best talent of the Democratic party in New York, — such men as John A. Dix, Sanford E. Church, Samuel J. Tilden, Dean Richmond, C. C. Cambreleng, Azariah Flagg, Benjamin F. Butler, John Van Buren, Preston King, William Cullen Bryant, James S. Wadsworth, Abijah Mann, Ward Hunt, George Opdyke, and others. The Barnburners, too, resolved to be represented at the anti-slavery convention at Buffalo on August 9.
That meeting was a great event. Many thousands attended it. The moralist, profoundly convinced of the righteousness of his cause, met there with the practical politician. Benjamin F. Butler, of New York, reported a platform which declared that slavery was a mere state institution; that Congress had no more power to make a slave than to make a king; that the national government should relieve itself of all responsibility for slavery; that Congress should exclude slavery from all free territory; that the answer to the issue forced upon the country by the slave power should be: No more slave states; no more slave territory; no more compromises with slavery; freedom for Oregon, California, and New Mexico. The great battle-cry, “Free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men!” was hailed with shouts and tears of enthusiasm. The names of John P. Hale and of Martin Van Buren were submitted to the convention for nomination as candidates for the presidency. Martin Van Buren received a large majority on the first ballot. Charles Francis Adams
