Year: 1866




his party. For times of peace, the plal
a IN the Chicago Platform against interfe
l. ence with slavery was very we'll b
T. dreadful war came, and the old plank
o our platform against that stupendous ev
IS which the fathers of the party had place
= there, promised relief when relief was sa
> ly needed The people saw this, and OF
r great leader had the sagacity to see il a
e so, and he gave the order the peopl
0 wanted, and the Government needed Yo,
+ on the other hand, see in this changing {
: plank from the back to the front side {
: our platform, the grave of the Constitution
AS II changing a wind shredded sail. O
broken mast, in dire emergency, for
> sound one, was endangering the craft ; or
as II saving the Government was not sav
ing the Constitution. But few, however
saw as you did, and perhaps this has vexet
you into opposition.


AS your former political associates un


derstand your present position, you are al


lowing their opponents to use you to pro


mote their political schemes.


In the first place, sharp politician, who


makes use of politics to advance individu


al interests, or aspirations, usually looks
upon such conduct as suicidal and in the
next place, man assuming to represent a
party, and take care of its interests, i ! any
given position, has no right to do other
wise. In moral light, our Ministers to
England and France, have as much right
10 use their respective positions, and the
lnnuence they carry with them, to promote
English and French interests You would
regard such conduct in our representatives
abroad, as monstrous. Yet you attempt to
justify the betrayal Of your party and


l.io IT., the 1a gaH5bfless essened its enorm-
ity i'll your own eyes, they have failed to
do SO for the eyes of your immediate con-
stitueuts. When you could no longer sus-
tain the policy of the Government, and the
party whose interests you had agreed to
uphold, you should have resigned the place
the party had given you. This would not
only have been right, but it would have
brought you great reward as a man of in
tegrity As it is, the award is, that you
are not an honest politician. There may
be one in ten, or one in twenty, of your
former political friends, who do not sub
scribe to this verdict, but this will not save
you. Remember, John Tyler persuaded
himself, and about the same proportion of
his old associates, that he was right, yet
no public man of our country save James
Buchanan, sank to a lower depth, and I'M
der a heavier load of odium, although he
had the mighty Daniel Webster as one of
his supporters.


But further. As whig ynn opposed thn
democratic party because it was wrong. l
oppose it for the same reason now. You
affect to believe that abolitiOnists are worse
and turn to resisting them, instead of the
cOuntrys common enemy.


You know very WELL that from the be-
ginning to the end of the war, the very
men of whose public action you complain,
were true to the interests of the country.
They fought the enemy in the forum and i'll
the field They it was who would not COM
policy the country was saved. Men may
mar, or try to hide this fact, but it is still
the truth and, if, as you allege, the abo-
litionists were enemies Of the country be-
fore the war, why should we reject them
when they become its friends We al
ways believed the democrats were wrong
but those of that party who turned to de
fend the country in its peril, were hailed
with joy The whole loyal population laud-
ed them, and they deserved it. They were
obliged, in this action, to turn on their po-
litical associates, deserving therefor more
credit than we, who were in the line of du-
ty while in the line of bias. You would
then give these democrats credit for doing
right in this emergency but from Sumner,
Stevens and Lovejoy, and their associates,
and whom years ago we thought equally
wrong with the democrats, you would with
hold this need of praise. Where is the
fairness of this ? On the other hand, the
loyal people applaud this latter class OF
men as we'll as Stanton, Dix, Holt Butler
and their compeers and this is right. The
masses, and the old wings among them,
have no personal partialities, and no ami


mostly to indulge, in respect to the true


friends of the country Nor can you, with


all your adroitness, make them believe that


the men who have given such evidence OF
4 devotion to the true interests of the coun-


try, in her hours Of terrible need, are now


centralizing power for the purpose Of abus
ing it. In my way of thinking, this attempt
will recoi with fearful fold on you for Sc
, far forgetting that which is due to right.
The rebellion was not put down on the
line of policy marked out by you, and
| have wondered whether personal pique, o
t envy of those men who were more fortu
nate in this particular, has not had some
thing to do in leading you to change you
base. Mcclellan changed his base from
: fighting the enemy to quarreling with tn
Government which had made him all b,
was-and that change was his ruin. You
| action looks to me not dissimilar. while
4 striking similitude is apparent in the accrr
: ing results.
1t is notorious that small things Wi
/ some times control the most important aC
q tions of mems lives, even of great men
e Napoleon Bonaparte declared war agains
, Russia and followed it up by leading a
:; immense army to Moscow to be immediate
e by Russian winter, because his pride wa
Y wounded by the Emperor Alexander's refl
5 sal to give him his sister in marriage. Th
= French Emperor gave very different re'
= sons for this war but the reader of histt
It ry sees very plainly that had he been tru
o to his first love, Josephine and his inwar
e promptings, would have counselled hi
a from the path that led directly to ruin al
s. may there not be some personal motive az
l. tuating you in this juncture


s While the considerations thus far hinte
i at, have some weight in producing the ge
'. eral condemnation which has gone OF