hat "Jefferson Davis himself could not have planned a
speech better calculated, under all the circumstances of the case, to
promote his end to embarrass the Government of the United States and
strengthen the hands of those who are striving for its overthrow."[836]
Then William Curtis Noyes read a letter from Governor Morgan declining
renomination.[837] The Governor had made a creditable executive,
winning the respect of conservatives in both parties, and although the
rule against a third term had become firmly established in a State
that had tolerated it but once since the days of Tompkins and DeWitt
Clinton, the propriety of making a further exception appealed to the
public with manifest approval. "But this," Weed said, "did not suit
the _Tribune_ and a class of politicians with whom it sympathised.
They demanded a candidate with whom abolition is the paramount
consideration."[838] Morgan's letter created a ripple of applause,
after which the presentation of Wadsworth's name aroused an enthusiasm
of longer duration than had existed at Albany. Nevertheless, Charles
G. Myers of St. Lawrence did not hesitate to speak for "a more
available candidate at the present time." Then, raising his voice
above the whisperings of dissent, he named John A. Dix, "who, while
Seymour was howling for peace and compromise," said the speaker,
"ordered the first man shot that hauled down the American flag."
Raymond, in his speech earlier in the afternoon, had quoted the
historic despatch in a well-balanced sentence, with the accent and
inflection of a trained orator; but in giving it an idiomatic,
thrilling ring in contrast with Seymour's record, Myers suddenly threw
the convention into wild, continued cheering, until it seemed as if
the noise of a moment before would be exceeded by the genuine and
involuntary outburst of patriotic emotion. A single ballot, however,
giving Wadsworth an overwhelming majority, showed that the Radicals
owned the convention.[839]

[Footnote 836: New York _Times_, September 25, 1862.]

[Footnote 837: "Though we met Governor Morgan repeatedly during the
summer, he never hinted that he expected or desired to be again a
candidate."--New York _Tribune_, December 12, 1862.]

[Footnote 838: Albany _Evening Journal_, December 10, 1862.]

[Footnote 839: The vote resulted as follows: Wadsworth, 234; Dix, 110;
Lyman Tremaine, 33; Dickinson, 2.

The ticket was as follows: Governor, James S. Wadsworth of Genesee;
Lieut