nced in years, age had not cowed his spirit or
lessened the purity of a character which shone in the gentleness of
amiable manners; but his pro-slavery platform hit his consistency a
hard blow. In 1819, as secretary of a mass-meeting called to oppose
the Missouri Compromise, he had declared that Congress possessed the
clear and indisputable power to prohibit the admission of slavery in
any State or territory thereafter to be formed. If this was good law
in 1819 it was good law in 1854, and the acceptance of a contrary
theory put him at a serious disadvantage. His attitude on the liquor
question also proved a handicap. He showed that the position of judge
in interpreting the law was a very different thing from that of making
the law by steering a party into power in a crucial campaign.

The convention of the Softs followed on September 6. Two preliminary
caucuses indicated a strong anti-Nebraska sentiment. But a bold and
resolute opposition, led by federal officials and John Cochrane, the
Barnburners' platform-maker, portended trouble. There was no
disagreement on state issues. The approval of Seymour's administration
settled the policy of canal improvement and anti-prohibition, but the
delegates balked on the cunningly worded resolution declaring the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise inexpedient and unnecessary, yet
rejoicing that it would benefit the territories and forbidding any
attempt to undo it. It put the stamp of Nebraska upon the proceedings,
and the deathlike stillness which greeted its reading shook the nerves
of the superstitious as an unfavourable omen. Immediately, a short
substitute was offered, unqualifiedly disapproving the repeal as a
violation of legislative good faith and of the spirit of Christian
civilisation; and when Preston King took the floor in its favour the
deafening applause disclosed the fact that the anti-Nebraskans had the
enthusiasm if not the numbers. As the champion of the Wilmot Proviso
concluded, the assembly resembled the Buffalo convention of 1848 at
the moment of its declaration for free soil, free speech, free labour,
and free men. But the roll call changed the scene. Of the 394
delegates, 245 voted to lay the substitute on the table.

This result was a profound surprise. The public expected different
action and the preliminary caucuses showed an anti-Nebraska majority;
but the Custom-House had done its work well. The promise of a
nomination for lieutenant-governor had changed