On the face of things this may seem a change of ground. In July he made two conditions for peace, Union and the abandonment of slavery, now only one, reunion, "saying nothing about slavery;" but if the conversation of Jefferson Davis with Jaquess and Gilmore had sunk deeply into his soul, the change was one of words and naught in essence. "You have already emancipated nearly two millions of our slaves," Davis said, "and if you will take care of them you may emancipate the rest. I had a few when the war began. I was of some use to them; they never were of any to me. Against their will you emancipated' them; and you may emancipate' every negro in the Confederacy, but we will be free! We will govern ourselves! We will do it, if we have to see every Southern plantation sacked, and every Southern city in flames!" 1

Lincoln's eager desire for military success was expressed, on the day of his seeming change of ground, in a despatch to Grant, wherein is the quaint phraseology which brings a smile when read at the present day, although undoubtedly used with no attempt at humor, but, on the contrary, with a sad and heavy heart. "I have seen your despatch," he said, "expressing your unwillingness to break your hold where you are. Neither am I willing. Hold on with a bulldog grip, and chew and choke as much as possible." 2

The Democrats, who were to meet in convention at Chicago on August 29, were sure to nominate McClellan, who was the most popular man they could name. As he would receive the support of the Democrats and of a certain conservative element in the Union party, and since Frémont would draw off the radicals from their ordinary party allegiance in some of the doubtful States, the election of Lincoln was endangered, and the jubilation of the Democrats at their prospect of success was, in the existing state of the public mind, well

1 Down in Tennessee, Kirke (Gilmore), p. 279. See Seward's speech, Sept. 3, Works, vol. v. p. 502. For an allusion of Lincoln to a declaration of Davis to Jaquess and Gilmore, see Lincoln, Complete Works, vol. ii. p. 553. 2 Aug. 17, ibid., p. 563.

1

founded. The friends of Lincoln became alarmed. August 22 Thurlow Weed wrote to Seward: "When, ten days since, I told Mr. Lincoln that his re-election was an impossibility, I also told him that the information would soon come to him through other channels. It has doubtless ere this reached him. At any rate, nobody here doubts it, nor do I see anybody from other States who authorizes the slightest hope of success. Mr. Raymond, who has just left me, says that unless some prompt and bold step be now taken all is lost. The people are wild for peace. They are told that the President will only listen to terms of peace on condition [that] slavery be abandoned." The Republican National Executive Committee met in New York City for consultation: this was the report given, August 22, to the President of its deliberations by Henry J. Raymond, its chairman, the editor of the New York Times, the representative of a wing of the Republican party which had steadfastly supported the administration and was antagonistic to the faction headed by Greeley. "I feel compelled," Raymond wrote, "to drop you a line concerning the political condition of the country as it strikes me. I am in active correspondence with your stanchest friends in every State, and from them all I hear but one report. The tide is setting strongly against us. Hon. E. B. Washburne writes. that, were an election to be held now in Illinois, we should be beaten.' Mr. Cameron writes that Pennsylvania is against us. Governor Morton writes that nothing but the most strenuous efforts can carry Indiana. This State, according to the best information I can get, would go 50,000 against us to-morrow. And so of the rest. Nothing but the most resolute and decided action on the part of the Government and its friends can save the country from falling into hostile hands. Two special causes are assigned for this great reaction in public sentiment, the want of military successes, and the impression in some minds, the fear and suspicion in others, that we are not to have peace in any event under this Administration

6

1 Nicolay and Hay, vol. ix. p. 250.

until slavery is abandoned. In some way or other the suspicion is widely diffused that we can have peace with Union if we would. It is idle to reason with this belief still more idle to denounce it. It can only be expelled by some authoritative act at once bold enough to fix attention and distinct enough to defy incredulity and challenge respect." 1

The reading of the sentiment of the country by Lincoln affords us a glimpse into his soul which discloses judgment of affairs, patriotism, and magnanimity. August 23, the day probably on which he received Raymond's letter, he wrote this memorandum to be seen at that time of no one: "This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President-elect as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration, as he will have secured his election on such ground that he cannot possibly save it afterwards." 2

August 29 the Democratic National Convention met in Chicago. Governor Seymour was its permanent chairman, but in its proceedings Vallandigham 3 seemed equally influential. Seymour and his following dictated the candidate, McClellan being nominated for President on the first ballot; but Vallandigham drew up the important resolution, carried it through the committee, and got it adopted by the conven

Nicolay and Hay, vol. ix. p. 218. Raymond went on to suggest a peace commission to make proffers of peace to Davis, which he had little doubt would be rejected, and the rejection of them would "unite the North as nothing since the firing on Fort Sumter has hitherto done." For the sequel of this, ibid., pp. 220, 221.

2 Ibid., p. 251. In my study of this subject I have consulted the files of the N. Y. Tribune, World, Times, Independent, Round Table, Boston Advertiser, Springfield Republican, and Chicago Tribune. See especially the Tribune, July 25, Aug. 4, 12, 17, World, July 21, Aug. 11, 17, 20, Times, Aug. 10, 24, Sept. 8, Round Table, July 23; Springfield Republican, Aug. 2, Cincinnati Gazette, Aug. 27, cited by the Tribune; Forney's Chronicle cited by the World, Aug. 18; see Seward's private letters, Life, vol. iii. pp. 238, 239, 240, 241.

3 See note 4, p. 519.

tion,' which thus resolved: "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 experiment of war justice, humanity, liberty, and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of the States or other peaceable means, to the end that at the earliest practicable moment peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal Union of the States." 2

At first the nominations at Chicago 3 were received with enthusiasm by the Democrats and with solicitude by some Republicans. "The Chicago men seem to take well," wrote Henry Winter Davis, "and I hear daily of defections to them in quarters least expected from us." 4 "We think McClellan and Pendleton a very strong ticket," wrote Whitelaw Reid from Cincinnati, "and fear the result." 5 But this was simply an instant outburst of sentiment. A marked revulsion was at hand. While the people were pondering the resolution of the Democratic convention which, with epigrammatic brevity, they had reduced to the words, Resolved that the war is a failure, they read in their newspapers of September 3, "General Sherman has taken Atlanta," and they made up their minds that the declaration of the Democrats was untrue. Two days later the modest words of Sherman were printed: "Atlanta is ours and fairly won. 996 This was the culmination

1 Vallandigham wrote, Oct. 22, to the N. Y. Daily News: "Mr. Vallandigham wrote the second, the material resolution, of the Chicago Platform, and carried it through the Sub-Committee and the General Committee, in spite of the most desperate and persistent opposition on the part of Cassidy and his friends."-Tribune, Oct, 26.

Appleton's Annual Cyclopædia, 1864, p. 793. See Nicolay and Hay, vol. ix. p. 254 et seq.; Stanwood, Hist. of the Pres., p. 304; Chicago Tribune, Aug. 30, 31; N. Y. Tribune, Sept. 1, Independent, Sept. 1; Springfield Republican, Sept. 1.

3 George H. Pendleton, of Ohio, was nominated for Vice-President.

4 From Wilmington, Del. The letter is undated, but was written about Sept. 1.-N. Y. Sun, June 30, 1889.

5 Sept. 2, ibid.

N. Y. Times, Sept. 5; O. R., vol. xxxviii. part v. p. 777. Hood abandoned Atlanta the night of Sept. 1.

of his striving and of that of his able lieutenants and their devoted armies. The campaign was all the more glorious in that "a victory is twice itself when the achiever brings home full numbers."1 The army which entered Atlanta was substantially the same as the army which Sherman led out of Chattanooga.2

In August Farragut had fought the great battle of Mobile Bay, defeated the Confederate fleet, and had become master of the bay, compelling the surrender of Forts Gaines and Morgan. "In the lofty courage and stern determination which plucked victory out of the very jaws of defeat, the battle of Mobile Bay was to the career of Farragut what the battle of Copenhagen was to that of Nelson."8 Mobile, now the most important port in the Gulf of Mexico remaining to the Confederates, was no longer available for blockade-running. Another door to the outside world was shut. The persistent work of the navy by the blockade and the capture of ports was reducing the South to complete isolation.

In August the demonstrations of joy over this naval exploit were perfunctory, but the capture of Atlanta by Sherman seemed to give Farragut's victory a cumulative force. The President, on September 3, issued a proclamation asking the people, when they assembled in their churches on the next Sunday, to make a “devout acknowledgment to the Supreme Being" for the success of the fleet in the harbor of Mobile, and the glorious achievements of the army in the State of Georgia; he issued orders of thanks to Farragut and Sherman; and he ordered salutes of rejoicing to be fired from the navy-yards and arsenals of the country.5 On the Sunday appointed by the President, the people, with one accord, thanked God and took courage."

1 Much Ado about Nothing, act i. scene 1.

2 J. C. Ropes, Papers of the Milt. Hist. Soc. of Mass., vol. x. p. 267.

3 Mahan's Farragut, p. 239.

4 Ibid., p. 240 et seq.; Nicolay and Hay, vol. ix. p. 230. Fort Gaines was surrendered Aug. 7, Morgan, Aug. 23.

5 Lincoln, Complete Works, vol. ii. p. 571.

6 N. Y. Times, Sept. 12; see, also, Life of Seward, vol. iii. p. 244.