Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-06-18

Don steal the Presidency, my honest friend,
for iea- the gaiiows may b. your end

-" 90 thf FaAoWs may D. your end
The Baltimore Convention has met. spoken its
lesson. and adjourned. The conspiracy which
was set on foo, by those two distinguished Ameri-
can Jesulis, Weed and Seward al the beginning
OF tue war, and the object of which 20 hive
the presidency perpetually 10 their use, has fruc
tihed 10 rs frsi stage. according TO their cacu-
lations. In the face of the revised traditions OF
the nation. and IN direct antagonism with the
living protest of the North against Southern
leadership. theY succeeded in dTagOoning con-
vention within the shadow OF the White House.
and N naming two SdAthern men 20 be the pro-
spective owners of the country. The task was
intricate, prolonged aud difiiult. L. had 10 be
prosecuted at the expense Of many apostacies,
and engineered through a host OF contradictions;
out trusting 10 the novel opportunities presented
by the period, for perfdy and double dealing.
they looked the danger in the face and undertook
the experiment without the slightest scruple
Having 10 confidence in the people and being
accustomed TO regard government a. ! machine
constructed aud run entirely for the use of poll
ucians. Messrs. Weed and Seward early became
seriously impressed that the profound shocks of
war would unsettle our institutions; and that,
while our system was being dslocated some bold
adyenturer might possible step in, and after re
| forming It in a stronger shape, own il az a per
sonalty-such personally, in short. Mr..
Seward described the Presidency TO be. when he
claimed it as the personal attribute and property
OF Abraham Lincoln in the speech, at Auburn,
from which We have quoted the above ornamental
couplet. While deducing these conclusions of
domestic change, il was, OF course, the first
thought of Mr.. Seward who had been a standing
Presidential asprant for sixteen years, TO own
the Presidency for himself but. feeling that he
was exhausted of popularity, and rejecting,
! hat fharp - = il.
! which he nad not the courage 10 confront, he
! agreed with " eed TO work TO their object behind
some other screen. For while, Mcclellan was
their man; but, finding him TO be more devoid of
courage even than themselyes-and. what was
worse that he had been irreyocably captured by
another clique, they turned their attention upon
Horatio Seymour, and fancied that. in connec
ton with him, they might lay the foundation of
a new national conservative party
So promising did this programme appear that
Weed, who recently figured the master-man-
ager at Baltimore, actually came out. after due
conference with Horato ana formally took leave
of Mr.. Lincoln and his pmty, aud proclaimed
| himself conservative" of the latest brand
! AS for Seward, though not quite 80 demonStra-
tive as Weed, he was equally decided AMI much
more effective and conferred, without stint, upon
his new Presidential Candidate, all the patronage
which attached to his department. and which,
with the alu OF W ecu. ne cDuiI comm tslu III the
New York Custom House aud the other fedora
cribs and managers of this State. Thus sus
tanned against the natural current of popular
opinion, Seymour triumphed over Wadsw orth,
and the first strong steI Was taken for a success
! full march over the Republican incumbent of the
| White House. 1t turned out, however, much to
the surprise of the suttle engineers that Sew
mour was greater coward, even. than McClel-
| Ian. He was fine in TronunciamentOs, grand in
! gloomy threats: but when required to act with
steadiness and vigOr. Invariably broke down, and
| found some handy method OF retreat. Like
| Weed and Seward, he. too. had lost his conf
dence in the capacity Of the people for self gov
crnment, and was quite willing TO lend hand in
reconstructing society. on some such basis as the
| South proposed Unfortunately, however, he
| had been too open in ais sympathy with the re-
bellion and too bitter his denunciations of the
| liberty loving masses Of New England, TO leave
/ him long possessed of the necessary capital for
| the proposed campaign. The test of the July
riots moreover, and the moral feebleness which
he exhibited in his successful struggle with the
New York Police Commissioners. revealed TO
| Weed and Seward thai be was utterly incompe
tent. and they must drop him for some new man.
This a puzzling complication, but after
deep study, there seemed to be no public charac-
ter, within these good mems vision, available
as Mr. Lincoln Indeed that had been the judg
ment OF both Weed and Seward from the start,
but the latter entertained toward Abraham such
an uncomfortable aversion, for having been the
instrument, through ADLER hands, of defeating his
cherished aspirations at Chicago that for a long
while he was unwilling to forego his projects of
| revenge.
The fauIe of Seymor, however, to come up
10 their expectations, and the difficulty, at the
late date of tina, discovery, TO find an available
candidate in his place, ,ecided them finally to
fall back Oh Lincoln i soon as this was set
tied upon, the programme OF the new COnserva-
tive party dropped. Weed returned to the
secret councils OF the White House, and Seward
went uD to Auburn to take the stump, and claim
that the next tour years Of the presidency be
longed to Abraham Lincoln as personal right,
aud at the same time, to warn all other asprants
as trespassers. if not as traitors. His doctrine
was, that the election which had been held under
the Chicago nomination, was a compact on the
part of the people, in favor of Lincoln and
against themselves, that be should have four full
year. of uninterrupted sovereignty the whole
of the United States; and that, inasmuch as his
jurisdiction had been circumscrbed through the
revolt of certain Southern States, the people were
bound TO make the bargain good In other
words. that the right of Abraham Lincoln to be
President, was superior TO the publics right to a
new choice. and that he was entitled To four full
years Of Office, after the rebellion had been sub
dued, whenever that might be. This speech of
Seward, so audacIOus and revolutionary, was the
keel of the structure that was set ahOst full
rugged last week at Baltimore; and the time of
its delivery at Auburn, was the first hour Mr.
Lincoln was really the candidate OF Weed and
Seward, and their confederate Albinoes in this
State Since then, however, they have consist
emily engineered him. and put in requistion all
the arts of practice 10 return ann a winner 10 the
post
Consistent with their contempt for the opinions
OF the people, and little wary at the same time
of the new ideas which the heroic temper of the
period might have infused into the public mind.
they struck out plan for carrying their conven-
ton through which would render il a mere BODY
of auxiaries TO express their pre- communicated
will. The State Legislatures, composed in large
part OF persons easily controlled by the influence
of Government, were to lead off and make the
nomination of Abraham Lincoln seeming ne |
cessitv to the nation. Ii was a shrewd device
and worthy of philosophers who are in favor of
restricting the deliberations of the people One
after another these legislative bodies, after ex
periencing the soothing influence of Washington.
let off their resolutions in regular succession. and
80 overawed the country that the bewildered
masses felt il to be hopeless to atiemp, TO stem
the tide.
1t was apparent 10 all, however, even to those
who were lavorably inclined to Mr. Lincoln. that
their rights of original expression had been utter
ly usurped aud transferred for the future 20 the
needy adventures who annually Desiege them for
posts in the councils of the State 1t did not sur
prise any one therefore. 10 the exhausted ma