Nov. 5, 1862 |
Sept. 31, 1864. |
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regard and kindness,” that they deserved.
Then General George B. McClellan, who had been relieved of military command about twenty-one months before,
was nominated for the office of President, and George H. Pendleton, of Ohio, for Vice-President.
The latter, in Congress and out of it, had been, next to Vallandigham, one of the most outspoken of the opponents of the war. The Convention soon afterward adjourned, but did not dissolve.1
The Platform adopted by the Convention was read by the people with amazement.
The thinking men of the Democratic party were amazed by the perpetration of such a political blunder.
The loyal people were amazed at the spectacle of a large body of influential citizens, professing “fidelity to the Union under the Constitution,” censuring, without stint, the defenders of that Union and Constitution, and refraining from uttering a word of reproof to those who were attempting to destroy them; also their evident willingness to abandon further attempts to save their country from ruin.
The soldiers were amazed by this outspoken impeachment of their valor, by a declaration that their efforts in the field were failures, and that those who had refused to support them in those efforts, and had opposed their exercise of the privileges of citizens in the use of the ballot, while in the field, should have the effrontery to offer them “sympathy” and “protection.”
The open enemies of the country — the Conspirators and their friends — were amazed and delighted by this ominous breaking of the dark clouds of war, through which gleamed a bright ray of hope of speedy peace and independence.2
The proposition at Chicago for the Government to abandon further efforts to suppress the Rebellion by force of arms, because the war, had proved a failure, had scarcely flashed over the telegraph wires, when the glorious announcements followed that Sherman had taken Atlanta; that Farragut had seized the defenses and shut up the harbor of Mobile, and thereby laid the city at the mercy of the Union armies; and that the President of the Republic had, by proclamation,
asked the people to give common thanks in their respective places of public worship on the ensuing Sabbath, and directed salutes of one hundred guns to be fired at all military and naval arsenals of the land.3
1 Mr. Wickliffe, of Kentucky, after saying, that circumstances might make it necessary, between that time and the inauguration of a new President, for “the Democracy of the country to meet in Convention again,” offered a resolution that the Convention should not dissolve,but retain its organization, and be subject to a call by the proper committee. This resolution was adopted.
2 “The action of the Chicago Convention,” Alexander H. Stephens wrote, on the 22d of September, “so far as its platform of principles goes, presents a ray of light, which, under Providence, may prove the dawn of the day to this long and cheerless night — the first ray of light I have seen from the North since the war began. This cheers the heart, and toward it I could almost exclaim, ‘ Hail, holy light, offspring of heaven, first born of the eternal co-eternal beam, may I express thee, unblamed, since God is light!’ ” The general sentiment of leading men in the Confederacy was that the election of the Chicago nominees would secure the independence of that Confederacy, and it stimulated them to fight our soldiers more desperately, feeling that success on the part of the Confederate armies would assist the election of McClellan. “All of us perceive,” said the Charleston Courier, “the intimate connection existing between the armies of the Confederacy and the peace men in the United States. These constitute two immense forces, that are working together for the procurement of peace. The party whose nomination and platform we are considering are altogether dependent for success on the courage and resolution of our fighting men. If their generalship, sagacity, valor, and vigilance are unable to obtain victories, and to arrest the progress of the invading hordes, the existing administration will laugh to scorn all the efforts of the opposition, and, in spite of the most powerful combinations, will continue to hold the places they occupy. Our success in battle Insures the success of McClellan. our failure will Inevitably lead to his defeat. It is the victories that have crowned our arms since this year began, that have given existence, strength, and harmony to that organization which has arrayed itself with firm, defiant front against the despot and his minions.”
3 See page 444.
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