The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1864-06-17
THE NOMINATIONS AT CLEVELAND.
GEN. FREMoNTs LETTER OF ACCEPT
u ANCE.

| from you, on the part of the representa-
tives of the people assembled at Cleve-
land on the 3lst Of May, desire to ex-
preos my thanks for the confidence which
led them to offer me the honorable and
difficult position of their candidate in the
approaching Presidential contest
Very honorable, because in offering it
to me you act 10 the name of great num-
Der of citizens, who seek above all things
the good Of their country, aud who have
no sort Of selfish interest in view. Very
difficult, because in accepting the caudi-
oacy you propose TO me, | am exposed 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 an ordinary election; it is
q contest for the right even to have candi-
dates, and not merely, as usual, for the
choice among them. Now, for the FIRST
time since rs, the question of constitu-
tional liberty has been brought directly
before the people for their serious consid.
GRAFTON and vote. The ordinary rights
secured under the Constitution and laws
Of the country have been violated, and ex-
traordinary 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 Of liberty, which made
the distinctive value and glory of our
country, are in truth inviolably sacred,
then there 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 be-
tween shameful silence or protest
against wrong In such considerations
originated the Cleveland Convention. 1t
was among its objects to arouse the atten-
ton of the people to such facts, and to
bring them to realize that while we are
saturating Southern soil with the best
blood Of the country, in the name of Lib
erty, we have really parted with it at
home.
To-day we have in the country the
abuses of a military dictation, without its
unity of action and vigor of execution
An administration marked at home by
disregard of constitutional rights, by its
violation of personal liberty and the liber-
ty of the press, and, as browning shame,
by its abandonment of the rig hit of asylum
"a right especially dear to all free ma
tions. Abroad, its course has been char
acterized by feebleness and want of
principle which has misled European pow
ers and driven them to belief that only
commercial interests and personal aims
are concerned, and that no great princi-
Piles are involved in the issue
The admirable conduct of the people,
their readiness to make every sacrifice de-
manded of. them, their forbearauce and
silence under the suspension of everything
that could be suspended, their many acts
of heroism and sacrifices, were all render
ed fruitless by the incapacity, or to speak
more exactly, by the personal ends for
WHICH tne war was manager.
This ipcapacity and selishness natu-
rally produced such results as led the
European Powers, and logically enough,
to the conviction that the North, with
its greatly superior population, its i'm
mense resources, and its credit, will new
er 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 admins
tration has done the country a double
wrong abroad. 1t created hostility, or,
at best, indifference among those who
would have been its friends if the real in
tentions of the people could have been
better known, while at the same time it
neglected no occasion for making the most
humiliating concessions.
Against this disastrous condition of af.
fairs the Cleveland Convention was pro-
test.
The principles which form the basis of
its platform have my unqualified and COR
dial appreciation, but | cannot so heartily
concur in all the measures which you pro-
pose. | do not believe that condscation
extended to the property Of all Rebels is
practicable, and, if it we're SO, [ don't
think it a measure of sound policy
1t is question belonging to the people
themselves to decide, and is proper
occasion for the exercise of their orr
giual and sovereign authority. AS war
measure, in the beginning of a revolt,
which might be quelled by prompt severi-
ty, understand the policy of confscatiou;
but not as a final measure of reconstruc-
tion after the suppression of an iusurrec-
ton. '. e ss
In the adjustments which are to follow
peace, no considerations of vengeance can
consistently be admitted.
The object of the war is to make per-
manently secure the peace and happiness
of the whole country, and there was but
siugle element in the way of its attain
ment This element of Slavery may be
considered practically destroyed in the
country. and it needs only your proposed