The National tribune., 1909-10-21

at is vain to attempt to reconstruct
the Union with the stracting element
slavery in 1t. Experience has demon-
strated its incompatibility with free and
republican governments. and IL would
be unwise and unjust longer to continue
[ as one of the institut ons of the coun-
try. While II remained subordinate to
the Constitution and laws of the United
States / yielded to 1t my support; but
when II became rebellious and attempt-
ed TO rise above the Government and
control its actions. | threw my humble
influence aga nst It."
The platform adopted was pitched
on a high. heroic key, well befitting
accepting the nomination President
Lincoln said:
view this call to n second term
as IN nowise more fiattering to myself
man as an expression of the public
Judgment that l may better finish q
uIHlcuu work than any one less severe
ly schooled to the task"
The Democratic Convention.
The Democratic Convention met in
Chicago Aug. 20. at the darkest period
of that battle-Summer. and IL had a
full representation from the Pro-Slav-
cry Secessionist element in the Border
States of Delaware. Maryland. Virginia,
Kentucky and NJ ssouri. In it were
found men of all shades of hostility to
Mr.. Lincoln's Administration. from War
Democrats, who were in favor of vigor-
GUS efforts to restore the Union. but
utterly opposed to any emancipation of
the slaves, to fierce, unsparins oppo-
,ents of the war in every shape and
form. The leaders of the Knights of
the Golden Circle were there in force,
and men who were plotting. organiz-
ng, arming and drilling for a second
rebellion to break out upon the signal
of any crushing disaster to either
Grants or Sherman's armies. These
men were ripe for war which would
be back fire in the rear of the Union
armies. and compel the immediate ces-
sation of hostilities by the necess ty of
attacking them. They had grown so
bold and so powerful that in Indiana
they had tried to take an overt step in
their treason by the passage of bill
removing the military power from the
hands of Oliver P. Morton, the great
war Governor, transferring the Indian
apolis Arsenal and the m iitary stores
of the State to Beard of Copperhead
Commissioners. and making ready to
recall the Indiana troops from the
front. The passage of this Infamous
bill was only prevented by the Repub-
lican members OF the Legislature leav-
ing the State, thereby making a quorum
impossible.
The Democrats from the Eastern
States, who were opposed to the draft,
to war taxes and TO the dominance Of
the Republican officials, were led by
such comparatively fair-minded men as
Horatio Seymour, Governor of New
York, who had hopes of the nomination
coming to him. Seymour made what
seemed to him most radical anti-war
speech. in which he went to the limit
of the Eastern opposition. but 1t was
excessively tame in comparison with
ances of the Copperheads and the
Knights Of the Golden Circle orators
from the Western and Border States.
From hotel balconies and from dry
goods boxes under lamp posts rabble-
rising demagogs, like the Rev. Chaun-
eey Burr. of New Jersey, and the Rev.
Henry Clay Dean. of Iowa, denounced
Lincoln as a vile usurper, traitor and
tyrant, who had sent 100000 of the
best young men of the Nation to the
slaughter pen to rob the South of their
uegros- With tens of thousands OF
these youths already in their graves
with loss of life such as had not been
known since the days of Sennaeherib,
this odious despot was calling daily for
the shedding of more blood His only
thought was XIII. kill. KILL
The War Democrats received little
consideration. One of the leading
speakers said: There is no real DIFF
ference between a War Democrat and
an Abolftionist- They are links of one
sausage. made out of the same dog"
The Illinois division of the knights
of the Golden Circle, calling themselves
lllini, were as ready as South Carolina
had been to precipitate a new rebellion,
and their plans were perfected to take
advantage OF the great asSemblage,
overpower the guards at Camp Douglas,
release the 5000 rebel prisoners con-
lined there. set fire to Chicago, and
definitely inaugurate war as the South
Carolinians had by firing upon Fort
Sumter. G. L. Vallandigham, who had
been allowed to come back from Cana
da. was master spirit in the eonven-
ton and framed the platform. In this
there was the usual Copperhead effusion,
the particular sting being that the four
years Of effort to restore the Union by
war had been a failure. Therefore, an
armistice was called for, which meant
nothing else than the recognition of
the Independence of the Southern Con-
federacy.
Altho the moderate Democrats had
been wholly overslaughed in the con-,
vention. yet the fire-eating instigators of
the new rebellion hesitated at the last
moment to press their victory to its
conclusion by nominating a man of the
type Of Vallandigham. They made an
effort to prop:t.ate the Democrats gen.
orally by selecting Gen. George B. Nc
Cleilan as their candidate. with George
H. Pendleton, of Ohio, who had been
Vaiiandigham's coadiutor in Congress
in opposition to the necessary war leg
islation, for Vice President
ITO be continued.)