Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-06-16
The Cleveland Observation-Disclosures of Accept
anee of Fremont.
New YORK. SATURDAY. June 4.

u
souri, /; n. Z. Sanger, Of Pennsylvania, Com
naittee, dc:
GENTLEMEN: In answer to the letter which
l have had the honor to receive from you, on
the part of the represe ntatives of the peo-
pie assembled at Cleveland on the 31st of
May, desire to express my thanks for the
confidence which led them to offer me the
honorable and difficult position of their can
didate in the approaching presidential elee-
! ton very honorable, because in offering it
to me you act in the name OF great number
of citizens who seek, above all things, the
! good OF their country, and who have no sort
of selfish interest in view. Very difficult,
because, in accepting the candidacy you pro-
| pose to me, | am exposed to the reproach of
creating schism in the party with which l
I have been identified.
Had Mr.. Lincoln remained faithful to the
| principles he was elected to defend, no schism
could have been created, and no contest could
have been possible. This is not an ordinary
| election; 1t is a contest even for the right to
have candidates, and not merely, as usual, for
the choice among them. Now, for the first
time since '76, the question of Constitutional
| Liberty has been brought directly before the
people for their serious consideration and
vote. The ordinary rights secured under the
Constitution and the laws of the country have
been violated, and extraordinary powers have
| been usurped by the executive. 1t is directly
| before the people now to say whether or not
| the principles established by the revolution
| are worth maintaining. If, as we have been
taught to believe, those guarantees for liber-
| ty, which made the distinctive value and
glory of our country, all in truth inyiolable
sacred, then there must be a protest against
the arbitrary violation, which had not even
| the excuse of necessity. The schism is made
| by those who force the choice between a
shameful silence or protest against wrong
| In such considerations originated the Cleye-
| land Convention.
1t was among it's objects to arouse the at
tention of the people to such facts, and to
bring them to realize that while we are satu-
! rating Southern soil with the best blood of the
| country In the name of liberty, we have real
| ly parted with it at home.
To-day we have in the country the abuses
OF military dictation, without its unity of ac-
| ton and Vlgor OF execution; an Administra-
ton marked at home by disregard of consti-
| tutlonal rights, by it's violation of personal
liberty and the liberty Of the press, and, as
| browning shame, by its abandonment of the
| right of asylum dear to all free nations
abroad. Its course has been characterized
by teebleness and want of principle which
has misled European powers and driven them
to believe that only commercial interests and
personal aims are concerned, and that no
great principles are involved in the issue.
The admirable conduct Of the people, their
readiness to make every sacrifice demanded
OF them, their torbearance and silence under
the suspension of everything that could be
suspended, their manly acts of heroism and
sacrifice, were all rendered fruitless by the
lncapaclty, or, to speak more exactly, by the
personal ends for which the war was man
aged. This incapacity and selfshness natu-
rally produced such results as led the Euro
pean powers, and logically enough, to the
CONVICTION that the North and its greatly su-
perlor population, Its numerous resources and
Its credit will never be able to recover the
South. Sympathies which would have been
with us from the outset of the war were
turned against US, and in this way the Ad-
ministration has done the country double |
wrong abroad. 1t created hostility, or.
a. best, indifference among those who |
s would Raye wR fsn at It's he same time Elf
lected no occasion for making the most hu-
initiating concessions.
Against this disastrous condition of affairs |
the Cleveland Convention was protest.
The principles which form the basis of its
platform, have my unqualified and cordial |
APPROPRIATIONS but [ cannot so heartily concur
in all the measures which you propose. l do
not believe that confscation extended to the
property of all rebels, is practicable, and if it
were so, do not think it a measure of sound
policy. 1t is in fact, a question belonging to
the people themselves to decide, and is a
proper occasion for the exercise Of their ORR
ginal and sovereign authority. AS war
measure in the beginning of a revolt which
irbt no nv |
derstand the policy of confscation; but not
as a final measure of reconstruction, after the
suppression of an insurrection.
In the ad justments which are to follow
peace, no consideration of vengeance can be
consistently admitted.
The object of the war is to make perma-
nently secure the peace and happiness Of the
whole country, and there was but single ell
ement in the way of its attainment This ell
ement of slavery may be considered practi
cally destroyed in the country, and it needs
only your proposed amendment to the Con-
stitution to make its extinction complete.
With this extinction of Slavery, the party
divisions created by it have disappeared and
if in the history of the country there has ever
been time when the American people, with
out regard to one or another of the political
divisions, were called upon to give solemnly
their voice in a matter which involved the
safety of the United States, it is assuredly the
present time.
If the Convention at Baltimore will nomi-
nate any man whose past life justifes a we'll
grounded confidence in his fidelity to our
cordial principles, there is no reason why
there should be any division among the real
ly patriotic men of the country To any
such, I should be most happy to give cordi-
al and active support.
My own decided preference is to aid in this
way and not to be myself a candidate; but
| if Mr.. Lincoln be renominated, as I believe
| it would be fatal to the country to endorse a
policy and renew power which has cost us
the lives of thousands Of men and neediessly
put the country on the road to bankruptcy
| there will remain no alternative but to organ
| ize against him every element of conscien-
tious opposition, with the view to prevent the
misfortune of his reelection.
In this contingency accept the nominal
ton at Cleveland, and as a preliminary step,
| have resigned my commission in the army.
This was sacrifice it gave me pain to make.
But had for long time fruitlessly endeav-
ored to obtain service. / make this sacrifice
only to regain liberty of speech and to
| leave nothing in the way of discharging to
my utmost ability the task you have set for
me-
With my earnest and sincere thanks for
| your expressions of confidence and regard,
and for the many honorable terms in which
| you acqualnt me with the actions of the COM
mitteee, am, gentlemen,
Very respectfully and truly yours,
J. G. FREMONT
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