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THE DEFENDERS OF THE COUNTRY AND ITS ENEMIES. 
 
 THE CHICAGO PLATFORM DISSECTED. 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 OIF 
 
 1 ^'^"V 
 
 GOVERNOR BROUGll, 
 
 I^elivered at Cii'eleville, Oliio, Soi>t. ti. 
 
 From the Cincinnati Gazette, Septenther 3, 1S64. 
 
 / 
 
 CI.NCIXNATI: 
 
 GAZETTE CO. STEAM PRINTING HOUSE, COR. FOURTH AND TINE STREETS. 
 
 1864. 
 

8 P» E E C H 
 
 The citizens of Pickaway county, wishiiiii; to manifest their sati.sfactiun at 
 the return of their brothers and sons from the hundred days' service, and to 
 improve the occasion by having the fire>s of patriotism Ivindled anew in tlicir 
 own hearts, and perhaps extended into the cokl and cheerless hearts of their 
 unbelieving neighbors, invited the people generally to meet together in pic- 
 nic style at Circleville. Invitations were also sent to Governor I'kouuii and 
 to Hon. Job Stevenson, candidate for Congress in that District, to address 
 the assemblage, which they did in a very acceptable manner. The following 
 is a full report of Governor Brough's remarks. E. l.. 
 
 OHIO'S HUNDRED DAY MEN. 
 
 I come before you to-day, from the labors which, during the last two week.':, 
 in arranging the credits and the military uifairs of the State, have left me no 
 time for reflection upon what I should say to you. I have stolen away from 
 business in oider to be present with you on this occasion of welcome to the 
 gallant men who, in the hundred days' service, responded to the call of the 
 State, and went forth to perform the most important duty that could be de- 
 volved upon them. I feel as though I too would like to greet t- ese nolj^e 
 men here to-day, for not only does not the history of this war, but the history 
 of this country afford no parallel to the noble manner in which the National 
 Guards of Ohio responded to the call that was made upon them by the State 
 and by the nation, llemember the f;ict, and speak it to their credit every- 
 where, that from the second day of May, 18G4, to the 18th of the same month, 
 35,000 men, the very cream of the population, the bone and sinew of the State, 
 responded to the call made by telegr;iph, and within those sixteen days were 
 armed, equipped and mustered into the service of the State, and were put into 
 the field where their services were required to defend you and your Govern- 
 ment from the aggressions of the rebel foe. 
 
 I am aware of the great responsibility which, as Governor of the State, I 
 exeicised in making that call upon the people of the State; but I knew to 
 some extent then, what I know positively now, that but for the response of 
 those National Guards upon that occasion, the cause of the Union in all hu- 
 man probability would have been lost. I did not dare to hesitate under cir- 
 cumstances of that kind, and I was not deceived in the noble manperin which 
 the able-bodied men of the State responded. And I will say to you now, 
 what I could not have said then, that the National Guards were drilled, thrown 
 into the field- — 82,000 of them out of the State, and tlie remainder reserved 
 on the borders, thrown into Virginia, the Kanawha Valley, around Baltimore 
 and Washington, thus relieving for active service with Gen. Grant 54,000 
 veterans, who went forward, and now stand before the walls of Richmond ; 
 an army that enabled him to repulse Gen. Lee in the battle of the Wilder- 
 ness, and drive his army to their fortifications, where to-day lie holds them 
 by the throat. I know the privations and perils through which these men 
 have gone, but there are hour.s in every nation's lifetime when no man may 
 shrink from the duties imposed upon him. I hope these men have returned 
 among you to-day with no more than the ordinary casualties of life. 1 would 
 
be L':lacl with jou to give tliem the cordial grasp of welcoiue, and warm assu- 
 rance of regard, they deserve for their great sacrifices. For although they 
 may not have been in that battle, they have relieved veterans irom the posi- 
 tions of responsibility they occupied, and enabled them to go forth and sustain 
 their brothers in the more dangerous duties ai the front- 
 Politicians have carped at the calling out of the National Guards. I do 
 not seek now to defend or justify the call I made upon tlie people. I am 
 content to leave that, with every other official act of mine, ibr time to justify. 
 Efforts have been made to poison the minds of these gallant men, by seeking 
 to make them believe that they were called unconstitutionally and illegally 
 into the service which they have so well performed. If the call was not con- 
 stitutional and legal, the services of the men have been magnificent and glo- 
 rious. If it was not constitutional to save the country, they have violated the 
 constitution for the country's good. 
 
 I do not think that under the present call for more troops, we shall he re- 
 quired to make another call for the assistance of the volunteer soldiers of the 
 State of Ohio. There is a contingency that may make it necessary to do so. 
 One such contingency has just passed away. There was a possibility, for a 
 time, that resistance to the draft, which would have been resistance to the 
 Government, might make it necessary to call out these citizen-soldiers; and I 
 knew that if the country needed their services in this respect, they would 
 come to its aid as promptly as before. I do not think now that that emer- 
 gency will come to pass. A few weeks ago they were threatening to make 
 trouble; they felt safe in doing so, because, they said the Government would 
 not allow these Ohio boys to come home when their time was up; but as soon 
 as the Guards came home you could see these Copperheads running to their 
 holes with not a word to say. Their courage, like that of the celebrated Bob 
 Acres, oozed out at their fingers' ends as soon as the soldier boys came in 
 sight. I am glad of it. for I do not want to see a drop of blood shed in Ohio, 
 although I do not know but there is some blood among us that is no better 
 than that on the other side of the line. [Cheers.] 
 
 THE PKESENT POLITICAL CONTEST. 
 
 We are approaching, my friends, a contest of a political character that is as 
 important in its bearing as any of the battles on the field of mortal strife that 
 we have been compelled to fight. It is a contest involving the perpetuity of 
 this Union ; a contest which is to determine whether we shall crush this rebel- 
 lion and restore the nnitj and power of this nation, or whether we shall sub- 
 mit to terms of conciliation and degradation, that will end in the establish- 
 ment of the arrogant rebel authority. Such is the contest involved in the 
 elections of October and November. While thousands upon thousands of 
 yonr fellow citizens are battling away upon the field, in front of the armed foe, 
 you are called upon to put yourselves in battle array upon the fields at home, 
 in a political contest — not with anris in your hands, but with brains in your 
 head.'-, reflection in your minds, and ballots in your hands. That duty you 
 must not shrink from ; for in this political contest the Union elements of the 
 country cannot afford to be stricken down. You cannot afford to be beaten. 
 The safety of the nation will not allov,' the ruling powers of the country to be 
 put into the hands of men wlio, by any new-fangled ideas, or old ones either, 
 would seek to end this controversy at the sacrifice of your nation's honor and 
 existence. You have the right to choose your rulers, and to change them 
 when you see proper; but you have no right to allow your (Jovernnu'nt, to he 
 overturned. You have only a lile estate in it, and privileged to use it during 
 your own lifetime. You cannot, as the lawyers say, cut off the entail ; you 
 are bound to transmit it to your posterity as it was given to you. While you 
 can use it, you have no right to overturn the great fabric of Government be- 
 queathed you by your patriotic sires of the revolution. 
 
TIIK STRUGGLE FOU FREE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 It is said you have been strng<>ling tinough lour long years of war to crush 
 the rebellion and sustain your Uuvernmeiit. That in true; hut your fatherH 
 struggled through seven years of war more dreary than you liave seen, to 
 establish the same Governuient which you are endeavoring to preserve. There 
 were tories in the revolution as there are peace claniorers now. There was 
 not a time during that long war when your fatliers were not urged to vield 
 up the contest and make peace with their enemies. Jiut (hey sto<td llirrn, 
 endured privations, and every abuse that could be lieapcd upon tiiein for. 
 seven long years, struggling on until at last they came out victorious, and as 
 the result transmitted to you the best government God ever gave to man. Are 
 you such degenerate sons as to be willing to surrender that great Government 
 into the hands of rebels, or their sympathizers, after only four years' contest? 
 [Cries of no, no.] Certainly not. You have not so degenerated; you can 
 not, will not do it. 
 
 When you are called upon to engage in this civil contest, at the ballot box, 
 1 wish you could look into the trenches at Petersburg, or those in front of — 
 Atlanta, I was going to say, but thank God and glorious old Sherman, our 
 army has left them and gone forward into Atlanta itself. [Applause.] I wish 
 you could have looked into the trenches before Atlanta a few days ago, and 
 witnessed the privations which your noble brothers cheerfully endure, and 
 have heard them talking among themselves of their willingness to fight for 
 your liberties if you would only take care of the rebel element at home, and 
 with your votes hold them powerless for evil. If you could have seen and 
 heard these things you would rallv in numbers and with a power unequaled 
 by your election of last year, and proclaim to the world that you are prepared 
 to continue this contest as long as rebel endurance holds out against you. 
 
 The issue is made up. On the 7th of .lune last, the National Union (Con- 
 vention met in Baltimore, and nominated by acclamation, without one dis- 
 senting voice, your present President a candidate for re-election ; and although 
 your Convention was unanimous in its choice, it may be that there are those 
 who would prefer another man. If there are such, and whatever you or I 
 may have thought as to the wisdom of that selection, all objection should pass 
 away now, for your ticket represents the Government of your country and 
 not the interests of any man. Criticism might be made, but this is not the 
 time for it; that time will come by and by, when criticism may be indulged 
 in without injury to our country's cause. We must stand by the j>latlbrni 
 that pledges unwavering support of the Union, until the rebellion is crushed, 
 or the rebels willingly lay down their arms. They want peace. They can 
 have it any time, by laying down their arms, and yielding obedience to the 
 laws and the Constitution, and they can't have it by anything short of that. 
 [Cheers.] 
 
 THE CniCAGO PLATFORM. 
 
 You have marshaled against you a faction of men seeking to obtain the 
 power of the Government, who aided the rebels in bringing this rebellion 
 upon us, and who now want to get control of affairs so as to wind it up to 
 suit themselves and their traitor Democratic brethren in the South. They 
 have met at Chicago, and presented a platform and candidate for the consid- 
 eration of the public. In reference to the former I hoard a remark made 
 to-day by one of your citizens, which I will repeat if you do not consider it 
 irreverent, as I do not. The question was asked him, what he thoucrht of the 
 platform and the candidate presented by the Chicago Convention ? Tiie reply 
 was, he thought they had taken Christ's sermon on the mount for their plat- 
 form, and put the devil on it for their candidate. [Laughter.] I do not 
 know that this is exactly the case, but I do say that they have placed before 
 the people a platform that is full of hypocrisy and inconsistency, that is a 
 
base attempt to deceive the people of this country, and that they have set a 
 luilitary man upon it with epaulets upon his shoulders, under the irapressiou 
 that the [leople would run after him re<>;ardless of the platform. 
 
 With regard to the candidate, Geo. B. McClellan, I have not a word to say. 
 I have known him for many years, intimately ; his' personal character is good, 
 and if it were not, I should not stand before a public assembly to assail it. 
 I do not propose to object to him because from poverty he has won his way 
 to the high position he now occupies. That is one of the peculiar merits of 
 •our (.Jovernment, that any man, however humble his origin, may aspire to the 
 highe.-t position, and by good conduct receive the highest honors of his fellow 
 men. 1 shall not object to him because he comes from the honorable frater-' 
 nity of railroad men, for I happen to be one of that class myself. I do not 
 propose to criticise his military campaign^, or his military ability; I leave 
 that to the historian, for I make no pretences to military knowledge myself. 
 But I have a conviction that his military career has been a magnificent fail- 
 ure. We are, hofl^ever, not seeking a military man to place at the head of 
 our Government ; we are seeking, rather, a statesman, a man who has been 
 educated in the Constitution and the laws — the elements and principles of 
 our Ilepublican Government — a man who, by large experience, is able to take 
 charge of this great Government of ours in the hour of its danger, and carry 
 it salely through. That is the kind of a man we are looking for ; and laying 
 aside everything of a military reputation and a personal character, tell me 
 where (jen. McClellan has ever evinced any of that ripe experience, and that 
 great political knowledge, which would fit him to become President of the 
 United States. No civil responsibility has ever been entrusted to him, except 
 the superintendence of a railroad ; and while I would not depreciate him 
 without cause, if my railroad had needed a Superintendent, during the time 
 he was engaged in that business, there were fifty othei- men in Ohio whom I 
 would have employed in preference to him. He has given no evidence of a 
 capacity equal to the responsibility of seizing upon the reins of Government 
 in a time like this. He has no political knowledge that would be safe to rely 
 on. Even in the last Presidential campaiiin — that of 1860 — he had not the 
 shrewdness to discover that the welfare of this Government and the perpetuity 
 (if its institutions required the election of some other man than John C. Breck- 
 inridge, for he supported him for the Presidency. Are we to turn aside at a 
 time like this, and seize upon an inexperienced man and make him President, 
 liecause for three years he has made every action of life look to his own per- 
 sonal benefit or glory ? Wliile I do not criticise the military career of Mc- 
 Clellan, I feel my.self prompted to say, that but I'or his political ambition, but 
 for the serpent whispering in his ear as it was whispered to another in olden 
 time, that he might climb the giddy lieiLiht of glory and be made President, 
 but for this I believe McClellan could have taken Ilichmond and crushed the 
 rebellion two years ago. [Cheers.] When he lay before Yorktown, with 
 180.000 men, opposed by only 12,000 of the enemy, a man with any ordinary 
 genius could have gone into Kichmund, had it not been that evil-disposed men 
 whispered in his ear. '-Don't hurt anybody just now; wait, there is a Presi- 
 dent to be made out of this business." It is matter of history that Mc- 
 Clellan's army of the Peninsula lay there 180,000 strong, before less than 
 12,000 rebels, when he could have stormed their fortifications ; when, if 
 Hooker had been allowed to lead the van, they could have held Lee until 
 fresh cohorts were brought in on the other side, and the enemy completely 
 cut to pieces. Instead of this, McClellan retreated in disorder, after burying 
 40.000 of his brave soldiers on the banks* of the Chicahominy, from disease 
 and wounds. Men very often do unwise things; they do not understand just 
 the time or the way to promote their true interests. If McClellan had gone 
 on and capture] Ri.hmoml. at th.t tWn^^. a!! tho nnwevs on enrfh could nof 
 
have kept him from holding such a place iu the hearts of the people as wouM 
 have g;ivcn him all he desired. But he attempted to play the politician wlieii 
 he should have been doinjr the work of the warrior, and tlicrc he sacriii<,-ed 
 his firsi opportunity to crush the rebellion. 
 
 Agaiti, he lost his second opportunity of crushing tlie rebellion on the fiebl 
 of Antictam, when lie could have around it to pieces a.s between the upper 
 and nether mill-t;tone. Fightinjj; with but one-fourth hi.s army at a time, and 
 holding his own men thus, until the enemy exhausted their ammunition, he 
 still actually let the rebel army get away from him. He missed his second 
 opportunity, either because, as a politician, he did not want to suppress the 
 rebellion, or from such extraordinary timidity and vascillatiou as makes him 
 unfit to be placed at the head of a Government. 
 
 But Gen. McClellan is a war man. The men who nominated him, however, 
 are peace men. They did not nominate him because, by any act he has here- 
 tofore performed, they saw he agreed with them in opinion, but because his 
 reputation would give him a few votes, and as they said at Chicacro, they 
 will take care to surround him with men who will manage his administration 
 to suit the party. It is the Seymours and the Woods who want the chestnut.'* 
 out of the fire, and are willing to use Little Mac's paws to get them out with, 
 when they -will pocket them. [Cheers and laughter.] So his timidity and 
 vascillatiou of character have made him the instrument in the hands of evil 
 men, who, if he does not despise he ought to despise, for accomplishing their 
 ignoble purpose. 
 
 They put hinr forward on the platform with the palpable intention and the 
 purpose of defrauding the people of this Government into changing their 
 rulers, and placing the Government into the hands of those who would turn 
 it over to the rebels. They put forth this platfori^i, full of inconsistencies, 
 and ask the people of the country to believe in their integrity, because they 
 bring out a man who has been in the army. Think of it, peace men of Ohio! 
 They ask you to take this thing of many heads and one body — tlie tail of 
 which is George II. Pendleton, who has been constantly fighting every meas- 
 ure introduced to carry on this war and weaken the rebellion, till he is now 
 considered as dark hued a traitor as Vallandigham himself. 
 
 CHICAGO DEMOCRATS. * 
 
 Here the speaker read the Chicago platform, as follows : 
 
 Ecsolrcd, That in the future as the past, we will adhere with un3wervin>r fidelity to the Union 
 iindcr the Constitution, as the only solid foundation for our strength, security and happiness as a 
 people, as a frame work to government equally conducive to the welfare and prosperity of all the 
 8tites both Northei'n and Southern. 
 
 Hcsoltfd, That this Convention does explicitly declare as the sense of the American people, 
 that, after four years of failure to restore the Union by the e.\perimeut of war, during which, under 
 the pretence of a military necessity or war power other than the Constitution, tli" Cnn.stitution itself 
 has been disregarded in "every point, and public liberty and private right alike trodden down, and 
 the material prosperity of tlio country essentially impaired, justice, humanity, liberty and the pub- 
 lic welfare demand that an immediate eflbrt be made for the cessation of hostilities, with a vie\y ti) 
 an ultimate convention of all the States, or other peaceable means, to the end that, at the earliest 
 possible moment, peace may be restored, on the basi.s of the Federal Union of the States. 
 
 Resolral, That the direct interference of the military authorities of the United States in the 
 recent elections held in Kentucky, Maryland,' Jlissouri and Delaware, was a sh.-imeful violation of 
 the Constitution. The repetition of such acts on the approaching election will be held a3 revolu- 
 tionary, and be resisted with all the means and power under our control. 
 
 -Resolved, That the aim and object of tlie Democratic party is to preserve the Federal Union and 
 the right of the States unimpaired, and they hereby declare that they consider the administrative 
 usurpation of extraordinary and dangerous powers not granted by the Constitution ; the subver- 
 sion or the civil by military law in the States not iu insurrection, the abitrary military arre-t, 
 imprisonment, trial and sentence of American citizens iu States where the civil law exists in full 
 force, the suppression of the 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 unusual test oaths, and the 
 interference with and denial of the right of the people to bear arms, as calculated to prevent a res- 
 toration of the Union and perpetuation of the Government deriving its just powers from the consent 
 of the governed. 
 
 Resolved, That the shameful disregard of the Administration of its dutyjr. rcgpcct tc cur fellow- 
 
citizens who now, ami long- liave been, pri^^oners of war in a suffering condition, deserves the 
 severest reprobation on the score alike of public and coumion humanity. 
 
 Resolved, That the sympathy of the Democratic party is heartily and earnestly extended to the 
 soldiers of our army who are and have been on the field under the flag of our country, and in the 
 event 01 our attaining power, will receive all care, protection, regard and kindness, that the brave 
 soldiers of tlie republic have so nobly earned. 
 
 You will bear me witness, that from the first word to the last, there is 
 nothing in it but what was ofiered for a purpose. In no word or syllable does 
 it denounce the rebellion or the infernal traitors who brought it on the coun- 
 try. Could it be conceived as possible that a set of men could be congregated 
 together who would pass a series of resolutions as a political platform, and 
 entirely omit every word of condemnation of the men who plunged the 
 country into civil war? Why have they not denounced these men? Because 
 to have done so would have been indirectly to have crucified themselves. 
 The leaders of the Chicago Convention were the aiders and abettors of the 
 Southern men who brought the rebellion upon us, and have been their sympa- 
 thizers from that time to the present. There could be 'no more pcfect commu- 
 nication by telegraph between the leaders of the Rebel Confederacy and the 
 Chicago Democracy than there is in sympathy between Chicago and Richmond. 
 Who were those men ? They were the men of the Democratic Convention 
 of 1800, who stood around Buchanan's Administration — the abettors and 
 conspirators, who fraternized with Floyd and Tliompson, who robbed us of our 
 arms, arsenals, and treasure. They have no denunciation I'or these men, 
 while they exhaust the dictionary in the use of abusive words against those 
 seel^niT to crush out the rebellion. It is perhaps a tribute to our Gov- 
 ernment to say, that there is no other on the ftice of the earth where men 
 would be allowed to denounce their Government as they do. Not a word is 
 3-iid against rebellion, but, by inference and implication, you are led to sup- 
 pose the rebellion is right and your Government wrong. Jeff. Davis and 
 his Cabinet, in Richmond, could not have passed resolutions that would please 
 the rebels of the South better than these Chicago resolutions will. 
 
 DEMOCRATIC UNION. 
 
 The second characteristic of the platform is, that it declares for the Union. 
 The Union of what? The Union of this Government, as a power that has the 
 inherent right to protect and take care of itself? No, no. But a Union of the 
 States with their inherent rights. It declares in l\ivor of a union of South Car- 
 olina with New York, with the right of South Carolina to rebel to-morrow, if 
 she choose. I want Union, too, but not a Union which confers the privilege 
 on the party to be united with me of knocking nic down the next day without 
 redress. I want a Union which will protect the reserved and proper rights of 
 the States, and which will liave power to protect at the saitie time the rights 
 of the people. They declare for the Union; but do they tell you if the 
 Southern men won't come to terms, they will whip them in? Not a word 
 f»f it. They arc for the Union if they can get it by armistice and conciliation. 
 If they can't get it in tliat way, they are for letting the Confederacy go, to grasp 
 as many of the border States as she can get to follow her. Then the Confed- 
 erate Democrats of Ohio would say, wo can take Ohio to the South; wo never 
 did like the East. So New York would say, we can live better without the 
 Yankees of New England. Yes, they are for the Union, if the States please 
 to go v>'ith them, but if not there will be no Union. 
 
 This body of men declare tliat they will hereafter assert the supremacy of 
 this Union. They use language which reads very nicely on the face of it, 
 but when you come to analyze it you find it bold treason. There is a purpose 
 here, and that puj-posc is so finely glossed over that any of these boys can see 
 through the veil. They are for the Union if they can get it, if not they will 
 let the South go. The purpose they seek is to put themselves into political 
 
power, and if tlioy don't rcf^torc tlic Union as il was, lliey will make a Union 
 witli the South that will perpetuate their power for tlie control of tlie (iovern- 
 ment always hereafter. 
 
 Thsy do not declare they are against the rebellion, or for its pupjircssion. 
 They declare for peace, an armistice, a Convention of the States, in order to 
 restore the Union upon the basis of State rights. What does J elf. Davis say? 
 He says the States are disintegrated now, because the Southern States have 
 been exercising their natural right of secession. Tlic States are dissolved now 
 and formed into a new Confederacy. There has been, as the gamblers say, a 
 new cut, shuffle and deal, and Jeff. Davis has the pack in his hands; and he says 
 it is the right of every State to do just as it pleases. These men want a con- 
 vention of the States to restore the Union on that basis. They want an ar- 
 mistice, and Jeff. Davis says that an armisiice is for the purpose of drawing 
 away the Union sddiers from Richmond and Atlanta, and our men-of-war 
 from the Southern ports. Consequently, an armistice means to yield up all 
 that has been gained and allow the rebels to take all they want beside. 
 
 Do you remember that last year there was a distinguished citizen '-watch- 
 ing and waiting over the border," like Micawber, for something to turn up, 
 who in a proclamation he issued to the people of Ohio, asked you to call back 
 your armies from Southern soil, saying you could then negotiate for peace? 
 He was up at Chicago, and in that Convention found an echo of this infamous 
 declaration. It was, call back your armies ; make an armistice; you have 
 reconquered five-eighths of the territory that these Southern rascals took 
 from you, and the good work is still going on step by step — of course slower 
 as you get nearer the center than when on the circumference; while they 
 have just abandoned Atlanta, and the Union army entered it, the second 
 great military post of the State. When the Atlanta fortifications have just 
 been surrendered, and Gen. Thomas is slashing to pieces Hood's army in 
 Georgia, these gentlemen who never have armed themselves with pocket-pis- 
 tols — glass or otherwise — [laughter] — coolly turn around and say let us have 
 an armistice ; let us tear off General Grant's grasp upon Petersburg, and hi> 
 hold upon Richmond; lay down our arms, and say to these Southern gentle- 
 men, "he;e we come to yield all to you, although by struggling a few hours 
 longer we could conquer you and restore the Union; still we give it up, and 
 go down on our knees and humbly beg of you to grant us peace." Yes, call 
 back your armies from Atlanta ; call them back from all the fields made his- 
 toric by the blood of your brave brothers, who have laid down their lives for 
 their country ; call them back, with arms reversed and with nuitHed drums : 
 and when you have got them on this side of the river, tell the men to start for 
 their homes, and beat the Rogue's march after them, while they trail the ban- 
 ner of glory and beauty in the dust. That is what you are asked todo, under 
 the banner of the man whose only credit is, that instead of standing at the 
 liead cf the army of the bravest men that ever trod God's foot-stool, he stands 
 to-day at the head of the most accursed band of traitors this side of Rich- 
 mond. Make an armistice, call your brave men back, destroy their patriotism, 
 tell them to go home with our sympathy, we will dispense with their arms, 
 for we are civil warriors, and believe with the great Richelieu that " the pen 
 is mightier than the sword." We can save States without it, especially when 
 we give them the right to secede whenever they feel aggrieved, and precipitate 
 another rebellion upon the country whenever they choose to do so.^ Call 
 back your armies, assemble your convention, and what have you accomplished ? 
 You will have allowed the rebels to repossess their territory; they will refuse 
 to agree to anything you will propose, and your armies being disbanded they 
 will say, we have accomplislied our purpose, we are ready for another rebellion 
 and another fight, and there are more rivers of blood to flow, and more treasure 
 to be expended to put down the rebellion. We had victory in our hands and 
 
'/ 
 
 10 
 
 r;ave it up because the cowards and knaves would not prosecute the war to the 
 end, and turned away from the great end for ignoble and unworthy purposes. 
 And the remedy is a convention of the States. For what? A convention of 
 all the States for the purpose of restoring the Union upon the basis of the rights 
 of the States. As we understand the rights of the States all very well ; but the 
 Southern people understand States rights very differently from us. They assert 
 that it is the right of any State to make war when it pleases, to secede when it 
 pleases ; it is the right of a State to nullify the laws of the general Govern- 
 ment when it pleases. They undertook it once under General Jackson, but it 
 did not prosper. They claim that a State has certain inherent rights, and 
 these arc of them. They propose to restore the Union on this basis. What 
 would it amount to? Who can tell that in ten or fifteen years South Carolina 
 might not again rear up her Ebenezer, and say, "I will not obey the laws of 
 the land, and I will rebel." She can do it better then than now ; because she 
 will gain power by having time. You will have given your consent to seces- 
 sion. Will you give that consent? If not, you will not put this party in 
 power. 
 
 Then you are to have a convention of all the States. Would not that be a 
 rich thing, with Jeff Davis and all his tribe among us, fixing up a Union of 
 the States ? I have no doubt those gentlemen of Chicago would like that 
 kind of association ; but I imagine that the patriotic men of this country, who 
 have sent their sons to suffer and die, and poured their money into the Treas- 
 ury to sustain the Government, do not feel much like either going themselves 
 or turning out to elect delegates to go into such a convention. The leaders at 
 Chicago would like that thing, because ''fellow feeling makes them wondrous 
 kind."' They sympathize with them in their way, and more particularly 
 because, in other times, they have been joined together in political power and 
 patronage. But I take it, this country is not going to go into any such 
 arrangement. 
 
 There is but one kind of convention the Northern people will consent to. 
 These rebellious States must come back subjugated, or by voluntarily laying 
 down their arms and submitting to the laws and the constitution. We have 
 two just such conventions in the field now. Grant is President of one, and 
 Sherman is President of the other. [Applause.] I do not think we want 
 any interference of this Chicago Convention in that particular. They do not 
 denounce the rebellion as unholy and wicked. They have no word of unkind- 
 ness for the scoundrels who are the authors of all our troubles. 
 
 They ask an armistice only to let the rebels recuperate. And they ask a 
 convention of States with the Southern leaders, in order to fix the terms by 
 which these brothers of theirs may be permitted to come back. So far we 
 have got in the platform. 
 
 After four years of war, they say it is time we had peace. So your f^ithers 
 thought after four years of war, it was time they had peace, but they didn't 
 lay down their arms on that account; nor submit to ignoble term.-, nor ask 
 the Jjritish authorities to give them peace. They fought it through seven 
 years. You are not called upon to do that ; for if it were not for the hopes 
 which the rebels build upon just such things as this Chicago Convention, you 
 would have had peace to-day; and in spite of that, you can have it in the 
 coming year upon the suppression of the rebellion ; for it may be said, with- 
 out using too strong a figure of speech, that but for the opposition of such 
 men, this rebellion would have been crushed out a year ago. You may go 
 into the ranks of your armies, or the noble men who have come from the field, 
 and learn from them what has given the rebellion strength. They believe 
 there was a pov^er in the North that would have overturned this Government 
 and given them such terms as they asked. Just such men as the leaders of 
 his Chicago Convention, have cost this people millions of money and thou- 
 
11 
 
 % 
 
 sands of lives. It is not too much to say that these peace men nre covered 
 over from head to foot with the bhood of their shiu.L'lilered countrymen. They 
 ought to be held responsible for them, and at the bar of public opinif»n they 
 are murderers worse than traitors, for they give the rebellion strength and 
 vitality by their conduct in the North. And what they have done in Chicago 
 will be gloated over in the South. It will be howled on till November. For 
 though McClellan may be elected, he is a man of straw that will be brushed 
 aside, and behind him comes up the cohorts of these peace men, who wilt say 
 to the rebels "we will give you the Government on any terms you please.'" 
 
 They want peace they say. Well let's see on what terms they will get 
 peace. Many of you have read the account of Col. Jaques and Gilniore, who 
 went down to Ptichmond to sbund Jeff. Davis upon the subject of peace, oa 
 the principle of the fellow who fought at Bunker Hill. When asked where 
 he belonged; he said he didn't belong anywhere. He was fighting on his own 
 hook. They went to llichmond to feel Davis' pulse. They came back and 
 reported what they saw and heard. The^e gentlemen on the secession side 
 say it is all a lie, that Davis never said anything of the kind. These leaders 
 and their presses take more pains to defend anything charged upon Davis, 
 than to defend anything charged upon the officers of your Government. 
 
 Of course anything that appears here on this side, damaging these rebel 
 leaders, they say is all a lie. They are welcome to say all that Jaques and 
 Gilmore say is a lie. I don't oare, although I believe what they say is true. 
 But there is a witness that rises up against them. They cannot deny the 
 truth of what a rebel officer says, — the Secretary of State of the rebel Confed- 
 eracy, who used to be a Senator of the South, a Jew by birth and a politician 
 by trade, an infernally corrupt one, one who naturally affiliates with the 
 Southern Confederacy. Democratic papers cannot dispute Benjamin. He 
 
 [ made an address to one Mason, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Southern Con- 
 federacy, etc., to the Court of St. James. He addressed him a letter, telling 
 
 I him what had taken place at Richmond with those two Yankees. Now hear 
 what Benjamin says : 
 
 " Mr. Gilmore then addressed the President, and in a few minutes had conveyed the informa- 
 tion that those two gentlemen had come to Kichmond impressed with the idea that this Uovernment 
 would accept a peace on the basis of a reconstruction of the Union, the abolition of slavery, and 
 the grant of an amnesty to the people of the States as repentant criminals. In order to accomplish 
 the abolition of slavery, it was proposed that there should be a general vote of all the people ot 
 both C<mfederations, and the majority of the vote thus taken was to determine that as well as all 
 other disputed questions. These were stated to be Mr. Lincoln's views. The President answered 
 that as these proposals had been prefaced by the remark that the people of the North were a ma- 
 jority, and that a majority ought to govern, the offer was, in effjct, a proposal that the Lontederate 
 States should surrender at discretion, admit that they had been wrong from the beginnmg of the 
 contest, su'jmit to the mercy of their enemies, and avow themselves to be in need ot paraon tor 
 crimes ; that extermination was preferable to such dishonor." 
 
 It never has been part of Davis' creed for the majority to govern. It was 
 because the minority could not govern that he went into the rebellion ; and he 
 tells those centlemen they can't put anything down his throat that smacks of 
 majority government. Whether he calculateshe has got part of the majority 
 down there and part at Chicago, may be questioned. 
 
 Now there is Davis' declaration on the one side, and that of Chicago on the 
 other. Chicago wants peace by an armistice and conciliation. Davis te Is 
 them how they are going to get it— to acknowledge the independence ot tUe 
 Southern Confederacy. But'if they don't acknowledge that there is no peace 
 for them ; that extermination is preferable to them. , 
 
 I had almost said it was absurd. I will withdraw that term, and say is it 
 not wicked that with declarations of this kind thrown into our teeth there 
 should be found ten or fifteen thousand men assembled who are willing to 
 abase themselves in the dirt, to crawl in the very earth itselt,^ in order to 
 
12 
 
 such a set of men to ask the American people to come on a platform of that ' 
 kind, and put men in power that will do this thing, and surrender the Gov- 
 ernment to traitors that are almost at their last gasp ? You cannot do this 
 thing with honor to yourselves, and in the name of Crod, how can you do it 
 in justice to your posterity ooming up around you, to the honor of that great 
 name of ours which for over eighty years has been the token of freedorc, the 
 light by which other nations have been guided, and has promised to be the 
 beacon for all time to come ? 
 
 I said this platform was a weak attempt to deceive the American people. I 
 said it was full of treason ; that it was full of deceit ; full of fraud ; it was a 
 swindle from end to end. I also said it was full of inconsistencies. These 
 men had elements around them that they were compelled to consult and pro- 
 piiiate. The leaders oi this Convention, who want political power and are 
 unscrupulous as to the means to achieve it, were in the minority, and the men 
 who follow Vallandigham and Wood were in a triumphant majority; fire and 
 water were there, and these had to be mixed, oil and water to he mingled. 
 They must win. It is the attributes of semi-traitors that must win followers 
 of this clamor for peace, and must put a man at the head of the ticket who 
 would not be too open, and therefore management and money were necessary. 
 They could not put up Vallandigham or such a man at the head of the ticket. 
 They had an experience of that kind last Fall. [Laughter.] There were 
 plenty of men who said they would rather have Vallandigham than any 
 other man in the nation, but he calinot run. McClellan can get more 
 votes than he can. But Vallandigham didn't like Mac, and wouldn't have 
 any war man on the platform. And it is said they fixed that up by giving 
 Fendleton the tail of the ticket. You recollect the staple commodity of Val- 
 landigham's tactics was arbitrary arrests and suspension of the writ of habeas 
 corpus, so this Convention, in the third resolution, denounced Lincoln for ar- 
 bitrary arrests and the suspension of habeas corpus, and other crimes which 
 they have been in the habit of attributing to him. They then turned around 
 and nominated McClellan, the man who made the first arbitrary arrests after 
 the war began, having taken the Legislature out of the halls where they were 
 in session, and put them in prison, and kept them there sixteen months. 
 What was this for? To soothe those men who are abusing Lincoln ? I don't 
 Kay (Jen. McClellan didn't do right. I don't lay that sin to his charge. But 
 1 say if he did do right, the men who nominated him at (Tiicago are the most 
 infernal set of hypocrites and scoundrels that ever walked the earth. 
 
 Another evident inconHistcncy in their war on the President, is, that 
 anytliiiig he docs is wrong, anything that our man does is right. This 
 is the platform they jnit forth. 
 
 There is no denunciation of the rebellion ; no determination to restore 
 the Union and (iovernmont hy foreo of arms, if thoy can't do it by peace 
 and a convention of the States, but denunciation "of the President for 
 making arbitrary arrests. 
 
 Now I say to you, those gentlemen who have undertaken to conciliate 
 and compromise the rebel element, have gone to the other verge, and 
 shown their own treasonable purposes in the disruption of the Union. 
 
 Tbci-e is no man in this countiy who respects liis Government can put 
 liiniscif in coalition with men who can bo so base as to do it themselves. 
 
 SV.Ml'ATUY FOR THE SOLDIER. 
 
 Let us go a little further. There is a body of men several hundred 
 tliousand strong, and with arms in their hands, who are endeavoring to 
 uphold the dear old flag, and to bring us peace by lawful means. There 
 are four hundred thousand men standing upon the fields of the United 
 States under its banner, ready to lay down their lives for the success of 
 
13 
 
 the Union cause. There arc four hundred Ihoiisniid (jf those, lliat tlicso 
 scamps at Chicago were angling after. It would not do, tlu-rffoiv, after 
 passing resolutions of armistice, and calling hack the army in di.-gracc, 
 to let this pill go without a little sugar-coating. It is notorious that th<'. 
 soldiers have good jaws to crack hard tack with, and gullets to get them 
 down, but they could not swallow that pill without a little sugar-coating; 
 so they must pass the fourth resolution complimenting the soldiers. 
 
 I want your papers to print this platform at the head of yonv columns 
 to the election. I want every man of you to read, it, and to prevail on 
 your neighbors to sit down and read the fourth resolution in rt\gard to 
 soldiers. Coolly consider its language. It is the most infernal insult to 
 a body of brave and noble men, ever oifercd even by the 8outhern Con 
 federacj". For Davis himself has acknowledged our men were bravu and 
 gallant. What do these men say? 
 
 "/Lfsolvcd, That the sympathy of the Democratic party is lieartily and earnestly extended to the 
 soldiers of our army who are and have been on the field under the flaj; of our country, and in the 
 event of our attaining power, will receive all care, protection, regard and kindness that the brave 
 soldiers of the Republic liave so nobly earned." 
 
 IIow does it read ? 
 
 " Nesolved, That we tender our thanks to the noble men in the army," etc. 
 
 Not a word of it. What then? ''That we tender our sympathies," 
 and our pity, to our soldiers in the field. We do not glorify them. Wc 
 do not rejoic(^n their gallant deeds — in their victories. No. No man in 
 that Chicago Convention ever rejoiced over a victory yet; nor any man 
 that supports the Chicago platform was ever found kindling a bonfire 
 over a victory won by your arms. [Cheers.] This is not a bare asser- 
 tion. They do not rejoice in the victories won. No. But they " .^sympa- 
 thize" with the soldiers who are standing under the old flag, and on the 
 battle-field. Well, they might as well sympathize with hori^es that stood 
 on the battle-field, for the horses would care about as much about it as 
 the soldiers; and the mules too. I don't know but the mules would have 
 kicked up their heels at their sympathy for the soldiers too. 
 
 The language of that resolution is simply impudent and abusive. It is 
 simply cowardly, and means disgrace. With the outward tongue it 
 speaks in accents of affection, but inwardly of the traitor. '• We sympa- 
 thize with our soldiers." They are not then in a glorious cause. Wc 
 don't rejoice with them that their patriotism called them forth to uphold 
 that banner. We don't sympathize with the brave that have gone forth 
 to die. We don't glory in anything they do. We don't say their cause is 
 just. We don't thank them. We simply pity them ! 
 
 Then what? Don't trust me for these words, for although they arc 
 ground into my memory, and burned into my brain, I Avont ask you to 
 trust to my memory. " In the event of our coming into power, they (the 
 soldiers,) w^ill receive all the care, protection and regard that the soldiers 
 of the Eepublic have earned." If they come into po-vver— that is what 
 they are after— they will protect and send them to their homes, to sin no 
 more by taking up arms against their Southern brethren. They slian't 
 be punished because they dared to fight JefV. Davis. They shan't be put 
 into prison — there shan't an}^ harm come upon them— they will protect 
 them and send them out of danger! " We want their votes, and we must 
 be kind to them." And as the Devil promised what did not belong to 
 him. and what he could not get, to Christ, these fellows promise then- pro- 
 tection ; and as that distinguished gentleman was cast out of Heaven into 
 the lower regions, a similar fate awaits the Chicago fellows. [Laughter 
 and applause.] Look at the naked infancy attempted to be practiced on 
 the people by the passage of this resolution. They want the ordinary 
 
14 
 
 reader to suppose that they intend to compliment the soldiers for doing 
 what they have done. But they don't mean any such thing. If they 
 had meant it, why could they have not said, "We tender our thanks to 
 our brave soldiers who have teen upholding our flag against armed re- 
 bellion?" They could not say it, because the traitors did not mean it. 
 
 EXCHANGE OP PRISONERS. 
 
 In perfect character and keeping, is the next resolution denouncing the 
 Government for an alleged neglect of our prisoners in Eebel hands. The 
 Rebel leaders have systematically violated the cartel arranged for ex- 
 clianges. They have made unheard-of demands, and claimed advantages 
 totally unwarranted. Every present advance on our part for exchange, 
 is met b}' procrastination and delay; and the secret reason ot this is, that 
 the leaders conceive that by procrastination they are irritating our peo- 
 ple, and manufacturing political capital against the Administration. The 
 managers of the Chicago Convention understand and sj'mpathize with 
 this action ; and are prompt to give it all the efficiency in their power. 
 To those acquainted with the fticts, this resolution contains the most con- 
 clusive evidence of perfect sympathy and co-operation between the leaders 
 at Chicago and the chiefs of the Eebel Confederacy. 
 
 REGARD FOR BOUGLAS. 
 
 Following on the heels of the platform is a scarcely less infjimous resolu- 
 tion, presented by an individual, expressing the regards of thdiConvention for 
 that great statesman, Stephen A. Douglas — their great appreciation of the 
 character of the noble Senator from Illinois. If he had lived how'he would 
 have stood up for and sustained them ! Riaht there by the tomb of Douglas! 
 And it is a wonder his bones did not turn in their coffin and burst their cere- 
 ments and come forth to reprove their hypocrisy. They shed tears over the 
 tomb of Douglas ! They, like crocodiles, pour out bitter water over the bones 
 of the man wliom they crucified as certainly as the Jews crucified Christ. 
 Whom they doubly crucified — first in 185(3, and then in 18G0, pursuing him 
 through the whole of the last campaign ; the very men who set up Breckin- 
 ridge — who is now the leader of one branch of the rebel army — and ran him, 
 and defeated his election. These men put on saintly airs, and weep hypocrit- 
 ical tears over him whom they destroyed. They broke his great heart, and 
 sent him to his grave. The last words on his lips, which will be memorable 
 while the Republic lives, were ; 
 
 "In this crisis there can be but two parties. There can be no neutrals in 
 this war, only patriots and traitors." 
 
 If Douglas' voice could have come up from his tomb on the banks of the 
 lake, in answer to the words of these hypocritical knaves, it would have been 
 to say : "Look at the handwriting on the wall." " There can be but two 
 parties — patriots and traitors — you are of the latter class." Away with such 
 contemptible meanness and hypocrisy! 
 
 NOW IS NO TIME TO GIVE UP. 
 
 I ask if you can support a man put forth under such circumstances? I 
 say you cannot trust the destinies of your country in such hands. And I 
 repeat that just at this opportune moment of time, when we have this rebellion 
 by the throat ; when we are strangling it ; when our men are going by thou- 
 sands to the field cheerfully and nobly, when Sherman has taken Atlanta; 
 when (Jrant holds the Weldun Railroad ; when Sheridan holds the v;illey of the 
 Rhenan<loah ; when the military situation is better than it ever has been, and 
 when we have men at the head of our armies who are earnest at this work, 
 and men who know wliat they are about. They may sing " President"' in 
 
15 
 
 Grant' Aars, but he pays no attention to them ; his only answer is, '• I came 
 here to hurt somebody, and will do it before I leave." Sherman tells them 
 to go out of his lines. They are men who are doing what they were put 
 there to do. 
 
 All [ ask is, don't crowd them too hard; there is no man idle. You think 
 G-rant does not move fast enough at Richmond. A few weeks ago Grant said 
 to an official in high position : " I suppose the people blame me tor being too 
 slow; but 1 am a soldier, looking to the welfare of my army, and the weliare 
 of my country, and I say to you, Mr. Secretary, there has not been a day, for 
 the last sixty-five consecutive days, in which I could have fought my army 
 six hours without putting half my men in the hospital." You were all im- 
 patient during that time. You did not know dust was six inches deep, which 
 brought men to the ground. But it is true. Grant has consulted the wel- 
 fare of the army and the welfare of the Government in holding still until 
 cooler weather, but Richmond is as sure to fall as I live. But while you are 
 impatient and desponding, uneasy under the call for more men, God bless 
 you ! see how they are coming ! 1 tell you the patriotism of this country is not 
 all dead, and it was not all at Chicago. These fellows cry out, " Now is the 
 time to make peace." Grant says it is not. Had it not been for the.se men, 
 we could have had a united sentiment in the North; and if the rebels were 
 not buoyed up by the rebels of the north; if rebeldom was not sustained by 
 the people north, this rebellion could be crushed in six months. We can not 
 say these men shall not talk and pass resolutions; but we can say they shall 
 not elect men of that. kind to office; and we can turn around to Urant and 
 say, "Notwithstanding the operations of these fellows up here, you see you 
 are backed." This is no time to be halting ; there has not been an hour, 
 from the opening of ^is rebellion to this time, that the rebels could not have 
 had peace by coming back into^the Union and submitting to the laws and the 
 constitution. , 
 
 OMISSION OF SLAVERY IN TUE PLATFORM. 
 
 I must not omit one thing, although it has been omitted in the Chicago 
 platform. Som^ of }^ou will remember I have been tolerably conversant with 
 Democratic matters. I used to run with their machines from 1836 to 1848, 
 when they run them into the ground, and I left. [Laughter.] This is 
 the first National Convention of the Democratic party that I ever knew 
 where the irrepressible negro was smothered in the room of the Com- 
 mittee on Resolutions. They did not suffer enough of that animal to crop 
 out to give an idea that the negro was in the woodpile. [Laughter.] There 
 is not a word in this platform about slavery. I think, as Greeley says, •' the 
 world moves." I think Democratic brethren are getting educated. It used 
 to be we could not start the wagon ofl" without loading slavery in the fore end 
 and into the hind end and into the middle, [laughter,] while we men who 
 used to uiake speeches around the country, had at every campaign, before 
 starting out from Columbus, <^ shoulder a negro and start olf with him. 
 [Laughter.] Slavery had to be taken care of. The Democratic party is get- 
 ting educated ; they ma-ie a platform and do not say slavery once. [ do not 
 know that I have any fault to find, except while they did not say slavery they 
 thought it all the time. The reason they did not put it in their platform was, 
 they were too great cowards. After looking the dictionary through, they 
 could not find any language in which they could disguise that colored indi- 
 vidual, so the people would not see him ; therefore, they concluded to bury 
 him out of sight. None the less are they prepared to denounce the Presi- 
 dent, because as they say, he has said the only way to bring about negotia- 
 tions for peace, is to consent that there be an abolition of slavery. There are, 
 as I said, things I could criticise in our Administration. I would not have 
 
IG 
 
 gone quite so far as tLe President did in liis " To whom it may concern ;" but 
 t will go this Air : I never will consent, so far as I am concerned, in the res- 
 toration or reconstruction of this Union, that the powers of slavery, as hereto- 
 fore recognized, shall ever be conferred on it again. [Applause.] 
 
 I will not say I would continue the war to free every negro in bondage; 
 but 1 say, no more shall slavery be represented in the councils of my coun- 
 try ; no two-thirds vote cast on the basis of slave population. There are to 
 i)e no more men come into Congress and say : you shall not admit a State 
 into this Union without putting slavery in it. I will have no more guaran- 
 te. s for slavery. If they hold it — and I do no.t believe they can for two years 
 after the rebellion is wiped out — they shall hold it as they do their horses and 
 cattle — at their own risk, ISTo more admissions of slavery into the territories 
 for the purpose of keeping the balance of power. And, my Democratic friends 
 at Chicago knew this was the sentiment of the people of this country, and did 
 not dare to put it in their platform. 
 
 They oppose the President because he says there must be abolition of 
 slavery. There will be abolition of slavei:y ; for the moment you take from it 
 its political character, that moment its death is certain. Twenty years ago it 
 would have been abolished had it not have been for the political character of 
 tlie institution. If they had not rebelled against their Government they 
 would now have their institution with all its guarantees. In striking it down, 
 I want to take back that privilege which they never had as a constitutional 
 right. The President conies so near the sentiment of the people of this coun- 
 try that the Chicago managers are afraid to censure lijm for that. They do 
 no dare to say which way they think, lest peradventure they might lose a few 
 votes, ^ ^ 
 
 APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE. 
 
 I have said what I have in a spirit of frankness and trutR. Take both plat- 
 forms and read them well. Go among your neighbors and talk with them. 
 If you are going to succeed in sustaining this Government, you must go to 
 work. You can not sit at home and expect votes to coi^e. ,You must work 
 tor it as the duty you owe to your Government and to yourselves, but above 
 all as the duty you owe to those gallant fellows of ours wh"6 are standing on 
 the field of battle. Great God ! are you going to suffer the Avord to go down 
 to them that they have to submit to giving up all they have struggled so hard 
 to gain, to go back and leave their comrades in the soil ! Are you going to 
 nay to them that they must surrender all the conquests of four years for the 
 manufacture of a batch of political conspirators ? Can you say that to those 
 noble fellows down there? Father, can you say it to your son ? Brother, 
 can you say it to your brother ? Uncle, can you say it to your nephew ? I 
 know there is no wife that will say it to lier husband. If you are not 
 going to do it, } ou niu-t take hold of this work, and go at it with power and 
 energy. You must not falter in the next four weeks; but every man must 
 consider that it i.s his duty to enlighten one /nan who sits in darkness, and 
 convince one man, at least, of the error of his ways; that it is his duty to 
 save his country, save himself, and the army in the field. Now, men, take 
 liold of this work. Let us go home and talk about what we have heard here 
 to-day. Let us talk to our neighbors, and let us get them to go to some 
 other neighbor, and let all turn out, on another occasion, to hear better 
 speakers than you have heard here to-day. If you do this, all of you, you 
 can carry the State by 100,000 majority just as easily as you did it in Octo- 
 ber last [Applause.] ' g^ 
 
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