Josiah Gilbert Holland

“ I do not impugn the motives of anyone opposed to me. It is no pleasure to me to triumph over any one; but I give thanks to the Almighty for this evidence of the people's resolution to stand by free government, and the rights of humanity."
The election proved more than Mr. Lincoln's popularity; and this he understood. In subsequent remarks to the friendly political clubs of the District, he said: "It has demonstrated that a people's government can sustain a national election in the midst of a great civil war. ”

“ Lincoln should be nominated," said he, "as I believe it would be fatal to the country to 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 be no other alternative but to organize against him every element of conscientious opposition, with the view to prevent the misfortune of his re-election." ”

“ I will cordially oppose all armistices and negotiations for peace with rebels in arms, until the Constitution of the United States, and all laws and proclamations made in pursuance thereof, shall be established over all the people of every state and territory, embraced within the national Union. ”

“ Lincoln went through the canvass with the imputation resting upon him of having pursued a vacillating course with the unaccredited and irresponsible commissioners, and of repelling negotiations for peace. All the capital that could be made against him from the materials furnished by the affair, was assiduously used by the opposition and by the rebels themselves.
The time for holding the National Democratic Convention came at last. Still the fortunes of the military campaign were undecided; and the country was groaning under efforts to furnish men for the reinforcement of the armies. ”

“ Any proposition which embraces the restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment of slavery, and which comes by and with an authority that can control the armies now at war against the United States, will be received and considered by the Executive government of the United States, and will be met on liberal terms on substantial and collateral points ”

“ I wish to see all men free. I wish the national prosperity of the already free, which I feel sure the extinction of slavery would bring." The event he so much desired was consummated by a popular vote, on the eighth and ninth of October; and the President was serenaded by the loyal Marylanders in Washington, as an expression of their satisfaction and their congratulations. Mr. Lincoln responded with a speech. ”

“ Others regard the fact that the Chicago Convention adjourned not sine die, but to meet again, if called to do so by a particular individual, as the intimation of a purpose that, if their nominee shall be elected, he will at once seize control of the government. I hope the good people will permit themselves to suffer no uneasiness on either point. I am struggling to maintain the government, not to overthrow it. ”

“ This convention had been deferred, with the confident expectation, if not the hope, that the events of the war would prepare the people to accept a peace policy, and leave the party free to take direct issue with the administration. During this interval, a peculiar change came over the spirit of the friends of Mr. Lincoln. Opening the campaign with perfect confidence concerning the results, a feeling of distrust and doubt crept over them; and, without any apparent cause, the thought became prevalent that a mistake had been made in the nomination. ”

“ General Fremont, virtuous above his party, virtuous above Mr. Lincoln, quick to see encroachments upon the rights of the people in advance of the people themselves, ready to find personal motives in the management of the war by the administration, and himself, of course, acting solely upon principle, failed to be appreciated by those whose good he so tenderly sought. The republican party gave him no response, other than at once and forever to count him out of its confidence and affections. Convention, platform, and candidates were early counted among political lumber ”

“ If the people should vote for president, under this plan, it would neither belong to the President, nor yet to the military Governor of Tennessee, to say whether the vote should be received and counted, but to a department of the government to which, under the Constitution, it was given, to decide. So, "except to give protection against violence," he declined to have anything to do with any presidential election. ”

“ No man, of course, who heartily believed in the peace doctrine of the Chicago platform could take the oath; and there were evidently many men in Tennessee who would not subscribe to another clause--men who could not heartily say: "I sincerely rejoice in the triumph of the armies and navies of the United States."
Against this oath, a committee of General McClellan's friends protested; and they bore their protest to the President. Mr. Lincoln did not receive the paper good-naturedly. ”

“ It will be remembered that the Baltimore platform contained a resolution which was intended to indicate a desire on the part of the convention that Mr. Blair should leave the cabinet; but Mr. Lincoln did not, probably, have any reference to this resolution in his action. Mr. Blair had made an excellent Postmaster-general--one of the very best who had administered the affairs of his department; and it was Mr. Lincoln's policy to adhere to his friends, and especially to those who did their duty. ”

“ Gold is good in its place; but living, brave and patriotic men are better than gold." To a friend he said: "Being only mortal, after all, I should have been a little mortified if I had been beaten in this canvass before the people; but that sting would have been more than compensated by the thought that the people had notified me that all my official responsibilities were soon to be lifted off my back."
The election of Mr. Lincoln destroyed the last hope of the rebellion. There was to be no change of policy ”

“ Wade and Davis, who joined in a bitter manifesto against him, and published it in the New York Tribune of August fifth. "The President," they declared, "by preventing this bill from becoming a law, holds the electoral votes of the rebel states at the dictation of his personal ambition." Furthermore: "A more studied outrage on the legislative authority of the people, has never been perpetrated." In its attack upon Mr. Lincoln's motives, it was an offensive paper, and pained the friends of the administration no less than it rejoiced its enemies. ”

“ The candidates nominated were General George B. McClellan for President, and George H. Pendleton of Ohio for Vice-President. General McClellan was nominally a war democrat, and Mr. Pendleton really a peace democrat. Both wings of the party were thus accommodated, while the platform was all that the most extreme of peace men could ask. But the convention did not dissolve; it adjourned, "subject to be called at any time and place that the executive national committee shall designate." ”

“ He had no faith in the genuine loyalty of the men who would not take the oath. He furthermore felt that it was a matter with which he had no right to interfere, and believed it to be one which Mr. John Lellyett, the bearer of the protest, knew he would not undertake to control. ”

“ If these persons could be permitted to see Mr. Lincoln, they wished a safe-conduct for themselves and for George N. Saunders to Washington. In the course of the letter, Mr. Greeley said: "I am, of course, quite other than sanguine that a peace can now be made; but I am quite sure that a frank, earnest, anxious effort to terminate the war on honorable terms, would immensely strengthen the government in case of its failure, and would help us in the eyes of the civilized world." George N. Saunders wrote to Mr. Greeley on the twelfth, that he was authorized to say that Mr. ”