UNITED STATES. 



for the gratification of these two classes of men, and 

 shal. not the Administration of the Government, 

 under furor of which they nestle in power and gratify 

 their unholy greed and their detestable passi* 

 thrown out" of power, thus relieving the country from 

 this nightmare*of corruption and fanaticism which is 

 pressing out its very existence ? 



Short sighted and passionate men rush on to ac- 

 complish an immediate object, unable to perceive the 

 consequences which lie beyond the present moment, 

 and unwilling to believe that new obstacles in their 

 path of passion and vengeance will succeed to the 

 existing ones. They vainly think that if slavery 

 be struck down by force, regardless of law or civil 

 obligation, and negro equality be established in its 

 stead, no subject of difficulty, no case of national 

 peril, no "stone of stumbling," will remain in the 

 path of our national progress. Vain delusion ! Such 

 expectations are proved to be false by a thousand 

 examples in historv. The source of danger is in 

 these wild passions iet loose in the land, which will 

 not regard civil obligations, and which, in their 

 headlong fury, tread under foot both public law and 

 individual right. We do not decry theory, but we 

 assert that statesmanship is concerned mainly in the 

 domain of the practical, and that, in the present im- 

 perfect condRion of human aS'airs, it is obliged to 

 modify general ideas and adapt them to existing con- 

 ditions, which are infinitely diverse in different coun- 

 tries and at different times. And, as all political 

 powers are conventional that is, established by ex- 

 press or implied consent the validity of any politi- 

 cal act must rest upon, the ground that it is'author- 

 ized; 



Some distinct authority for it must be shown, or 

 we must determine against its existence. And to 

 the existence of a free government, and to the har- 

 mony and prosperity of a country wherein it is estab- 

 lished, there must be a profound and constant respect 

 by rulers and by people for all those things which 

 have been agreed upon or instituted in affairs of 

 Government, and there must be a careful repression 

 of all the destructive forces by which the bands of soci- 

 ety are loosened, and license or abuse introduced into 

 public or social action. Of destructive forces, consti- 

 tuting capital causes of danger, corruption and fanat- 

 icism (before mentioned; must be ranked as chief; and 

 are they not now both in existence, and conspicuous 

 beyond any former example in these United States? 

 Are they not predominant characteristics of the party 

 which achieved success in 1880, and has since held 

 and now holds possession of political power ? And can 

 there be hope of the future so long as these destruc- 

 tive principles run their course unrebuked and un- 

 curbed? The sound elements of society must be 

 brought to the surface, the body politic be purged of 

 its unhealthy elements, and in places of public trust, 

 just and broad-minded, pure and tolerant men be 

 substituted for radicals and corruptionists. Then 

 will the laws be kept ; then will free individual ac- 

 tion be permitted and permissible ; crime only will 

 punished, and harmony and peaceful relations and 

 widely-diffused prosperity succeed to violence, intol- 

 erance, waste, bloodshed, and debauchment of the 

 national life ! 



The Democratic Convention assembled at 

 Chicago on August 29th, and was organized 

 by the election of Horatio Seymour, of Xew 

 York, as chairman. Gen. Geo. B. McClellan 

 was nominated for the Presidency. He re- 

 ceived 202 .votes, and Thos. H. Seymour, of 

 Conn., 23^ votes. The nomination was subse- 

 quently made unanimous. Geo. H. Pendleton 

 was nominated for the Vice-Presidency. The 

 views of the Convention were expressed in the 

 following resolutions : 



Resolved, That in the future, as in the past, we will 



adhere with 



a fra:ii"\voil. oi <i ivi ninn 



the welfare and pr.i.-perity of all 



Northern and Southern. 



' invention docs explicitly de- 

 clare, as the S,TIC of the Am> : 

 four years of failure to restore the 

 periment of war, during which, \\\\ 

 of military necessity, or war 

 Constitution, the Constitution it- 



ii'd in every part, and public liberty and ; 

 ri'_rht alike trodden down, and the materi ... 

 of the country e^entially impaired, justice, li . 

 ity, liberty, and the publ'ic welfare demand th 

 mediate efforts be made for a cessation <>f i 

 vith a view to an ultimate convention 



- or other peaceable means, to the end that at 

 the earliest practicable moment peat-i- may be re- 

 stored on the basis of the Federal Union of the 

 States. 



ifreJ, That the direct interference of the mil- 

 itary authorities of the United States in the recent 

 elections held in Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and 

 Delaware, was a shameful violation of the Constitu- 

 tion, and a repetition of such acts in the appro;: 

 election will be held as revolutionary and r> - 

 with all the means and power under our control. ' 



. That the aim and object of the Demo- 

 cratic party are to preserve the Federal Union and 

 the rights of the States unimpaired ; and they herebv 

 declare that they consider the Administrative UMirp- 

 ation of extraordinary and dangerous powers r.<>t 

 granted by the Constitution ; the subversion of the 

 civil by the military laws in States not in insurrec- 

 tion; the arbitrary military arrest, imprisonment, 

 trial, and sentence of American citizens i:i - 

 where civil law exists in full force ; the suppr 

 of freedom of speech and of the press ; the denial of 

 the right of asylum ; the open and avowed disregard 

 of State rights; the employment of unusun 

 oaths, and the interference with and denial of the 

 right of the people to bear arms in their defence, as 

 calculated to prevent a restoration of the Uuion and 

 the perpetuation of a Government deriving its just 

 powers from the consent of the governed. 



That the shameful disregard by t! 

 ministration of its duty in respect to our fellow-cit- 

 izens who are now and long have been j 

 war in a suffering condition, deserves the $< 

 reprobation on the score alike of public policy at d 

 common humanity. 



'cW, That 'the sympathy of the Democratic 

 party is heartily and earnestly extended to the sol- 

 diers of our army and the seamen of our navy, who 

 are and have been in the field under the flag of their 

 country; and in the event of its attaining power, they 

 will receive all the care, protection, and regard that 

 the brave soldiers and sailors of the republic have 

 so nobly earned. 



Mr. Wiekliffe, of Kentucky, said : u The del- 

 egates from the West were of the opinio:. 

 circumstances may occur between noon 

 day and the 4th of March next, which will make 

 it proper for the Democracy of the country 

 to meet in convention again." He tin : 

 moved the following resolution, which was 

 unanimously adopted : 



Resoltfd, That this Convention shall not be dis- 

 solved by adjournment at the close of H 

 but shall remain organized, subject to be called at 

 any time and place that the Executive National Com- 

 mittee shall designate. 



A committee appointed by the Convention 

 notified Gen. McClellan of his nomination, 

 which he accepted in the folloving letter : 



