eto any bill for the abolition of slavery in the
District of Columbia, unless sanctioned by Maryland and Virginia.
Anti-slavery men took great umbrage to this pledge, and while Butler
at the Buffalo convention was graphically describing how the
ex-President, now absorbed in bucolic pursuits at his Kinderhook farm,
had recently leaped a fence to show his visitor a field of sprouting
turnips, one of these disgusted Abolitionists abruptly exclaimed,
'Damn his turnips! What are his present opinions about the abolition
of slavery in the District of Columbia?' 'I was just coming to that
subject,' responded the oily Barnburner, with a suave bow towards the
ruffled Whig. 'Well, you can't be a moment too quick in coming to it,'
replied the captious interlocutor."--H.B. Stanton, _Random
Recollections_, p. 164.]

[Footnote 377: "General Dix disapproved of the design to make separate
nominations, thinking it unwise, and foreseeing that it would increase
the difficulty of bringing about a reconciliation. But that he, a
Democrat of the old school, should find himself associated with
gentlemen of the Whig party, from whom he differed on almost every
point, was a painful and distressing surprise. He was willing, if it
must be so, to go with his own section of the Democratic party, though
deeming their course not the wisest. But when it came to an alliance
with Whigs and Abolitionists he lost all heart in the movement. This
accounts for his strong expressions in after years to justify himself
from the charge of being an Abolitionist and false to his old
faith."--Morgan Dix, _Memoirs of John A. Dix_, Vol. 1, p. 239.]

The Hunkers were aghast. The movement that let the Whigs into power in
1847 had suddenly become a national party, with the most famous and
distinguished Democrat at its head, while the old issues of internal
improvement, the tariff, and the independent treasury were obscured by
the intensity of the people's opposition to the extension of slavery.
The Hunkers controlled the party machinery--the Barnburners held the
balance of power. To add to the bitterness of the situation, Edwin
Croswell, after a quarter of a century of leadership, had retired from
editorial and political life, leaving no one who could fill his place.
When the Democratic state convention assembled at Syracuse, therefore,
it spent itself in rhetorical denunciation of the rebellious faction,
and wasted itself in the selection of Reuben H. Walworth for gover