Memoirs of John Adams Dix; comp. by his son, Morgan Dix.

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MEMOIRS OF JOHN ADAMS DIX.

motives in this particular, they earnestly repelled the charge.
As to General Dix, the very active part which he took in
those efforts was due, as I think, to several causes, each creditable to his patriotism and good-~ense. His disapproval of
the fusion of 1848 had been justified by results. A life-long
opponent of abolitionism, he had maintained uniformly and
consistently that slavery ought not to be interfered with
where it existed; he could not, therefore, act either with
Northern Abolitionists or with the members of any party
which made interference with slavery an article of its platform. 7A Democrat of the old school, and a believer in the
Democratic creed, he was convinced that the principles of the
party were sound, and that it was to the interest of the nation
that they should be the rule of public and political action.
The question of the extension of slavery he regarded as settled, on terms which he thought sound and just. But beyond
and above all these reasons there was another on which I
must henceforth lay stress in connection with his history up
to the beginning of the war. Although he detested slavery,
he hated one thing worse, disunion. That, and not slavery,
was rapidly becoming the leading issue; and to prevent that
he saw that the principles of the Jacksonian Democracy must
be revived and asserted. It mattered very little what might
be done or said about slavery in comparison with a deeper
and graver question now taking the precedence of all others,
whether the Union of the States could be preserved; and he
thought that the ascendency of the Democratic party was
essential to that end. He therefore threw himself with earnestness into the political contest. There was no longer any
reason why he should not cordially and heartily act with his
party. It was, as I believe, with a clear conscience, and in a
broad and statesman-like spirit, that he addressed himself to
the work which appeared to him most important. Without
the aid of New York it would be impossible to elect a Democratic President in 1852. The State of New York could not
be carried unless the two sections of the Democracy in that