reproach of creating a schism in the party with which I have been identified.

Had Mr. Lincoln remained faithful to the principles he was elected to defend, no schism could have been created, and no contest could have been possible. This is not an ordinary election. It is a contest for the right even to have candidates, and not merely, as usual, for the choice among them. Now, for the first time since '76, the question of constitutional liberty has been brought directly before the people for their serious consideration and vote. The ordinary rights secured under the Constitution and the laws of the country have been violated and extraordinary powers have been usurped by the Executive. It is directly before the people now to say whether or not the principles established by the Revolution are worth maintaining.

If, as we have been taught to believe, those guarantees for liberty which made the distinctive name and glory of our country, are in truth inviolably sacred, then here must be a protest against the arbitrary violation which had not even the excuse of a necessity. The schism is made by those who force the choice between a shameful silence or a protest against wrong. In such considerations originated the Cleveland Convention. It was among its objects to arouse the attention 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 country in the name of liberty, we have really parted with it at home.

indorse a policy and renew a power which has cost us the lives of 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 view to prevent the misfortune of his re-election.

In this contingency, I accept the nomination at Cleve
land, and, as a preliminary step, I have resigned my commis
sion in the army. This was a sacrifice it gave me pain to
make. But I had for a long time fruitlessly endeavored to
obtain service. I make this sacrifice now only to regain
liberty of speech, and to leave nothing in the way of dis-
charging to my utmost ability the task you have set for me.
With my earnest and sincere thanks for your expressions
of confidence and regard, and for the many honorable terms
in which you acquaint me with the actions of the Conven-
tion, I am, gentlemen,
Very respectfully and truly yours,

J. C. FREMONT.
To Worthington G. Snethen of Maryland, Edward Gilbert
of New York, Casper Butz of Illinois, Charles E. Moss of
Missouri, N. P. Sawyer of Pennsylvania, a Committee, &c.
FROM GENERAL COCHRANE.

NEW YORK, June 4, 1864.
GENTLEMEN: I have received your note informing me
officially of my nomination by the Radical Democracy at
Cleveland, on the 31st ultimo, as their candidate for Vice
President of the United States, on the ticket with John C.
Fremont as their candidate for President.

To-day we have in the country the abuses of a military dictation without its unity of action and vigor of execution an Administration marked at home by disregard of constitutional rights, by its violation of personal liberty and the I have been accustomed to regard simply as a duty perliberty of the press, and as a crowning shame, by its aban- formed what you are pleased to represent as personally donment of the right of asylum, a right especially dear to meritorious, and to regret the physical disability which all free nations abroad. Its course has been characterized by alone withdrew me from the immediate scene of war. a feebleness and want of principle which has misled EuI concur in the action and agree with the principles of ropean powers and driven them to a belief that only comthe Convention. Where by its twelfth resolution the ques mercial interests and personal aims are concerned, and that tion of reconstruction is referred to the constitutional ao no great principles are involved in the issue. The admira- tion of the people, it wisely committed to them an issue ble conduct of the people, their readiness to make every peculiarly within the province of the future, and not yet sacrifice demanded of them, their forbearance and silence sufficiently emerged from war, to warrant positive opinion. under the suspension of everything that could be suspended, While I have ever supposed confiscation and use of the their many acts of heroism and sacrifices, were all rendered property of an enemy in arms to be a laudable exercise of fruitless by the incapacity, or to speak more exactly, by the an established and essential rule of civilized war, I am personal ends for which the war was managed. This inca- pleased to observe that the Convention, when asserting the pacity and selfishness naturally produced such results as led justice of the principle, intended to remit its exercise to the the European powers, and logically enough, to the convic-discretion of the people, hereafter manifested through their tion that the North, with its greatly superior population, representatives in Congress, when considering the paraits immense resources, and its credit, will never be able to mount question of reconstruction. This was judicious; recover the South. Sympathies which would have been for, indeed, so blended must be the various methods-se with us from the outset of this war were turned against us, questration, confiscation, military absorption and occupsand in this way the Administration has done the country a tion-that shall hereafter co-operate to evolve order from double wrong abroad. It created hostility, or at best in- confusion, and to restore the Government, that it is difficult, difference, among those who would have been its friends if if not impossible, now, when affirming the principle, to the real intentions of the people could have been better provide for its application. known, while, at the same time, it neglected no occasion for making the most humiliating concessions.

Against 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 heartily concur in all the measures which you propose. I do not believe that confiscation extended to the property of all rebels, is practicable, and if it were so, I do not think it a measure of sound policy. It is, in fact, a question belonging to the people themselves to decide, and is a proper occasion for the exercise of their original and sovereign authority. As a war measure, in the beginning of a revolt which might be quelled by prompt severity, I 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 consistently be admitted. The object of the war is to make permanently secure 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 considered practically destroyed in the country, and it needs only your proposed amendment of the Constitution, to make its extinction complete. With this extinction of slavery the party divisions created by it have also disappeared. And if in the history of the 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 give solemnly their voice in a matter which involved the safety of the United States, it is assuredly the present time.

If the Convention at Baltimore will nominate any man whose past life justifies a well-grounded confidence 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 be most happy to give a cordial and active support.

My own decided preference is to aid in this way, and not to be myself a candidate. But if Mr. Lincoln should be nominated as I believe it would be fatal to the country to

I have the honor, gentlemen, to accept the nomination for the Vice President of the United States, which you have tendered to me under the direction of the Convention. I am, very respectfully, yours,

To the COMMITTEE.

JOHN COCHRANE

Speech of Colonel Cochrane. DELIVERED TO HIS REGIMENT, FIRST UNITED STATES CHAS SEURS, NOVEMBER 13, 1861.

It having been announced that Colonel John Cochrane would speak to his regiment, at their camp, on the occasion of their first appearance in new uniforms, on the afternoon of Friday, the 13th of November, instant, a large assemblage of ladies and gentlemen was congregated to hear him. A staging had been improvised beneath a spreading oak, where, conspicuous among the audience, sat the Secretary of War dignified and composed. In front, in enclosing line, stood the imposing regiment-the first United States Chasseurs, steady, exact, and attentive. Within the square a regimen tal band uttered harmonious music, while the reddening rays of the descending sun enveloped the audience, soldiers, Secretary, and orator, in rosy rays, that imparted a so beauty to the scene, and conveyed the pleasing illusion at tendant upon dramatic effect. The Colonel then advanced, and notified his hearers that one of the companies of the regiment had selected this as a fitting opportunity to pre sent to one of their lieutenants (Morton) a small token of their admiration and esteem. The preliminary ceremony was agreeably and satisfactory finished. It was then that Colonel Cochrane arose, and, justly inspired by the scene and the circumstances which produced it, spoke as follows: Soldiers of the First United States Chasseurs:

[Bravo Colonel.] I have a word to say to you to-day. Tog have engaged in an arduous struggle. You have prosecuted it; you intend to prosecute it; you have stood unflinchingly before the enemy; you have proved yourselves patriotic able, and tried soldiers, and you are entitled to the meed of

praise. 1, your commander, this day feel that it is a proud
duty to extend to you the hand of approbation, and to de-
clare that you are worthy of your country.

Soldiers, you have undergone labor; you have faced the enemy; you have stood without retreating before their fire; you have borne the inclemencies of the season, and you are ready to advance with that grand army of which you are a part. Your country opens its arms, and receives you to its bosom. It will always praise and applaud you. Its commanders stand at the head of the column, and, with you behind them, they are not to be deterred. But the command is forthcoming-forward, march! toward the enemy. Take his possessions, for they are yours; they are yours to occupy; they are yours to enjoy; you are no marauders, you are no plunderers of property not your own, but you are the avengers of the law; you are the right arm of the Constitution; under your flag march patriotism and order, and republican institutions; in your train follow peace, prosperity and liberty; you are the servants of these high potentates, and the arm through which they strike is the arm of the worthy public servant who stands behind me on this occasion, the Secretary of War.

Soldiers, you have been called to the field, not as marauders and mercenaries, but as the defenders of our high faith, defenders of our glorious reputation, defenders of our honor and renown, around which cluster the memories of the past, and whose feats and performances will yet distinguish the future. You are led forward by a commander under whom to serve it is a pride for the highest among us. He enjoys the confidence of the people, and his reputation already renders powerless the arms of your enemies. By him we have won victories in the South, and by these victories we have assurances of triumph yet to come. fort is ours-Charleston may be ours-the whole country Beaunow disintegrated may shortly be united by the force of those arms of which you are a part, and the Union once more signify to the world the intent of that glorious motto, E Pluribus Unum. Then no longer shall be heard that fell doctrine of secession, which would tear us asunder, and distract, part from part, this glorious Union; but we shall all be as we have been, one and inseparable, under the flag of our glorious nationality, won by our fathers, and preserved by you. [Applause.] Here is assembled upon the banks of the Potomac an army the like of which the world has never Jeen. The motive which has gathered that army together aever before was presented to the eye of history. It was congregated by no despotic order; it was the voluntary wish, the motive power, of every man composing it-the power of men rushing, as with one purpose, to reinstate the flag of our Union and save the Republic. That, soldiers, is your mission; and you have a commander who with lightning speed will lead you to conquest, and with equal speed will transmit the glory of your labors to the remotest corners of our country. And now permit me, though the shades of night are falling upon us, to indulge in a few words as to the cause of the war, and the means by which it is to be brought to a successful termination. The material aid I have already averted to; the motive power remains to be commented upon. On the one side you have the Confederate army; on the other side you have the grand Union-the Federal army. Now, the difference between these two words, in their common acceptation, is the cause for which these two armies are fighting. It is Secession against Federation, Federation against Secession. Nationality against disunion; confusion against order; anarchy against a good, free, and liberal Government-a Government made equally by the Fathers of the South and the Fathers of the North. We are in a revolutionary period. The South contends for the right of revolution. We admit the right; but, while we admit it, we invoke the sole umpire which may be invoked on such occasions-the umpire of the sword, the umpire of force, the ultima ratio, that last effort to which men appeal when they have differences otherwise irreconcileable.

They-the South-have resorted to arms, and they have compelled us to the same resort; and if they claim that it is a war of self-preservation on their part, it is equally a war of self-preservation on ours; and if we are in controversy for very existence, then I contend that all the resources, all the means within ourselves, individually, collectively, and nationally, must be resorted to and adopted. [Applause.] But some friend-a doubter-exclaims: "Would you disrupt and tear asunder the Constitution?" Where is the Constitution? Would you tread and trample upon that sacred instrument, and no longer acknowldge its binding force, no longer be bound by its compromises and decrees? I answer, no. The Constitution, by the necessity of the controversy, is cast behind the arena of the strife. May it rest there safe, until the present strife being over it shall be restored to its original purity and force. the remainder become more valuable in our eyes, and in the Like the sibyl leaves when lost, midst of the carnage we will clasp to our bosoms that instrument whose worth has never been transcended by human efforts. Soldiers, to what means shall we resort for our existence? This war is devoted not merely to victory and its |

mighty honors, not merely to the triumph which moves in glorious procession along our streets. But it is a war which moves towards the protection of our homes, the safety of the protection of our firesides. In such a war we are jus our families, the continuation of our domestic altars, and tified, are bound to resort to every force within our power. Having opened the port of Beaufort, we shall be able to export millions of cotton bales, and from these we may supply the sinews of war. Do you say that we should not seize the cotton? No; you are clear upon that point. Suppose the munitions of war are within our reach, would we not be guilty of shameful neglect, if we availed not ourmy's slaves were arrayed against you, would you, from any selves of the opportunity to use them? Suppose the enesqueamishness, refrain from pointing against them the hos tile gun, and prostrating them in death? No; that is your object and purport; and if you would seize their property, open their ports, and even destroy their lives, I ask you whether you would not use their slaves? Whether you would not arm their slaves (great applause.] and carry them in battalions against their masters? [Renewed and tumulwould plunge their whole country black and white, into one tuous applause.] indiscriminate sea of blood, so that we should in the end If necessary to save this Government, I have a Government which would be the vicegerent of God. Let us have no more of this dilletante system, but let us work with a will and a purpose that cannot be mistaken. Let us not put aside from too great a delicacy of motives. Soldiers, you know no such reasoning as this. You have arms in your hands, and those arms are placed there for the purpose of exterminating an enemy unless he submits to law, order, and the Constitution. If he will not submit, extom. Explode the cotton. Take property wherever you may plode every thing that comes in your way. Set fire to the cotfind it. Take the slave and bestow him upon the non-slavewould do to us. Raise up a party of interest against the holder if you please. [Great applause.] Do to them as they absent slaveholder, distract their counsels, and if this should not be sufficient, take the slave by the hand, place a musket in it, and in God's name bid him strike for the liberty of the human race. [Immense applause.] Now, is this emancipa tion? Is this abolitionism? It no more partes of Abolitionism than a spaniel partakes of the nature of the lion. I do not regard it as either. free the slaves. Abolitionism is to It is to make war upon the South for that purpose. It is to place them above their masters principles of equality among men. in the social scale. and make him an implement of war in overcoming your en It is to assert the great abstract emy, that is a military scheme. It is a military necessity, But to take the slave and the commander who does not this, or something equiv alent to it, is unworthy of the position he holds, and equally gaged in a war of emancipation? If so, who commenced unworthy of your confidence. Emancipation! Are we enthe war? Not we. And if wo did not commence the war, it its origin? It had its origin in the South. It was and we cannot be charged with its consequences. Where had has been a war of the South against the free institutions of the North. Let me illustrate. Are we to free their slaves? We do not intend it. Do you recollect the resolution which was passed the last session of Congress, which distinctly land to free the slave. "Compromise," too, has been talked declares that it never was intended by anybody in this wide of this matter. Why did they not compromise? Because it was not their object. I say this fearlessly, for I infer it from scenes in which I was an actor.

Douglas could not, while they remained in the convention,
At Charleston, I remember, that when satisfied that M
drew. It was, if my remembrance is not at fault, near
be nominated for the Presidency, they nevertheless with-
the midnight hour, at the prominent headquarters of the
southern array, that Messrs. Yancey and Percy Walker
upon careful calculations, that the South abiding by the
entered the room. Those present had previously concluded,
convention, Judge Douglas could not receive two thirds of
nicated to these gentlemen, who, as I understand, having
the vote of the convention. This conclusion was commu-
reviewed the calculations, and expressed their reliance upon
them, declared, when leaving, their determination to re-
main in the convention. It was at the opening of the con-
vention on the very next morning, that Mr. Walker sent to
the chair the act of secession of Alabama therefrom. The
morning deed declared marvelously, when contrasted with
the midnight profession, that the act of secession was but
issue to which they desired to be a party.
a foregone conclusion, necessary to precipitate the only

should be resorted to, and the fate of revolution abided by.
Nothing could be satisfactory to these, except that arms
but it has been forced upon us by a crafty enemy-an enemy
I declare, therefore, that the war is not of our originating,
resolved to do or die; to destroy our free Government, or
perish in the attempt. And what is their object? Why,
Government, to establish a reign of terror, anarchy, and
their object is to tear down this proud, noble, and beneficent

APPENDIX.

We, the representatives of the democratic party of the This administration cannot now save this Union if it United States of America, in National Convention assem- would. It has, by its proclamations, by vindictive legisla bled, for the purpose of nominating candidates for the high tion, by displays of hate and passion, placed cbstacles in offices of President and Vice President, to be voted for at its own pathway which it cannot overcome, and has hamthe ensuing election, point with pride and satisfaction to pered its own freedom of action by unconstitutional acts. the past history of our common country, her great and It cannot be said that the failure of its policy is due to the marvelous prosperity, under democratic administration. want of courage and devotion on the part of our armies. Therefore, in order to restore and preserve the integrity of [Cheers.] Never in the world's history have soldiers given our once happy Union, re-establish justice and domestic up their lives more freely than have those of the armies tranquility throughout our borders, promote the general which have battled for the flag of our Union in the Southwelfare, and secure the return of the blessings of liberty ern States. The world will hold that they have done all vouchsafed to us by our forefathers, we here renew and that arms can do; and had wise statesmanship secured the declare our unalterable attachment to the Union, and that fruits of their victories, to-day there would have been peace it must be preserved in its integrity. Believing that the in our land. [Much applause.] But while our soldiers desirable object can be obtained if we profit by the wisdom have desperately struggled to carry our banner southward of our forefathers, we here adopt as our sure and broad to the Gulf of Mexico, even now the government declares platform the constitution of the United States in its length that rebellious discontent has worked northward to the and breadth, and pledge our candidates to maintain, pro-shores of the great lakes. The guaranteed right of the serve, protect, and defend the same.