relentless conflict between the Narragansetts and Pequods than this
memorable contest between the Barnburners and Hunkers. Silas Wright
was the idol of the Barnburners. He had died on the 27th of the
preceding August--less than two weeks before. James S. Wadsworth
voiced the sentiments of his followers. In the convention some one
spoke of doing justice to Mr. Wright. A Hunker sneeringly responded,
'It is too late; he is dead.' Springing upon a table Wadsworth made
the hall ring as he uttered the defiant reply: 'Though it may be too
late to do justice to Silas Wright, it is not too late to do justice
to his assassins.' The Hunkers laid the Wilmot Proviso upon the table,
but the Barnburners punished them at the election."--H.B. Stanton,
_Random Recollections_, p. 159.]

John Van Buren was unlike the ordinary son of a President of the
United States. He did not rely upon the influence or the prestige of
his father.[370] He was able to stand alone--a man of remarkable power,
who became attorney-general in 1845, and for ten years was a marked
figure in political circles, his bland and convulsing wit enlivening
every convention and adding interest to every campaign. But his chief
interest was in his profession. He was a lawyer of great distinction,
the peer and often the opponent of Charles O'Conor and William H.
Seward. "He possessed beyond any man I ever knew," said Daniel Lord,
"the power of eloquent, illustrative amplification, united with close,
flexible logic."[371]

[Footnote 370: "There could hardly be a wider contrast between two men
than the space that divided the Sage of Lindenwald from Prince John.
In one particular, however, they were alike. Each had that personal
magnetism that binds followers to leaders with hooks of steel. The
father was grave, urbane, wary, a safe counsellor, and accustomed to
an argumentative and deliberate method of address that befitted the
bar and the Senate. Few knew how able a lawyer the elder Van Buren
was. The son was enthusiastic, frank, bold, and given to wit,
repartee, and a style of oratory admirably adapted to swaying popular
assemblies. The younger Van Buren, too, was a sound lawyer."--H.B.
Stanton, _Random Recollections_, p. 175.]

[Footnote 371: _History of the Bench and Bar of New York_, Vol. 1, p.
505.]

John Van Buren had, as well, a picturesque side to his life. In
college he was expert at billiards, the centre of wit, and the willing
target of beauty. Out of college,