Much bitterness was developed during the struggle between the opposing clans, and a duel between General Morgan, a fighting Democratic soldier of Ohio, and Colonel Breckenridge, of Kentucky, was only averted, when the convention adjourned, by Colonel Watterson hurrying Breckenridge off to dinner, and compelling him to make concessions which properly satisfied the Ohio warrior. It required only two ballots to give Tilden the nomination, as follows: ═══════════════════════════╤════════╤════════ │ First. │Second. ───────────────────────────┼────────┼──────── Samuel J. Tilden, N. Y. │ 417 │ 535 Thomas A. Hendricks, Ind. │ 140 │ 60 Winfield S. Hancock, Penn. │ 75 │ 59 William Allen, Ohio │ 56 │ 54 Thomas F. Bayard, Del. │ 33 │ 11 Joel Parker, N. J. │ 18 │ 18 Allen G. Thurman, Ohio │ ―― │ 7 ═══════════════════════════╧════════╧════════ The platform was prepared under Tilden’s own direction, and it was unanimously adopted as follows: We, the delegates of the Democratic party of the United States, in national convention assembled, do hereby declare the administration of the Federal Government to be in urgent need of immediate reform; do hereby enjoin upon the nominees of this convention, and of the Democratic party in each State, a zealous effort and co-operation to this end; and do hereby appeal to our fellow-citizens of every former political connection to undertake with us this first and most pressing patriotic duty. For the Democracy of the whole country, we do here reaffirm our faith in the permanence of the Federal Union, our devotion to the Constitution of the United States, with its amendments universally accepted as a final settlement of the controversies that engendered civil war, and do here record our steadfast confidence in the perpetuity of Republican self-government. In absolute acquiescence in the will of the majority—the vital principle of republics; in the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; in the total separation of Church and State, for the sake alike of civil and religious freedom; in the equality of all citizens before just laws of their own enactment; in the liberty of individual conduct, unvexed by sumptuary laws; in the faithful education of the rising generation, that they may preserve, enjoy, and transmit these best conditions of human happiness and hope—we behold the noblest products of a hundred years of changeful history; but, while upholding the bond of our Union and great charter of these our rights, it behooves a free people to practise also that eternal vigilance which is the price of liberty.