thousand
majority. It made Millard Fillmore comptroller, Christopher Morgan
secretary of state, Alvah Hunt treasurer, Ambrose L. Jordan
attorney-general, and Hamilton Fish lieutenant-governor to fill the
vacancy occasioned by Addison Gardiner's election to the new Court of
Appeals. The president of this seceders' mass-meeting was Churchill C.
Cambreling, an old associate of Martin Van Buren, but its leader and
inspiration was John Van Buren. He drafted the address to the people,
his eloquence made him its chief orator, and his enthusiasm seemed to
endow him with ubiquity.

[Footnote 369: "In the fall of 1847 I was a spectator at the Democratic
state convention, held in Syracuse. The great chiefs of both factions
were on the ground, and never was there a fiercer, more bitter and