The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1864-06-24
GEN. FREMONT'S LETTER
Accepting the Cleveland Nomination.

GENTLEMEN, In answer to the let
ter which have had the honor to re-
celve from you, on the part of the rep
resentatives of the people assembled
at Cleveland on the 31st of May, / de-
sire to express my thanks for the con
tidence which led them to offer Inc the
honorable and difficult position of their
candidate in the approaching Presi
dental contest
Very honorable, because in offering
it to me you act in the name of II
great number of citizens who seek
above all things the good of their
country, and who have no sort of sell
fish interest in view Very difficult, be-
cause in accepting the candidacy you
propose to ma am exposed to the re-
proach of creating schism in the par
ty with which / have been identified
Had Mr. Lincoln remained faithful
to the principles he was elected to de-
fend, no schism could have been crea-
ted and no contest could have been
/ possible. This is not an ordinary
election. 1t Is a contest for the right
I even to have candidates, and not
merely, as usual, for the choice among
1 nhem. Now, for the first time since
/ 76, the question of constitutional liber-
/ ty has been brought directly before
the people for their serious considera-
+ ton and vote. The ordinary rights
secured under the constitution and
the laws Of the country have been vio-
lated, and extraordinary powers have
been usurped by the Executive. 1t Is
directly before the people now to say
whether or not the principles estab-
lished by the Revolution are worth
maintaining.
If, as we have been taught to believe,
those guarantees for liberty which
made the distinctive value and glory
Of our country, are in truth inyiolably
sacred, then here must be protest
against the arbitrary violation which
had not even the excuse of necessity.
The schism is made by those who
force the choice between shameful
silence or n protest against wrong. In
such considerations originated the
I Cleveland Convention. 1t was among
its objects to arouse the attention of
the people to such facts, and to bring
them to realize that while we are sat
urating Southern soil with the best
blood of the country IN the name Of
liberty, we have really parted with it
Mt home.
To-day we have in the country the
abuses of a military dictation, without
its unity of action and vigor of execu-
ton. An administration marked at
Home by disregartl of constitutional
rights, by its violations Of personal
liberty and the liberty Of the press
and, as browning shame, by its aban-
donment of the right Of asylum, q
right especially dear to all free nations
abroad. Its course has been charac-
terized by feebleness and want OIL
principle which has misled European
Powers and driven them to a belief
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 for.
bearance and silence under the
suspension of everything that could
be suspended, their many acts o.
her oism and sacrifices were all rem
dered fruitless by the ineapacity, OF
to speak more exactly by the persona
ends for which the wan was managed
This incapacity and selhshness natu-
rally produced such results as led the
European Powers, and logically
enough, to the conviction that tn,
North. with its greatly superior popu
latiOn, its immense resources and it,
credit, will never be able to recover
the South. Sympathies which should
have been with us from the outset o
!. the war We're turned against us, anC
in this way the administration ha,
done the country a double wrone
abroad. 1t created hostility, or II
best Indifference, among those who
would have been its friends il the rea
!, interests of the people could have
been better known, while, at the sam,
time, it neglected no occasion for max
ing the most Illuminating concessions
Against this disastrous condition o
affairs the Cleveland Convention wa
a protest
The principles witch form the basis
Of its platform have my unqualified
and cordial appreciation; but | canno
so heartily concur in all the measures
which you propose. l do not beliey,
that conhscation extended to Tia,
> property of all rebels is practicable
and if it were so, do not think it
measure Of sound policy 1t is, il
fact, question belonging to the peo
pie themselves to decide, and is
proper occasion for the exercise o
; their original and sovereign authority
Z AS a war measure, III the beginning 0
revolt which might be quelled by
prompt severity, understand the pol
3 icy OF coniscation, but not as fna
measure of reconstruction after tn,
suppression OF an instruction.
? In the adjustments which are to fol
( low peace no considerations of ven
7 geance can consistently be admitted
7 The object of the war is to max
permanently secure the peace an,
happiness of the whole country, an,
there was but single element in th
. way of its attainment. This elemen