Year: 1864

mcCleIlan ACcSpCS Cne CnlcaSO Noun1Aet-


ton.


Gen. Mcclellan has accepted the Chicago
nomination The following which we clip
from the dispatches in the Oregonian, of the
18th inst, we presume embraces the main fea-
lures in McClelan's letter of acceptace;


tHe says the existence of more than one gov
ernment over the region once owned by our flag
is incompatible with the peace, power and hap
piness Of our people. The preservation of the
Union was the avOwed object for which the war
commenced 1t should have been conducted for
that object only and in accordance with those
principles for which took occasion to declare
when in active service. Thus conducted, the
work of reconciliation would have been easy
We might have reaped the benefit of our many
victories on land and sea. The Union orig
inally formed by the exercise of a spirit of con-
ciliatiOn and compromise; to restore and pre-
serve it, the same spirit must prevail in our
course and on the part of the people. The es-
tablishment of the Union in all its integrity is
and must continue to be indispensable to any
settlement so soon as it is clear or even prOba-
BILE that our present adyersaries ready for
peace upon the basis of Union. We should ex-
haust all the resources of craftsmanship prac-
ticed by civilized nations or taught by the ira
ditions of American people, consistent with the
honor and interest of the country, to secure such
a peace re-establish the Union and guarantee
for the future the constitutional rights of every
State. The Union is the only condition of
peace; we ask no more. Let me add what |
doubt not was although unexpressed, the SEN
timents of the Convention, as it is of the peo-
pie they represent, that when any one State is
willing to return to the Union, it should be re-
ceived at once with full guarantee of all its
constitutional rights If frank, earnest and
persistent effort to obtain the object should fail,
the responsibility for ulterior consequences will
fall upon those who remain in arms against the
Union. But the Union must be preserved at all
hazards. A vast majority of our people, wheth-
er in the army, navy or at home, would, as l
would do, hail with unbounded joy a perma-
nent restoration Of peace the basis of Union
under the Constitution, without the effusion of
another drop of blood But peace can be
permanent without the Union.


As to the other objects presented in the reso-
lutons of your Convention I can only say that
l should seek in the Constitution and the Laws
framed in accordance Herewith, a rule for my
duty and limits of my executive power, and en-
deayor to restore economy in public expendi-
ture, to re-establish the supremacy of law, and
by the operation of a more vigorous nationality,
resume our commanding position among the ma
tions of the earth. The condition of our hnan-
ces, the depreciation of paper money and the
burdens thereby imposed on labor and capital,
show the necessity of a return to a sound fnan-
cial system while the rights of citizens and the
rights of States, and the binding authority Of
law over the President, army and people, are
subjects of not less vital Importance in peace
than in war


We are highly pleased with the general fea-
lures of the above letter, and we feel assured
the principles it enunciates will meet with
hearty response from all Constitution, Union
loving citizens The letter says, "the Union is
the only condition of peace" That sentiment
is entertained by all who declare themselves in
favor of preserving the Constitution and the
Union at all hazards. The Democracy always
take pride in saying that they twill never give
up the Constitution and the Union' hence it
follows that the rebels must signify willing
ness to live within the Union under the author
ity of the Federal Constitution, before they
expect to be 'let alone;" and hence it follows,
also that the federal armies must be sustained
and the war continue to be prosecuted on our
part, until such time as those in rebellion evince
a willingness to be governed by the Constitution
and the laws framed in accordance herewith
theisupreme law of the land. But, as McClel-
Ian says in his admirable letter, there is no
doubt "a vast majority of our people, whether
in the army, navy OF at home, would as would
do, hail with unbounded joy permanent res
toration of peace on the basis of Union under
the Constitution, without the effusion of an
other drop of blood" Such being the senti-
ment of an undoubted majority of the people at
large we cannot but regard all factions as at
A. III III
are unwilling that there shall be peace, except
through the unconditional conquest and subju-
CATION of the entire South Suppose the south
ern people now or at any future time, shall give
up their object of establishing Southern Con
federacy and should say to the authorities of
we desire to resume our allegiance to the gene
raj government, provided we can come back
with all our political rghts-State and National
-unimpaired?" In that contingency, suppose
the Federal authorities in power should refuse
to sanction the principle of the rebellious peo-
pie resuming their allegiance with all their
rights unimpaired, and should say to the rebels,
"your propositions for return to the
Union cannot be entertained unless you consent
to abandon the institution of slaYeryl" The
rebellous people would then most likely say,
''if we cannot come in upon an equal footing
with the Northern States-if we are to be di-
vested of one of our State rights, and thereby
divested of an institution which is about all we
have in property, then we shall continue to
fight for an Independent nationality as our last
and only hope" The people of the North
might then be clamorous for an Armistce; but
would the party in power, their leaders, be
willing to grant one? We do not believe they
would. Slavery must be ''rooted out" first, and
by that time the whole Federal system may be
overthrown-the best government ever devised
by man, entirely destroyed. The institution of
slavery we care nothing about except to regret
that it was ever established on the continent
but the question of slavery necessarily involves
the question of nationality, and the people will
be called upon to decide the question and meet
the issue fairly and squarely. It is simply a
question of State Rights, under our form of
government. If the general government can
dvest the Southern States of the right to hold
property in slaves, it go further and divest