is
action, Seymour disclaimed any doubt of the ability or patriotism of
the late commander of the Army of the Potomac.[987]

[Footnote 986: "Dean Richmond remains firm for McClellan, and has cut
loose from the Regency. He is at the present moment closeted with
Seymour, trying to convince him of the fallacy of the move."--New York
_Herald_ (Chicago despatch), August 28, 1864.]

[Footnote 987: _Ibid._, September 1, 1864.]

The New York delegation had as usual a strong if not a controlling
influence in the convention. Dean Richmond who led it at Charleston
and Baltimore again guided its counsels, while the presence of John
Ganson and Albert P. Laning of Buffalo, and Francis Kernan of Utica,
added to its forcefulness upon the floor. Next to Seymour, however,
its most potent member for intellectual combat was Samuel J. Tilden,
who served upon the committee on resolutions. Tilden, then fifty years
old, was without any special charm of person or grace of manner. He
looked like an invalid. His voice was feeble, his speech neither
fluent nor eloquent, and sometimes he gave the impression of
indecision. But his logic was irresistible, his statements
exhaustive, and his ability as a negotiator marvellous and unequalled.
He was the strong man of the committee, and his presence came very
near making New York the dominant factor in the convention.

Tilden's sympathies leaned toward the South. He resented the formation
of the Republican party,[988] maintained that a State could repel
coercion as a nation might repel invasion,[989] declared at the
Tweddle Hall meeting in January, 1861, that he "would resist the use
of force to coerce the South into the Union,"[990] and declined to
sign the call for the patriotic uprising of the people in Union Square
on April 20.[991] On the other hand, he addressed departing regiments,
gave money, and in 1862 wrote: "Within the Union we will give you [the
South] the Constitution you profess to revere, renewed with fresh
guarantees of equal rights and equal safety. We will give you
everything that local self-government demands; everything that a
common ancestory of glory--everything that national fraternity or
Christian fellowship requires; but to dissolve the federal bond
between these States, to dismember our country, whoever else consents,
we will not. No; never, never never!"[992] Yet in February, 1863, in
opposition to the Loyal Publication Society, he assisted in organising
a local society w