Year: 1864

nation. Cochrane has also replied by let


ter, but it is tame and unpointed. Tn
language below is so well chosen thst n
one can fail to admire the author, thougl
not approving all he says. What a mag
| nificent and truthful rebuke does he Civ


those of his countrymen who have sol,
their recollection of Revolutionary glory
for petty office or for prospective promo
ton. Let every American citizen wh'
cherishes the principles which underlie ou,
government, read Gen. Fremont on th'
abuses of power by the imbecies who are
again appealing to the people for contin
uancc Of it. Let those who affect to laugh
at his positions, attempt to reply to them
We are not Fremont men, but this able
letter will win for the writer the respect
Of every patriot:


New YORK, June 4, 1864.


GENrLEMEN:-In answer to the letter
which have had the honor to receive from
you on the part of the representatives Of
the people assembled at Cleveland on the
3lst Of May, desire to express my thanks
for the confidence which led them to offer
me the honorable and difficult position OF
their candidate in the approaching Presi-
dental contest


Very honorable, because in offering it to
me you act in the name of great number
of citizens who seek above all things the
good of their country, and who have no
sort of selfish interest in view. Very diff.
cult, because in accepting the candidacy
you propose to me, am exposed to the re.
proach Of creating a schism in the party
with which have been identified.


Had Mr.. Lincoln remained true to the
principles he was elected to defend, no
schisui could have been created, and no
contest would have been possible. This is
not an ordinary election, it is contest for
the right even to have candidates, and not
merely as usual for the choice among them
Now, for the first time since '76, the ques-
ton of constitutional liberty has been
brought squarely before the people for their
serious consideration and vote. The ordi-
nary rights secured under the constitution
and the laws Of the country have been
violated, and extraordinary powers have
been usurped by the Executive. 1t is di.
rec,ly before the people now to say whether
or not the principles established by the
Revolution are worth maintaining.


If, as we have been taught to believe,
those guarantees of liberty which made the
distinctive value and glory Of our country
are in truth inviolably sacred, then there
must be protest against their arbitrary
violation, which had not even the excuse OF
necessity. The schsm is made by those
who force the choice between shameful
silence or protest against wrong. In
such considerations originated the Cleve-
land Convention. 1t was among its objects
to arouse the attention of the people to such
facts, and to bring them to realize that
while we are saturating southern soil with
the best blood of the country, in the name
of Liberty, we have really parted with il
at home.


To-day we have in the country the abuses
Of military dictation without it's unity OF
action and vgor Of execution, an admin.
istration marked at home by disregard OF
constitutional rights, by its violation OF
personal liberty and the liberty of the press,
and, as crowning shame, by its abandon.
ment of the right of asylum-a right espe.
cially dear to all free nations. Abroad, its
course has been characterized by feeble
ness and want Of principle which has mis-
led European powers and driven them to
a belief that only commercial interest
and personal aims are concerned, and
hat no great principles are involved in the
issue.


The aa,cirable conduct Of the people,
their readiness to make every sacrifice de.
of them, their forbearance and
under the suspension of everything
that could be suspended, their many acts
of herosm and sacrifices, were all rendered
fruitless by the incapacity, or, to speak
more exactly, by the personal ends for
which the war was managed. This inca
pacity and selfshness naturally produced
such results as led the European powers,
logically enough, to the conviction that the
North, with its greatly superior population,
its immense resources, and its credit, will
never be able to recover the South. Sym
pathies which should have been with US
from the outset of the war, were turned
against us, and in this way the administra-
ton has done the country double wrong
abroad. 1t created hostility, or, at best,
among those who would have
been its friends if the real intentions of
of the people could have been better known;
while, at the same time, it neglected no
occasion for making the most humiliating



Against this disastrous condition of af-
fairs the Cleveland convention was pro-
test


The principles which form the basis of
its platform have my unqualified and cor
dial appreciation, but cannot SO heartily
in all the measures which you pro-
pose. do not believe that confiscation
to the property of all rebels is
and, if it were SO, l do not
think it a measure Of sound policy. 1t is
a question belonging to the people them
selves to decide, and is proper occasion
for the exercise Of their original and sover-
eign authority. AS war measure, in the
beginning of a revolt which might be quell.
ed by prompt severity, understand the
policy Of confiscation but not as final
measure of reconstruction after the sup.
preston Of insurrection.


In the adjustments which are to follow
peace, no considerations of vengeance can
be admitted.


The object Of the war is to make perma-
nently secure the peace and happiness of
the whole country, and there was hut a
single element in the way of its attainment.
This element of slavery may be considered
destroyed in the country, and
It needs only your proposed amendment of
the constitution to make its extinction com.
plete.


With this extinction of slavery, the par
Ly divisions created by it have also disap.
peared. And if, in the history of the
there has ever been time when
the American people, without regard to
,ne or another Of the no1i,ical Divisions