The Grand Haven news. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1858-18??, 1864-09-28
Gen. McClellan's Letter of Acceptance.

following: "We have the satisfaction OF
placing before our readers to-day the ad-
mirable and patriotic letter in which Gen.
Mcclellan has signifed his acceptance OF
the nomination conferred upon him by
the Democratic Convention which recent
ly assembled at Chicago. If there be
any one who can read this letter without
admiration for the pure and elevated pat
riotism which IL breathes, or without re-
spect for the writer, it must be one in
whom the spirit of party has quenched
all generous sensibility to private worth
or public virtue outside of his own polit-
ical circle. Certain it is that no lover of
the Union and no friend of the Constitu-
tion can find aught against which to OBJ
ject in this clear, calm, and frank exposi-
tion, and il is only rs the minds of men
may be warped by their addiction to
some policy or purpose lying outside Of
the Union and Constitution that they can
find ground for even pretext of excep-
tion to this compepd of political doctrine.
In our view, it covers the whole duty
of true patriots at this crisis, and, com
ing rs it does from a man who, both in
public and private life, as well as by the
dignity of one as by the purity of the
Other, has given full guarantee for the
honesty and steadfastness with which he
holds his opinions, this manly confession
of political faith will go to the hearts of
the people as it obviously comes from the
heart of the writer.
awe are not Of those who, 10 this
hour of the nations need, would seek to
repose an undue reliance in the hand of
man. But as men placed in high COM
mand over the interests and welfare of the
people are the instruments, under Provi-
dence, Of those counsels, purposes and
policies on which the veal or woe Of the
nation mainly depends, we do feel that,
in this juncture, the American people,
more than at any former period Of their
history are called to weigh candidly and
deliberately the character of a man in
whose hands they shall con6de tremen-
dous issues Of the next four years, so far
as those issues can be determined by the
action of the Chief Magistrate Of the
country.
"The critical times in which we live
call for man in the Presidential chair
who shall look with single eye to the
restoration Of the Union under the Con-
stitution, without having his attention di-
verted BY extraneous objects, which COM
mand paramount adhesion, to the det-
riment of the Union and the violation
of the Constitution. The revolutionary
times in which we live call for a man
who has faith in the fundamental princi-
Piles of the government, and who, when
the foundations of the republic nre rocking
to their very base will not suffer himself
to be misled by the false lights Of rad
ical fanaticism. The changeful times in
which we live call for man who is just
and tenacious of his purposes, one not 10
be moved from his deliberate resolve or
from his conscientious convictions by any
outside pressure of faction. The solemn
times in which we live call for man who,
understanding his speech, shall address
himself to the momeutous task he is call
ed upon to perform with a gravity and
sobriety which shall be at the farthest
remove from trifiing and levity. The diff
ficult times 10 which we live call for man
Of vigorous intellect, expanded by ripe cul-
ture, and at the same time sharpened by
contact with men, and raised to the height
of emergencies by the discipline of active
life. Such, all will agree are the demands
of our age and land. Two men are set be-
fore the people as the candidates named
by their respective adherents to meet
these requirements. On the one hand is
Abraham Lincoln; on the other hand is
George B. Mcclellan. Each has made
for himself the issues and the record on
which he challenges the public ordeal.-
1t is for the people to choose between
them, and 10 choosing to decide whether
the Union is the paramount object Of the
nations aspiration in the present struggle,
or whether the destinies Of the Union are
to be complicated with pledges and com
mitments which we verify believe must
be as fatal to its practical restoration as
in theory they are alien to the spirit and
the Constitution"
They mean TO raise tall students in