UNITED 



787 



GEXTLEMEX : In answer to the letter which I hare 

 had the honor to receive from you, on the part of the 

 representatives of the people assembled at Cleveland, 

 on the 31$t of Mar, I desire to express my thanks for 

 the confidence which led them to offer me the hon- 

 orable and difficult position of their candidate in the 

 approaching Presidential election. 



Very honorable, because in offering it to me you 

 act in the name of a great number of citizens, who 

 seek, above all things, the good of their country, and 

 who have no sort of selfish interest in view. 



fiei 



. in the party with which I 



Had Mr. Lincoln remained faithful to the princi- 

 ples he was elected to defend, no schism could have 

 been created and no contest would hare been 

 ble. This is not an ordinary election ; it is a c 

 for the right even to have candidates, and not merely, 

 as usual, for the choice among them. Now for the 



of constitutional 



' >een brought directly before the people 

 .eration and vote. The ordi- 

 ; isrhts secured under the Constitution and the 

 f the country have been violated and extra- 

 ordinary powers have been usurped by the Executive, 

 rectly before the people now to say whether or 

 not the principles established by the Revolution are 

 w:.r:h maintaining. 



If, as we have been taught to believe, those guaran- 

 tees for liberty which made the distinctive name and 

 glory of our country, are in truth inviolably sacred, 

 then there must be" a protest against the arbitrary 

 violation which had not even the~excuse of nee 

 The schism is made by those who force the choice 

 between a shameful silence or a pro" rong. 



In such considerations originated the Cfevelar 

 vention. It was among its objects to arouse the at- 

 tention 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 countrv in the name of 

 liberty, we have really parted with 'it at home. 



To-day we have in this country the abuses of a mili- 

 tary dictation without its unity of action and 

 of execution. An administration marked at home~by 

 disregard of constitutional rights, by its violation o*~ 

 personal liberty and the liberty of the press, and, as 

 a crowning shame, by its abandonment of tb : 

 of asylum, a right especially dear to all free n 

 abroad, its course has been characterized bv a feeble- 

 ness and want of principle which has misled 'European 

 powers and driven them to a belief that only com- 

 mercial interests and personal aims are concerned, 

 and that no great principles are involved in the 

 The admirable conduct of the people, their readiness 

 to make every sacrifice demanded of them, their for- 

 bearance and silence under the suspension of every 

 thing that could b5 suspended, their many acts of 

 heroism and sacrifices, were all rendered fruit, 

 the incapacity, or, to speak more exactly, by the per- 

 sonal ends for which the war was r. . .is in- 

 capacity and selfishness produced such results as led 

 the European powers, and logically enough, to the 

 conviction that the North, with :- verier 

 population, its immense resources, and its credit, will 

 never be able to coerce the So -rhich 

 should have been with us from the o'utset of this war 

 were turned against us, and in this way the Adminis- 

 tration has done this conntrr a double wrong abroad. 

 It created hostility, or at best indifference, among 

 those who would h'ave been its friends if the real in- 

 tentions of the people could have been better known, 

 while at the same time it neglected no occasion for 

 making the most humiliating conce- 



Affainst this disastrous condition of affairs the 

 Cleveland Convention was a protest. 



The principles which form the basis of its platform 

 have my unqualified and cordial approbation, but I 

 cannot "so heartilv concur in all the measures which 



you propose. I do not believe that confiscation, ex- 

 tended to the property of all rebels, U practicable: 

 and if it were so, I do not think it a measure of sound 

 pofier. fact, a Question belonging to the 



people themselves to decide, and U a proper occa- 

 sion for the exercise of their original and sovereign 

 authority. As a war measure, in the beginning ofa 

 revolt, which might be quelled by prompt sev. 

 understand the policy of confiscation; but not as a 

 final measure of reconstruction after the suppression 

 of an insurrection. 



In the adjustments which are to follow peace, no 

 considerations of vengeance can consistentlv be ad- 

 mitted. 



The object of the war is to make permanently se- 

 cure the peace and happiness of the whole country, 

 and there was but a single element in the way of its 

 attainment. This element of slavery may be con- 

 sidered practically destroyed in the count'ry, and it 

 mly your proposed amendment of the Consti- 

 tution to make its extinction complete. 



- -i-xtinction of slavery the partv divisions 



created bv it have also disappeared. And if in the 



he country there has ever been a time 



when the American people, without regard to one or 



another of the political divisions, were called upon to 



- lemnly iheir voice in a matter which involved 



the safety of the Unit is assuredlv the 



present time. 



If the Convention at Baltimore will nominate anv 

 man whose past life justifies a well-grounded confi- 

 dence in his fidelity to our cardinal principles, there 

 is no reason why there should be any division among 

 the really patriotic men of the country. To any such 

 I shall Se most happy to give a cordial and "active 

 support. 



Sly own decided preference is to aid in this wav, 

 and not to be myself a candidate. But if Mr. Lincoln 

 is nominated, as I believe it would be fatal to the 

 country to endorse a policy and renew a power which 

 has cost cs thousands of men and needlessly put the 

 country on the road to bankruptcy, there will remain 

 no other alternative but to organize against him every 

 element of conscientious opposition with the t '. 

 prevent the misfortune of his reflection. 



In this contingency I accept the nomination at 

 Cleveland, and as a preliminarv step I have resigned 

 my commission in the armv. This was a sacrifice it 

 . .e pain to make. But I had for a long time 

 fruitlessly endeavored to obi:.. I make tha 



sacrifice now only to regain the liberty of speech, 

 and to leave nothing in tfie way of discharging to my 

 utmost ability the task you have set for me. 



. my earnest and" sincere thanks for vour ex- 



E reasons of confidence and regard, and for the many 

 onorable terms in which you acquaint me with the 

 action of the Convention, 

 I am, gentlemen, verv rernectfullv and trnlv vonrs, 



J.'C. FREMO'NT. 

 NEW TOEK, June 4, : 



To Warthington G. Snether. of Maryland ; Edward 

 Gilbert, of New York; Casper Bn'tz, of Illinois; 

 Charl: :" Missouri; X. P. Sawyer, of Penn- 



sylvania, Commr 



Mr. Cochraae also accepted the nomination, in 

 a letter approving th :he Convention. 



The call tor the Baltimore Presidential Con- 

 vention was issued tl. -r, as 

 appears by the following: 



WAJHTSGTOX. Fe*. 2i 19M. 



The undersigned, who, by original appointment, or 



uent designation to fill vacancies, constitute 



:nmittee created by the National 



ntion held at Chicago on the 16th day of May, 



hereby call upon all qualified voters who 



desire the unconditional maintenance of the Union, 



the supremacy of the C and the complete 



suppression of the existing rebellion, with the 



