y. The supreme question
was the nomination of Stephen A. Douglas, and the closeness of the
contest between the Douglas and anti-Douglas forces made New York's
thirty-five votes most important. Wood promised his support, if
admitted, to the anti-Douglas faction; the Softs, led by Dean
Richmond, encouraged Douglas and whispered kindly words to the
supporters of James Guthrie of Kentucky. It was apparent that Wood's
delegation had no standing. It had been appointed before the legal
hour for the convention's assembling in the absence of a majority of
the delegates, and upon no theory could its regularity be accepted;
but Wood, mild and bland in manner, made a favourable impression in
Charleston. No one would have pointed him out in a group of gentlemen
as the redoubtable mayor of New York City, who invented surprises,
and, with a retinue of roughs, precipitated trouble in conventions.
His adroit speeches, too, had won him advantage, and when he pledged
himself to the ultra men of the South his admission became a necessary
factor to their success. This, naturally, threw the Softs into the
camp of Douglas, whose support made their admission possible.[519]

[Footnote 519: "The Fernando Wood movement was utterly overthrown in
the preliminary stages. Several scenes in the fight were highly
entertaining. Mr. Fisher of Virginia was picked out to make the
onslaught, when John Cochrane of New York, who is the brains of the
Cagger-Cassidy delegation, shut him off with a point of order."--M.
Halstead, _National Political Conventions of 1860_, p. 20.]

The New York delegation, composed of distinguished business men and
adroit politicians, was divided into two factions, each one fancying
itself the more truly patriotic, public-spirited, and independent.[520]
The Softs had trapped the Hards into allegiance with the promise of a
solid support for Dickinson whenever the convention manifested a
disposition to rally around him--and then gagged them by a rigid unit
rule. This made Dickinson declamatory and bitter, while the Softs
themselves, professing devotion to Douglas, exhibited an unrest which
indicated that changed conditions would easily change their devotion.
Altogether, it was a disappointing delegation, distrusted by the
Douglas men, feared by the South, and at odds with itself; yet, it is
doubtful if the Empire State ever sent an abler body of men to a
national convention. Its chairman, Dean Richmond, now at the height of
his pow