Year: 1864

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General MoUleIlan's Letter of Acceptance,


We have the satisfaction Of placing
before our readers to-day the admirable
and patriotic letter in which Gen. Nc
Clollan has signifed his acceptance Of
the nomination conferred upon him by
the Democratic Convention which recent
ly assembled at Chicago. Ifthere be any
one who can read this letter without ad-
miration for the pure and elevated pat
riotism which it breathes, or without re
spect for the writer, it must be one 10
whom the spirit of party has quenched
all generous sensibility to private worth
or public virtue outside of his own po-
litical circle. Certain it is that no lover
of the Union and no friend of the Con
stitution can find aught against which to
object in this clear, calm, and frank ez-
position, and it is only as 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 the pretext of excep-
ton to this compend ofpolitical doctrine.
In cur view it covers the whole duty Of
true patriots at this crisis, and coming as
it does from a man who, both in public
and private life, as well by the dignity of
the 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 politi-
cal faith will go to the hearts of the peO-
pie as it obviously comes from the heart
of the writer


We are not of those who, in this hour
of the nations need, would seek to repose
an undue reliance in the hand of man.
But as men placed in high command over
the interests and welfare of the people
are the instruments, under Providence, of
those counsels, purposes, and policies on
which the veal or woe of the nation main
ly depends, we 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 the man in whose hands they
shall confde the tremendous issues of the
next four years, so far as those issues can
be determined by the action of the ChieI
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 restO-
ration and preservation of the Union uu.
der the Constitution, without having his
attention diverted by extraneous objects
: which command paramount adhesion tC
the detriment of the Union and the VIC
lation of the Constitution. The revolu
tionary times in which we live call for {
, man who has faith in the Fundamental


principles of the Government and who


when the foundations of the Republic arr


rocking to their very base, will not suffe


himself to be misled by the false light
! Of a radical fanaticism. The changefu
&. times in which we live call for man VIII,


is Just and tenacious of his purposes


one not to be moved from his deliberat
! resolve or from his conscientious convic
d tions by any outside pressure of faction
. The solemn times in which we live cal


for a man who, understanding his epoch


shall address himself to the momentou


tasks he is called to perform with a gravi
ty and sobriety which shall be at tn
farthest remove from trihing and levity


The difficult times in which we live ca.
e for man of vigorous intellect, ezpande
= by ripe culture, and at the same tim
: sharpened by contract with men, an
a raised to the hight of great emergencie
e by the discipline of active life. Such, a
; will agree, are the demands Of our ag


and land. Two men are set before tn
: people as the candidates named by the


respective adherents to meet these Re


ouirements. On the one hand is Abr'
o ham Lincoln; on the other is George


Mcclellan. Each has made up for hin
d self the issues and the record on Whic