Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1864-06-07
THE CLEVELAND CONVENTION.
Cen. Fremont Accepts the Nomination 10

.r. the Presidency.
On the Sd instant, the committee appointed
Tor the purpose at the Cleveland Con vention.
addressed letters to John O. Fremont and John
Cochran, formally announcing their nomina-
tions as candidates for the Presidency and
Vice Presidency of the United States.
Gen. Fremont replied on June ith, and ex-
pressed thanks for the nomination. He con-
sIders the position Of candidate Of the conven-
ton an honorable and difficult one,'' and says:
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 ac-
cepting the candidacy you propose TO me am
xyosed to the reproach OF creating schism
in the party with which 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 ordinary
election, it is contest for the right even to
have candidates, and not merely as usual for
the choice among them. Now, for the first
time since 20, the question OF constitutional
liberty has been brought directly before the
people for their 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 II is directly before the
people now to say whether or not the princi-
pies established by the Revolution are worth
maintaining.
If, as we have been taught to believe, those
guarantees OF liberty which made the distinc-
tive value and glory OF our country are in
truth invio1ably 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 ashametul silence or protest against
wrong. In such considerations originated the
Cleveland Convention. 1t was among its OBJ.
jects to arouse the attention Of the people TO
such facts, and to bring them TO realize that
while we are saturatlng southern soil with
the best blood of the country, in the name of
lIlDortv.
home.
To. day we have in the country the abuses of
a military dictation without its unity Of action
and yigor of execution. An administration
marked at home by disregard OF constitutional
rights, by its violation of personal liberty and
the liberty Of the press, and, as crowning
shame, by its abandonment of the right of asy-
lum-al right especially dear to all free ma
tons. Abroad its course has been character
lied by feebleness and want of principle
which has misled European powers aud
driven them to a belief that only commercial
interests and personal aims are concerned,
and that no grea. principles are involved in
the issue.
The admirable conduct Of the people, their
readiness to make every sacrifice demanded Of
them, their forbearance and silence under the
suspension Of everything that could be sus-
pended, their many acts of heroism and sacri.
fees, were all rendered fruitless by the inca
pacity, or, to speak more exactly, by the per-
sonal ends for which the war was managed
This incapacity and selfshness naturally pro-
ers, and, logically enough, to the conviction
that the North, with its greatly superior popu-
lation, its immense resources, and its credit,
will never be able to recover the South. Sym.
pathies which should have been with us from
the outset OF the war were turned against us,
and in this way the Administration had done
the. country double wrong abroad 1t Gre
ated hostility, or, at best, indifference among
those who would have been its friends if the
real Intentions Of the people could have been
better known; while at the same time it neg
lected no occasion for making the most hu-
initiating concessions.
the Cleveland Convention was a protest.
The principles which form the basis Of its
platform have my unqualified and cordial ap-
probation, but cannot so heartily concur in
all the measures which you propose. / do not
believe that confis scation extended TO the prop
erty OF all rebels is practicable, and If it were
SO, / don't think IL q measure of sound policy.
Its question belonging to the people them.
the exercise OF their original and sovereign.
authority. As q war measure, in the Begin
ming Of revolt, which might be quelled by
prompt severity, understand the policy Of
confiscation; but not as final measure OF
reconstruction after the suppression OF an in q
surrection. ~ -E-4ff Z f,Iks II
In the adjustments which are to follow peace, !.
no considerations of vengeance can consistently
The object of the war is to make permanently
secure the peace and happiness pf the whole
country and there was sa. sI6is element semsnI N
!, slavery maybe con sIdered practically destroyed
in tie country, and il needs onlyyour proposed
amendment Of the Constitution 70 make its ex.
VIII tSIs sxttn ction Of slavery, The patty d.
visions created by it have alsp disappeared.
, And IL in the history OF the country, there has
ever been a time when the American people.
without regard 70 one or another OF the poliu-,
s7tDn 1t1 .atHf - "a E5st4 Do feEos "