The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1868-10-09
WHOLE NUMBER eol.

without at the same time blaming the
administration and the party in pow
er as equally disunionists.
While Seymour thus uses his in
duence as Governor to bring the Gov
lernment into contempt, and to stir
up in the North hatred and suspicion
toward it, Grant was seeking to
beat the enemy, and about this time
said: 81 shall take no step back
ward it would seem to the country.
Inow discouraged, like a retreat
lhave considered the plan, and have
determined to carry it out
A crisis in the affairs Of the nation
and of the war came on in July,
1868. Grant had been for several
months beIeaguering Vicksburg; no
one knew with what success. Lee
had invaded Pennsylvania, and was
Iopposed by the Army of the Potomac
under Meade. The people were
anxious, excited, fearful of disaster
,lSeymour was then Governor and it
, was in his power, by cheering and
hopeful words, to animate the down.
least, to rally the people for sdeterm-
lined effort, to unite all men for the
Isalvation of the Union. Is that what
Ihe did On the 4th of July he adj
dressed the people ofthe cademyof
Music in New York. He begun with
Ia sneer, we'll calculatedto delight the
ienemies of the Union. "When l
accepted the invitation to speak
with others at this meeting, we were
Ipromised the downfall Of Vicksburg,
1.-THE opening OF the Mississippi, the
Iprobable capture of the Confederate
Icapitol, and the exhaustion OF the
rebellion. But in the moment Of ex-
!. lpected victory there came the mid
might cry for help from Ptnnsylva-
lnia," &c IL was the keynote of his
Ispeech. It mas one long and bitter
Iphilipic against the administration.
But while Seymour was still railing
Iand complaining, delighting all who
wished the war to fail and jeff. DAVIS
Ito win, Grant was receiving the SUE
render of PembertOn and his army,
and Of Vicksburg, and Meade was
defeating Lee in o bloody battle at
Gettysburg. ,@et
No sooner had Vicksburg fallen
than Grant sent force to overtake
land defeat johnson, and another to
help Banks against Port Hudson
Port Hudson fell, and johnson was
defeated about the time the New York
riot broke out That riot, the result
Ito large extent of the Fourth Of
July speech of Seymour. was anims
tied by the most cruel and mean spir-
lit. Yet Seymour addressed the men
Who had burned sn orphan asylum
and killed defenceless and harmless
men and women and children, in lam
guage which could not fail to encour-
age them, and persuade them that
they were right. He said, according
to the Worlds report, son Saturday
last sent the Adjutant-Gene of
the State to Washington for the pur-
pose Of requesting that the draft be
postponed and l had every reason
( to believe that the request would be
|, complied with" 1t will be seen that
he still spoke, even to rioters, in a
tone of complaint. Not only this.
he further gratified the rioters by
urging the withdrawal Of troops from
one of the most disorderly wards
The next year, IN pursuance OF the
same policy of gratifying the law
less. he subscribed to the Chicago
platform, which urged the cessation
1 Of hostiIities against the rebel rioters
in the south. r-o
i Seymour's language and conduct
gave great hopes to the rebels. His
Fourth Of July speech was reprinted
at Richmond, and regarded by all
the enemies of the Union as a prom
ise Of help from the North But
Grants efforts and victories cast
down the rebels, and broke the pow
er of their riotous organization.
j Rosecrans was defeated at Chics.
mauga, and once more Seymour lifted
up his voice on the hopelessness of
!. the war. On the 31st of October,
1868, at the Cooper Institute, he
spoke of the probable exhaustion of
the country, OF the enormous debt,
of the hopelessness of the struggle,
and urged "cencilistion." A few days
after Grant defeated Bragg at Look
out Mountain.
In August, 1864, Seymour was
President of that Chicago Convention
which, under hisinspiration and that
of Vallandigham, again denounced
the war as q failure, and demanded
an immediate cessation of hOstilities.
Unluckily for him, who was so often
unlucky, Atlanta was captured by
Il Grants lieutenant and friend, Sher-
4 man, only a few days after this plat
! form of submission to rebellion was
adopted. 80.
1t would serve no useful end to
carry the comparison further. All
through we see Seymour advocating
q policy which wOnld have divided
the North and given the victory to
jeff Davis; although, at the same
time, we see Grant carrying the flag
of his country from victory to victo-
'Iry. Who was the wisest statesman
OF the two? Who the most patriotic
mani? Who the best, most useful
citizen2 He who from the beginning
} called the war failure, and endeay-
ored to stir up hatred and suspicion
4 against the chosen government of
the people? or he who met the rebels
and defeated them in battle, till at
last the rebel leaders fed, and their
. armies were disbanded Who was
the worthiest and wisest--he who
paltered with rioters, and encour-
aged them with promises that their
, Ilswless demands should be granted .
, or he who, in the face of far more
/ formidable riot, required the "uncon-
d;tioual surrender" of wrong doers5
WHO now most deserves the conf
aan.e of the American peOple--he
who from beginning to end foretold
I defeat a isbonor and destruction? or
Ihe who during the same period car
1ried the cou.try's flag to honor and
victory, and faisifed every evilproph-
Ilaey Of his present competitor
i Finally, who most truly eompre-
, heads the spirit of the American peo-
nIe and is therefore most capable Of
expressing it in the Presidential
! Icbair-he who, with faint heart, Ell
/, thsr hid himself in silence, or in the
q hour of defeat came forth to foreteli
! disaster and ruin ? or he who with
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