was favorable to the success of their plans. The assaults upon the Administration had grown more virulent, and seemed to produce more effect. Many of its friends, who, when Mr. Lincoln was renominated, had considered the main work of the political campaign over, had grown gradually doubtful. The uncertainty as to the course which the Democratic party would pursue compelled them almost to inaction, at least so far as offensive warfare was concerned, while they were themselves exposed to every kind of attack. And when the time for the Chicago Convention came, its managers gathered to it with high hopes, believing that if they could only unite upon a candidate and a platform which should not violently offend either wing of the party, their success was certain. The peace wing of the party, however, had been relatively strengthened in the interim. The delays and losses of the armies, the hope deferred to which the long and bloody struggles in Virginia and in Georgia had familiarized but not inured the popular heart, the rise in gold, the call for five hundred thousand more men—all these things had given them strength, and made them more vehement and more exacting. Their great champion, Mr. Vallandigham, had surreptitiously returned from Canada, in violation of the sentence which ordered his banishment from the lines during the war, and had remained in open defiance of the Government, whose failure to arrest and send him back, or otherwise to punish him, was treated then as an indication of weakness rather than of wisdom. He and his friends were active everywhere, and did not hesitate to declare that they must have a peace candidate, or platform, one or both, at all hazards, and threatened to nominate a candidate of their own, if this course was not pursued. It cannot be doubted that the fatal course which was finally adopted by the Convention was largely due to the efforts of Mr. Vallandigham, and to the encouragement which his friends received from the apparent unwillingness of the Government to molest him on his return.

The Convention met in Chicago on Monday, August 29.

It was called to order by August Belmont, of New York, the Chairman of the National Committee, on whose motion Ex-Governor Bigler, of Pennsylvania, was appointed temporary Chairman. The business transacted on the first day embraced the appointment of Committees on Credentials, Organization, and Resolutions, of which latter committee Mr. Vallandigham was chosen chairman.

On Tuesday the committees reported. There were no contested delegations except from Kentucky, and this question the committee settled by admitting both delegations and dividing the vote between them. Louisiana and the Territories had sent delegates, but these were at once excluded. Governor Horatio Seymour, of New York, was chosen President of the Convention, with twenty-one vice-presidents and secretaries. In the afternoon, the

platform was reported.

The second resolution, which embodied the spirit of the Convention, and shaped the succeeding canvass, was as follows:

Resolved, That this Convention does explicitly declare, as the sense of the American people, that after four years of failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war, during which, under the pretence of military necessity or war power higher than the Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every part, and public liberty and private right alike trodden down, and the material prosperity of the country essentially impaired, justice, humanity, liberty, and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of the States or other peaceable means, to the end that, at the earliest practicable moment, peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal Union of the States.

The other resolutions assailed the Administration for · its military interference in elections, its arbitrary arrests, suppression of freedom of speech and of the press, denial of the right of asylum, imposing test-oaths, taking away arms from the people (as had been done where there was danger of armed insurrection on the part of local associations), and disregard of duty towards our soldiers who were prisoners of war; and they extended "the sympathy of the Democratic party" to the soldiers and the sailors.

Mr. Long, of Ohio, who, as will be recollected, had been publicly censured by Congress for a speech bordering upon treason, endeavored to amend the resolutions so as to "place the Convention in a position favoring peace beyond the mistakes of any equivocal language." Under the working of the previous question, however, Mr. Long was silenced, and the resolutions were adopted with but four dissenting votes.

The Convention then proceeded to the nomination of a candidate for President. The nomination of General McClellan was the signal for a fierce attack upon him by some of the ultra peace men, but he was vigorously defended, and the debate lasted till darkness compelled an adjournment. The vote was taken as soon as the Convention met in the morning, and General McClellan received one hundred and sixty-two votes out of two hundred and twenty-eight, and this number was increased to two hundred and two and a half before the ballot was announced; the rest having been cast for Thomas H. Seymour, of Connecticut.

For Vice-President, the Convention nominated George H. Pendleton, of Ohio, whose position was unqualifiedly among the ultra peace men.

Mr. Wickliffe, of Kentucky, saying that "the delegates from the West were of the opinion that circumstances may occur between noon of to-day and the fourth of March next, which will make it proper for the Democracy of the country to meet in convention again," moved the following resolution :

Resolved, That this Convention shall not be dissolved by adjournment at the close of its business, but shall remain organized, subject to be called at any time and place that the Executive National Committee shall designate.

This suggestive resolution was unanimously adopted, and the Convention then separated.

The action of the Convention was eminently cheering to the friends of the Administration. It was more open and honest than they had anticipated; it avowed senti ments which, though entertained, it was feared would be

concealed. The whole tone of the Convention had been in opposition to the popular feeling on the war. The ultra peace men had been prominent in its deliberations. Vallandigham, Harris, Long, Pendleton, men who had done their utmost to help on the rebellion and hamper the Government, had been its ruling spirits. The tone of its speeches had been in entire sympathy with the rebels, for whom no words of reproof were uttered, while they were unmeasured in their denunciation of Mr. Lincoln and his Administration. The news of the fall of Fort Morgan had come in upon them as they sat in conclave, but it won no cheers from that assembly for the success of the Old Flag and the leaf of imperishable renown which added to the full wreath of laurel, which already crowned our army and our navy. Its resolutions had declared that the war was a failure, and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities; while, as a striking commentary upon this declaration, the very day after the Convention adjourned brought the news of the fall of Atlanta and the glorious success of that grand march of Sherman's army which turned the tide of war, and contributed so largely to its final success.

The Union party instantly and joyfully accepted the issue thus boldly tendered. They knew that, once fairly before the country, the result could not be doubtful. The people did not believe that the effort to maintain the Union by force of arms had yet proved "a failure." They did not believe that the Union could be preserved by negotiation, and they were not in favor of a cessation of hostilities until victory should be secured. The issue had been fairly made between the two parties in their respective declarations at Baltimore and Chicago. The former demanded a vigorous prosecution of the war, and denounced all terms of peace short of an unconditional surrender of the rebels; the latter demanded a suspension of hostilities and a resort to negotiation.

The great body of the Democratic party throughout the country, sympathizing with the national sentiment, felt

that they had been placed in a false position by the action of their convention. An effort was made to stem the rising tide of public condemnation by General McClellan, their candidate for the Presidency, in his letter of acceptance. He declared himself in favor of preserving the Union by a vigorous prosecution of the war, if all the resources of statesmanship," which should be first employed, should prove inadequate. The letter, however, was without effect. It did something to alienate the peace men who had controlled the Chicago Convention, but nothing to disturb the conviction of the people that the same men would control General McClellan also in the event of his election.

The political campaign was thus fairly opened. The Fremont movement, which had but little strength from the start, now came to an inglorious end. Shortly before the meeting of the Chicago Convention, some friends of General Fremont, with some faint hope of compelling Mr. Lincoln to withdraw, had written to the General to know if he would withdraw from the canvass, provided Mr. Lincoln would do so. In reply, General Fremont, saying that he had no right to act independently of the men who nominated him, suggested that some understanding should be had between the supporters of the Baltimore and Cleveland Conventions, with a view to the convocation of a third convention; for, as he said, "a really popular convention, upon a broad and liberal basis, so that it could be regarded as a convocation in mass of the people, and not the work of politicians, would command public confidence." The proposition, however, commanded not the slightest attention; and after the Democratic nomination was made, the lines were drawn so closely that the pressure of public sentiment compelled the absolute withdrawal of General Fremont, which took place on the 21st of September. From that time forward the contest was between Mr. Lincoln, representing the sentiments of the Baltimore Platform on the one hand, and General McClellan, representing the sentiments of the Chicago Platform on the other. The lines were clearly