ol. 2, p. 45-7.]

The Nebraska Act also became a new source of division to Democrats.
Marcy's opposition, based upon apprehensions of its disastrous effect
in New York, was so pronounced that he contemplated resigning as
secretary of state--a step that his friends persuaded him to abandon.
John Van Buren was equally agitated. "Could anything but a desire to
buy the South at the presidential shambles dictate such an
outrage?"[444] he asked Senator Clemens of Alabama. But nothing could
stop the progress of the Illinois statesman; and, while the Whigs of
New York ably and uniformly opposed repeal, Democrats broke along the
lines dividing the Hards and the Softs. Of twenty-one Democratic
congressmen, nine favoured and twelve opposed it. Among the former was
William M. Tweed, the unsavoury boss of later years; among the latter,
Reuben E. Fenton, Rufus W. Peckham, and Russell Sage. The Democratic
press separated along similar lines. Thirty-seven Hards supported the
measure; thirty-eight Softs opposed it.

[Footnote 444: New York _Evening Post_, February 11, 1854.]

The Hards held their state convention on the 12th of July. Their late
trial of strength with the Softs had resulted in a drawn battle, and
it was now their purpose to force the Pierce-Seymour Softs out of the
party. The proceedings began with a challenge. Lyman Tremaine spoke
of the convention as one in which the President had no minions; Samuel
Beardsley, the chairman, after charging Pierce with talking one way
and acting another, declared that the next Chief Executive would both
talk and act like a national Democrat. Further, to emphasise its
independence and dislike of the President, the convention nominated
Greene C. Bronson for governor as the representative of Pierce's
proscriptive policy for opinion's sake. But there was no disposition
to criticise Pierce's pro-slavery policy. It favoured the repeal of
the Missouri Compromise, proclaiming the doctrine of non-intervention
by Congress and the right of the territories to make their own local
laws, including regulations relating to domestic servitude. It also
approved the recently ratified canal amendment and strongly favoured
the prohibitive liquor law vetoed by Governor Seymour.

Greene C. Bronson's career had been distinguished. He had served as
assemblyman, as attorney-general for seven years, as chief justice of
the Supreme Court, and as an original member of the Court of Appeals.
Although now well adva