epublican State convention. It became evident that the purpose was
attained when the Democrats present declared that the banner of their
former party no longer marked a place for them to muster. In character
the members resembled determined Abolitionists in the forties. Its
president, Thomas G. Alvord of Onondaga, had been speaker of the
Assembly, a competitor of Gordon Granger for Congress, and a
pronounced Hard Shell until the repeal of the Missouri Compromise
drove him into the camp of the Softs. One of the delegates, James B.
McKean, was soon to lead the Sixty-seventh Regiment to the field;
another, Alexander S. Diven of Chemung was to enter Congress, and
subsequently to distinguish himself at Antietam and Chancellorsville
at the head of the One Hundred and Seventh; other participants,
conspicuous in their respective localities, were to suffer bitterly
and struggle bravely to maintain the Union. One delegate sung the
"Star Spangled Banner," while the others, with radiant faces, broke
into cheers. This was followed by several brief and vigorous speeches
approving the war and the methods by which it was conducted. "There is
no medium, no half way now," said one delegate, "between patriots and
traitors."[797] This was the sentiment of the platform, which waived
all political divisions and party traditions, declaring that the
convention sought only, in this hour of national peril, to proclaim
devotion to the Constitution and Union, and to defend and sustain the
chosen authorities of the government at whatever cost of blood and
treasure.

[Footnote 797: New York _Tribune_, September 10, 1861.]

Rumours of Daniel S. Dickinson's nomination had been in the air from
the outset. He had been much in the public eye since the 20th of
April. In his zeal for the Union, said the _Tribune_, "his pointed
utterances have everywhere fired the hearts of patriots." Freedom from
the blighting influence of slavery seemed to give him easier flight,
and his criticism of the Democratic convention was so felicitous, so
full of story and wit and ridicule and the fire of genuine patriotism,
that his name was quickly upon every lip, and his happy, homely hits
the common property of half the people of the State.[798] The mention
of his name for attorney-general, therefore, evoked the most
enthusiastic applause. Since the constitutional convention of 1846 it
had been the custom, in the absence of a candidate for governor, to
write the name of the