UNITED STATES. 



791 



Ms command to the end of the Presidential term, 

 that he might make the prestige and hold the means 

 to effect his purpose. 



This was the scope of my argument to Gen. Me- 

 Clcllan on the topic referred to. It was honestly 

 meant, and designed to promote the public good and 

 his own. He seemed so to consider it. Disclaiming 

 any desire for a Presidential candidacy, he thanked 

 me" for the interest I had always taken, "us his friend, 

 in the relations of which I spoke ; said that the sug- 

 gestions I had made were worthy of deep consid- 

 eration and they would be well weighed; that he 

 was called to the country again by a sick child, and 

 regretted he could not probably see me again. 



I mentioned to Mr. Lincoln, on my return, the at- 

 tempt I had made at the conciliation of parties in 

 New York, with a view to defeat the opposition in 

 the North, by restoring harmony among all favoring 

 the crushing of the rebellion by arms, and told him 

 I thought it probable Gen. McClellan might write to 

 him in respect to himself. He neither expressed ap- 



Erovalnor disapprobation of what I had done, but 

 is manner was as courteous and as kind as Gen. 

 McClellan' s had been. 



Your obedient servant, F. P. BLAIR. 



On August 18th, the 164th regiment of 

 Ohio soldiers, whose terra of service had expired, 

 paid their respects to the President, ill front of 

 the Executive Mansion, when he addressed them 

 as follows: 



Soldiers You are about to return to your homes 

 and your friends, after having, as I learn, performed 

 in camp a comparatively short term of duty in this 

 great contest. I am greatly obliged to you, and to 

 all who have come forward at the call of their coun- 

 try. I wish it might be more generally and univer- 

 sally understood what the country is now engaged in. 

 We'have, as all will agree, a free Government, where , 

 every man has a right to be equal with every other 

 man. In this great struggle, this form of govern- 

 ment and every form of human rights is endangered 

 if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in 

 this contest than is realized by every one. There is 

 involved in this struggle the question whether your 

 children and my children shall enjoy the privileges 

 v,-e have enjoye'd. I say this in order to impress 

 upon you, if you are not already so impressed, that 

 no small matter shall divert us from our great pur- 

 pose. There may be some inequalities in the prac- 

 tical application of our system. It is fair that each 

 man shall pay taxes in exact proportion to the value 

 of bis property, but if we should wait, before collect- 

 ing a tax, to adjust the taxes upon each man in ex- 

 act proportion with every other man, we should 

 never collect any tax at all. There may be mistakes 

 made sometimes ; things may be done wrong, while 

 the officers of the Government do all thev can to pre- 

 vent mistakes. But I beg of you, as citizens of this 

 great republic, not to let your minds be carried off 

 from the great work we have before us. This strug- 

 gle is too large for you to be diverted from it by any 

 small matter. Wh'en you return to your homes rise 

 up to the height of a generation of men worthy of a 

 free Government, and we will carry out the great 

 work we have commenced. I return to you my sin- 

 cere thanks for the honor you have done me this 

 afternoon. 



On August 31st, under similar circumstances, 

 he thus addressed the 148th Ohio regiment: 



Soldiers of the 1-iSth Ohio I am most happy to 

 meet you on this occasion. I understand that it has 

 been your honorable privilege to stand, for a brief 

 period, in the defence of your country, and that now 

 you are on your way to your homes. I congratulate 

 you, and those who are waiting to bid you welcome 

 home from the war; and permit me in the name of 

 the people to thank you for the part you have taken 



in this struggle for the life of the : . u arc 



soldiers of the republic, everywhere honored and 

 respected. Whenever 1 u|.; :-,- of 



soldiers, I feel tempted to talk to tln-n, 

 ture of the i-tru^li: in uh 

 look upon it as an attempt on the one h 

 whelm and destroy the national i-\ 

 our part we are striving to maintain the (lover 

 and institutions of our futh . them our- 



selves, and transmit them to our children and our 

 children's children forever. 



To do this the constitutional Administration of our 

 Government must be sustained, and I be_- 

 to allow your minds or your hearts to DC diverted 

 from the support of all necessary measures for that 

 purpose, by any miserable picayune arguments ad- 

 dressed to your pockets, or inflammatory appeal 

 made to your passions and your prejudh 



It is vain and foolish to arraign this man or that 

 for the part he has taken or has not taken, and to 

 hold the Government responsible for his acts. In no 

 Administration can there be perfect equality of ac- 

 tion and uniform satisfaction rendered by all. 



But this Government must be preserved in spite 

 of the acts of anv man or set of men. It is worthy 

 of your every effort. Nowhere in the world is pre- 

 sented a Government of so much liberty and equal- 

 ity. To the humblest and poorest amongst us are 

 held out the highest privileges andpositions. The 

 present moment finds me at the Wnite House, yet 

 there is as good a chance for your children as there 

 was for my father's. 



Again I admonish you not to be turned from your 

 stern purpose of defending our beloved country and 

 its free institutions by any arguments urged by am- 

 bitious and designing m'en, but stand fast to the 

 'Union and the old flag. 



Soldiers, I bid you God-speed to your homes. 



In August the following correspondence rela- 

 tive to a movement for a new nomination for 

 the Presidency took place : 



BOSTO>% August 21st, 1S<H. 

 General Fremont : 



SIB: You must be aware of the wide and growing 

 dissatisfaction, in the Republican ranks, with the 

 Presidential nomination at Baltimore ; and you may 

 have seen notices of a movement, just commenced, 

 to unite the thorough and earnest friends of a vigor- 

 ous prosecution of the war in a new Convention, 

 which shall represent the patriotism of all parties. 



To facilitate that movement it is emphatically ad- 

 visable that the candidates nominated at Cleveland 

 and Baltimore should withdraw and leave the field 

 entirely free for such a united effort. Permit us, sir, 

 to ask whether, in case Mr. Lincoln will withdraw, 

 you will do so, and join your fellow-citizens in this 

 attempt to place the Administration on a basis broad 

 as the patriotism of the country and as it needs. 

 (Signed) GEO. L. STEARNS, S. R. UHI.\<>, 



JAMES M. STONE, ELIZUR WRIGHT, 

 EDW. HABICH, SAML. G. HOWE. 

 NAHANT, August 25th, 1S64. 



GENTLEMEN : I have to acknowledge the receipt of 

 your letter of the 21st, addressed to me in New "i ork. 



It' your letter were in effect an appeal only to mv own 

 sentiments in favor of a reunion of parties, I should 

 not hesitate to renounce any personal views, but 

 would be entirely ready to defer to the public opinion 

 which your names represent. 



But the conditions are no longer the same as when 

 I expressed my readiness to retire in the event of a 

 contingency which might have occurred at Baltimore. 

 Having now definitely accepted the Cleveland nomi- 

 nation, I have not the right to act independently of 

 the truly patriotic and earnest party who conferred 

 that honor upon me. In any event, it would be 

 necessary first to consult with th- _ : .t, be- 



sides, have only the effect still further to unsettle the 

 public mind, and defeat the object you have iu view 



