er than party ties or
party discipline, it agreed to reassemble at Auburn on September
26.[443]

[Footnote 443: "After the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act, it would
seem as if the course of the opposition were plain. That the different
elements of opposition should be fused into one complete whole seemed
political wisdom. That course involved the formation of a new party
and was urged warmly and persistently by many newspapers, but by none
with such telling influence as by the New York _Tribune_. It had
likewise the countenance of Chase, Sumner, and Wade. There were three
elements that must be united--the Whigs, the Free-soilers, and the
Anti-Nebraska Democrats. The Whigs were the most numerous body and as
those at the North, to a man, had opposed the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise they thought, with some quality of reason, that the fight
might well be made under their banner and with their name. For the
organisation of a party was not the work of a day. Why, then, go to
all this trouble, when a complete organisation is at hand ready for
use? This view of the situation was ably argued by the New York
_Times_, and was supported by Senator Seward. As the New York Senator
had a position of influence superior to any one who had opposed the
Kansas-Nebraska bill, strenuous efforts were made to get his adhesion
to a new party movement, but they were without avail. 'Seward hangs
fire,' wrote Dr. Bailey. 'He agrees with Thurlow Weed.'--(Bailey to
J.S. Pike, May 30, 1854, _First Blows of the Civil War_, p. 237.) 'We
are not yet ready for a great national convention at Buffalo or
elsewhere,' wrote Seward to Theodore Parker; 'it would bring together
only the old veterans. The States are the places for activity just
now.'--(_Life of Seward_, Vol. 2, p. 232.) Yet many Whigs who were not
devoted to machine politics saw clearly that a new party must be
formed under a new name. They differed, however, in regard to their
bond of union. Some wished to go to the country with simply _Repeal of
the Kansas-Nebraska act_ inscribed on their banner. Others wished to
plant themselves squarely on prohibition of slavery in all the
territories. Still others preferred the resolve that not another slave
State should be admitted into the Union. Yet after all, the time
seemed ripe for the formation of a party whose cardinal principle
might be summed up as opposition to the extension of slavery."--James
F. Rhodes, _History of the United States_, V