Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1876-07-14
From lIarper's Weekly
Tillen During the War.
HIS CONNECTION WITH THE "sURRENDER' RES
oLUTIoN OF 1864.

HIS CONNECTION WITH THE "sURRENDEE' RES
oLUTIoN OF 1864.
The charge that Mr.. Tilien was a very luke
warm patriot during the war, and that he reported
the famous surrender platform of the democratic
convention Of 1851, has been laboroiusly denied
and evaded. 1t has been alleged that the resolu-
ton did not express Mr. Tilden's sentiments. But
Mr.. Tilden was the member of the committee
from New York. and he made no protest against
the platform then or subsequently, nor was there
anything in the resolution which was in any de
gree inconsistent with his attitude through the
war. la plain words, Mr.. Tiden was, in the po-
lical phrase of the war, Copperhead-cautous,
prudent, discreet, indeed, for he is always skill
full politician. lie had none of the foul-mouthed
hostility to the and its soldiers that charac-
ter.zed such men as Henry Clay Dean, but he
was none the less one of that class of citizens
who, under cover of respect for the Constitution,
constantly perplexed and embarrassed the Ad-
mnistration, chilled the patriotic ardor Of the
people, and thereby gave the most substantial
moral aid and comfort to the enemy. The plat
form Committee of the Democratic Convention OF
1864 Of which Mr.. Tilden was the ms mber from
New York, and yallandgham, the typical Cop
perhead, was a ruling spirit, reported the follow
Jag resolution:
Res0lrei. That this Convention does explicitly
delare, as the sense of the American people, that
after four years of failure to restore the Union by
the experiment of war--during which, under the
pretense Of military necessity or war power
higher than the Constitution, the Constitution it
self has been disregarded in every part, and pub
lie liberty and private right alike nodden down,
and the material prosperity of the country essen
TALLY Impaired Justice, humanity, liberty, and
the public welfare demand that Immediate efforts
be made for cessation Of bostilities, with view
TO ultimate convention of the States, or other
peaceable means to the end that at the earliest
practicable moment peace may be restored on the
| basis OF the Federal States.
| There is nothing ia this resolution, we say,
which Is inconsistent with Mr.. Tildens action and
| position throughout the war. One of the most
deadly blows aimed at the efoits of the Govern
ment to save the country was the Society for the
Diffusion of Useful Political Knowledge-that Is
OF what were known as copperhead sentiments
| which was formed in New York in February,
1868, one OF the dark hours Of the war. 1t was a
| time when every geneross patriotic heart was
seeking how 10 encourage and multiply the sol
| diers in the field and how TO stimulate the deyo-
| ton of the country to sustain the Administration
| This was the moment in which CIRCULAR wa,
| issued fer meeting at Dolmouco's, on the Fifth
avenue 1t was addressed, of course, to thost
who were known to be unfriendly to the war !;
aud It was signed, among others, by \. Belmont,
| >. i. Is. Morse, George Tickor CARTS Lorng
Andrews, and Samuel d. Illden. II is notorious
that these are the names or some of the most "ma
| lignant" Of the New York opponents Of the war
Sidney +. Morse, Of the New York Observer,
presided at the meeting. Among the speakers