The New York herald., 1864-09-04
The Presidential Canvsss-Ths Duty Of
General McClellAn.

depressed. Freignis quiet.
The Presidential Canvsss-Ths Duty OF
General Mcclellan.
The organs OF the administration should re-
serve their thunder. The Presidential canvass
will not be fairly opened until General Nc
Clellan issues bis letter accepting the Chicago
nomination aud giving his views In regard to
tie Chicago platform. II is not so certain as
tie republicans seem TO suppose thai he VIII
adept that platform, peace pianks and ali. 70
ltical platforms are political humbngs. LIN
coin cooiiy kicked aside the Monroe doctrine
plank Of toe IA hnore platform. aud Fremont
split up The conGsoa.on plaalS OF tao Cleveland
platform ard yet there was no ggnmb'ins
among tie a1hefents Of these candidates. Gen
oral Mcclellan may set the Chicago platform
aside ana staad simply upon his own merits il
lie pleases Aud Shis is precisely the cog1sc
we advise and urge him TO adopt!
Tie Chicago platform, with lis glittering
eenera,ities about @aa immediate cessation of
hostiities ," reads cry rdiculousIy alongside OF
the glorious news iTou Atlanta and the oiioial
statement thst GecSsal Grant reqaires only
one hundred thousand more men 10 finish up
this war. People d6 not usually hoist the
white flag just as TIE enemy is about to sur
render. r.. cowaraly a concession to de-
feated s<&And 50 reasonable an invita-.
ton t1VEef Davis % hold ont until
the 4th OF Marc. 500 ought TO receive TO
sympathy from 81 der of General Mcclellan 5
antecedents. a. patriot he cannot stand
upon such plat n, ana IN no event can lie
be elected upoa The only platform that
General MoC!eiila requires is that furnished
by his public ,e arj Il he is foolish enough
TO mt bis head tn.o tae trap which thc peace
men have preral T .og BIN 40 has 10 chance
whatever with tic people.
The democratic politicians appear to haya
20 brains Of their own When they want ideas
.bey turn 10 the IlGRALp; but they always
manage to 50 J.si. our ideas that VIC hardly
know them again hen we ind them in Tie
democratic platforms. We recently suggested
to Presidan. Lincoln that be should offer tae
rebels an armistice ard convention 0! States.
I hat was statein.ll,iiic idea. During the
armistice both parties would remain as they
are. holding the same positions, ana ready 10
resume hostlities K a mo;le2t's notice il t'ic
convention did not result in reunion. Such
an armistce occurred between Denmark and
Prussia, during the sessions oe the London Con-
ference. The democratic politicians borrowed
this idea from the HERALD; but behold how
they have altered aai deoascd it. Instead cf
an arinistcc, the Advantages ofwhich would be
equal, they propose m immediate cessation OF
hostil ties" in which the rebels wCuld have all
the advantage Ies:ead Of aa immediate con-
yention Of States during the armstice they
talk vaguely about an ultimate convention OF
States, or other ,neaas''--a phrase which means
simply disunion. Thus patriotic, statesman
like scheme has been transformed by the cop
pcrheads into 4 ccwardly and reasonable pro-
position, designed 10 encourage the rebels
If we urge Gen Mcclellan to sternly rebuke
this disloyal platform upon national grounds
we may also urge him to do SO upon political
grounds. The peace men might refuse to sup
port him if he repudiated the peace platform
but that would be the greatest favor they could
confer upon him. Gen Mcclellan is not a
copperhead, and has no real affiliations with
copperheads. The peace men openly opposed
bis nomination inside and outside the Chicago
Convention. They denounced him quite as
venomously az tie administration lackeys de-
nounce him. Now they pretend to support
him; but their support is losing him votes
every day, and they know il. One Mcclellan
editorial in Ben Woods lottery and peace or
gan does him more harm than thousand 7'ri-
5V7ae SANDERS. The republicans understand
this, and take good tare 10 republish ell such
articles. 7hc closer Mcclellan is tied to peace
men and peace platform tie further lie i
removed from the loyal people. Mea who
have stood by Mcclellan, a. we have done, FOR
three long yeaTs. through good report and evil
report, in spite Of vilfcation, slandcr and
abuse, Low declare that they cannot vote for
him upon TIE Chicago platform. Are these
tue friends 70 be sacrificed for the sake Or a
few treacherous sem,-iraitors, like vallan
CHAM and the Woods? General Mcclellan
nsust have changed greatly Il he permits this.
The coppelhced leaders do not desire McClel-
ian's election. Fernando Wood knows that
one speech OF his for Mcclellan viii i0jure tic
General al least hundred votes. Yalla1diahaa
and the rest Of them are in the same situation.
But The Woods are bsa tup both by the nd
minisiration and tie rebels, and Vallandig-
hams sympathics are entirely with the South.
Fernando Wood tried 10 nominate Seymour for
President, SO as to secure LiHcoin's reelection,
and falling in that lc viii now try to do.eat
Mcclellan BY supporting him as peace can
didate. These, We beli &c, are the terms oil the
bargain between the csprerheads and Lincoln.
Their bargain with TIE rcbcls---to secure which
$4,000 cbeehs are sent on from Montreal
embraces a Northern Iasurecsiou, in TIE eycat
oi Lncoln's reelection, aud a di3unon peace
II Lincoln be deleatcl Oar merchants and