three years, they voted for
the President, with the hope that his supporters might ultimately
unite with those of Douglas. The Hards, on the contrary, supported
Buchanan. They had little use for Pierce, who had persecuted them.

On the first ballot Buchanan had 135 votes, Pierce 122, Douglas 33,
and Cass 5, with 197 necessary to a choice. This made Buchanan's
success probable if his forces stood firm; and as other ballots
brought him additional votes at the expense of Pierce, his nomination
seemed certain. The Softs, however, continued with Pierce until his
withdrawal on the fourteenth ballot; then, putting aside an
opportunity to support the winning candidate, they turned to Douglas.
But to their great surprise, Douglas withdrew at the end of the next
ballot, leaving the field to Buchanan. This placed the Softs, who now
joined the Hards because there was no longer any way of keeping apart,
in an awkward position. Seymour, however, gracefully accepted the
situation, declaring that, although the Softs came into the convention
under many disadvantages, they desired to do all in their power to
harmonise the vote of the convention and to promote the discontinuance
of factional differences in the great State of New York. Greene C.
Bronson, who smiled derisively as he heard this deathbed repentance,
did not know how soon Horatio Seymour was destined again to command
the party.

The Republican national convention convened at Philadelphia on the
17th of June. Recent events had encouraged Republicans with the hope
of ultimate victory. Nathaniel P. Banks' election as speaker of the
national House of Representatives on the one hundred and
thirty-seventh ballot, after a fierce contest of two months, was a
great triumph; interest in the Pittsburg convention on the 22d of
February had surpassed expectations; and the troubles of "bleeding
Kansas," which seemed to culminate in the assault upon Sumner and the
destruction of Lawrence, had kept the free States in a condition of
profound excitement. Such brutal outrages, it was thought, would
certainly discredit any party that approved the policy leading to
them. Sustained by this hope the convention, in its platform,
arraigned the Administration for the conduct of affairs; demanded the
immediate admission of Kansas into the Union under the Topeka
Constitution; and resolved, amidst the greatest enthusiasm, that "it
is both the right and duty of Congress to prohibit in the territories
t