Year: 1864

Men are told that they must leave their
homes; that they must abandon the plow
in the furrow; that they must turn away
from the spindle and loom, and devote
themselves to war. Mothers and sisters
are in trouble by the family hearth, and
when there is trouble there, there is no
happiness in life. Under the policy of the
Federal Administration, this is mot to be
the last draft upon you. When / said to
the officers of the Administration, that
man enlisted from my State for three
years ought to count as three men for one
year in the coming CONSUMPTION, I was told
that the proper credit would be given in
the next draft to be made. -.


Now is there no mode by which the peo-
pie can be protected from these frightful
sacrifices, and the Union be saved? In
Gods name are there no means by which
we can save the lives Of husbands and
brothers? We mean to have the Union.
For three and half years we have tried
war in vain-in vain, as I believe, because
of the policy of the government. That
policy has tended to prevent, and not to
restore the old Union. I ask my repub-
lican friends to think considerably upon
the circumstances in which we all are
placed. We battle for you as well as for
ourselves. When we shall gain power
again, there is no right we ask for our
selves we shall not secure to you. We
have been deeply aggrieved, as we feel,
by the policy of our rulers. Our rights
have been infringed upon. The freedom
of speech and of the press has been denied
Us. The sacredness of our homes has
been impaired. We could not behold the
fearful despoiling of our country going on
without feeling of humiliation. This di-
vision of our people among themselves
pains me- But here I pledge myself, that
| if democratic administration comes into
power, and you, my republican friends,
shall have reason to complain OF these
wrongs, l will fight to the death to pre-
serve to you these rights which have been
denied to us. Though our opponents
make the pulpits of the land the source of
deadly aspersions upon me, I will take my
stand at their doors and give my blood to
maintain their right to do SO.


No thoughtful man will approach these
questions without feeling of humility.
| No man can contemplate these new-made
graves of our land without feeling all the
passions of his heart hushed and bis pride
| of orinion crushed by the events of the
past few years. We believe the policy of
the administration has placed hindrances
in the way of the restoration of the Union.
Its measures have hampered our efforts to
that noble end. Those measures can bring
US neither Union nor peace. It is nearly
two years since the government seized the
mouth Of the Mississippi River, and yet not
foot of land there is yet restored to the
Union. The border States are held to US
by the force Of arms Had you been at
the Convention in Chicago, You would
have seen three men from Kentucky who,
less than three years ago, were venerated
in Congress, who bore on their faces the
impress Of patriotism Of soul, honesty and
virtue - Guthrie, with his towering
strength, and Wicklitfe, with bis earnest
love of liberty and law. Less than three
years ago, the administration at Washing
ton clung to these men for support. Yet
these men, who have been separated from
their families, and who have suffered as no
man knows for the sake of the cause of
the Union, came up to Chicago to complain
of wrongs inflicted upon them by the
Washington government. Some of these
men have been torn from their families
and locked up in prison-and women, too
though devoted to the constitution and
the Union. Can we put down disaffection
by creating disaffection! Are we making
any progress in putting down disaffection,
when, by the confession Of the administra-
ton itself, disaffection with the govern
ment has extended to the Canada line?
appeal to you, have we made any progress
in this war? We don't want slaughter,
but peace, relief, and protection. We want
to stop the destruction Of life. The diff
Guilty with the administration is that it is
pledged to such measures that its moral
power is gone. Ny Republican friends
must know this, and must feel it in their
hearts. I would not say one unkind word
of those who compose this administration
but even the New York Tribune admits
that its exercise of power for four years
has given rise to such prejudices against it
in the public mind that it cannot hereafter
successfully administer the government


We propose to elect to the Presidency
patriot, a solder and Christian too-Geo


B. Mcclellan Every soldier says that be
is humane man and a patriot, and we all
know that he is forbearine man under
the infliction of injustice. We have NAM
ed him because we believed sll could sup
port him. We have shown our Republi-
can friends that we can meet them part
way. 1t was our duty to take man


whom, having been in the service of the
| Administration, Republicans could support.
The only objection made to him at Ohica-
20 was that in obedience to the behests OF
the Administration he had gone too far.
We nominated him that we might restore
prosperity and peace to the people Fer
eighty years the government was admins
| tered by conservative mel. They pre-