This crushing political victory, in addition to the recent triumphs of arms, settled the question of the war. It was universally agreed that the reelection of President Lincoln meant the salvation of the republic. Thus the triumph of the Republican party was identical with the triumqh of the national cause. And as a matter of fact, it was only a little more than one month after President Lincoln's second inauguration that the Rebel armies surrendered and the pretended "Confederate" Government gave up the ghost.

THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

On the 14th of April, 1865, President Lincoln was assassinated, and expired the next morning, only five days after the surrender of the Rebel General Lee at Appomattox. By this fearful crime the nation was thrown from the highest state of enjoyment over the near prospect of peace into the deepest gloom. Had there been wanting evidence of the necessity of the abolition of slavery it would have been found in the possibility of so terrible a crime by one of its defenders. Mr. Lincoln's was "the kindest heart that ever beat," and the "deep damnation of his taking off" would forever place any cause in unmixed condemnation. Upon his death the Presidency devolved upon Vice-President Johnson. It is not to be denied that the situation at this time was one of grave responsibility and difficulty. Perhaps no man could have filled the office without making himself in some respects

vulnerable to honest and well grounded criticism. But there are many reasons for believing that President Johnson's policy of reconstructing the States lately in rebellion, to which he adhered with obstinate determination, greatly added to the difficulties of the times and cast many unnecessary embarrassments in the way of a speedy, just and wise adjustment of troubles which, at best, could not have been easily arranged. As it turned out, the Republican party, instead of having one exceedingly dif ficult problem to solve, had two; namely, the question of reconstruction and President Johnson. In this great emergency the party performed its mission with such success as to entitle it to the favorable judgment of the country. The President was placed in a hopeless minority, and the friends of the Union in the late rebellious States were given the control of affairs. The President was afterwards impeached by the House of Representatives for high crimes and misdemeanors, but after a long and exciting trial by the Senate he was acquitted, two-thirds failing to vote for conviction. This unhappy difference between the executive and legislative branches of the government certainly, to some extent, delayed practical reconstruction, but that before the close of the first presidential term after Mr. Johnson, the seats of both Houses of Congress were all filled and the Union again fully restored and essentially harmonious, is a justification of Republican policy and statesmanship which it would be difficult to dispute. That, in addition,

the result was brought about with a notable victory for the civil and political rights of millions who had been slaves, and notwithstanding the sturdy opposition of a determined executive, greatly adds to the significance of the triumph.

CHAPTER IV.

HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

(CONTINUED.)

The Campaign of 1868-Nomination of Grant and Colfax by the Republicans-An Easy Triumph Over Seymour and Blair-Grant in the Presidential Chair-Difficulties which he Encountered-The Ku Klux and the Office Seekers—Grant astonishes the Latter by His Appointments—What His Administration Accomplished.

The National Convention of 1868 was held in the city of Chicago, and was unquestionably one of the most enthusiastic occasions of the kind which has been witnessed in the country. Just before the time for the convention, there was a national gathering of the soldiers of the Union armies, which brought together vast numbers of the veteran defenders of the Republic. They remained in the city during the sittings of the Convention. The hotels and boarding houses were packed. For a week the Garden City was jammed with people. The Crosby Opera House, in which the Convention was held, one of the largest buildings of the kind in the country-since destroyed by the great fire-could not contain a tithe of the people who desired admittance.

Carl Schurz was selected as temporary chairman.

Governor Hawley, of Connecticut, was the permanent President of the Convention; an admirable presiding officer, quick and correct in decision, ever good-natured, and having a fine voice easily heard in every part of an immense auditorium. The Convention adopted a platform as follows:

THE CHICAGO PLATFORM OF 1868.

1. We congratulate the country on the assured success of the reconstruction policy of Congress, as evidenced by the adoption, in the majority of the States lately in rebellion, of constitutions securing equal civil and political rights to all; and it is the duty of the Government to sustain those institutions and to prevent the people of such States from being remitted to a state of anarchy

2. The guarantee by Congress of equal suffrage to all loyal men at the South was demanded by every consideration of public safety, of gratitude, and of justice, and must be maintained; while the question of suffrage in all the loyal States properly belongs to the people of those States.

3. We denounce all forms of repudiation as a national crime; and the national honor requires the payment of the public indebtedness in the uttermost good faith to all creditors at home and abroad, not only according to the letter, but the spirit of the laws under which it was contracted.

4. It is due to the labor of the nation that taxation should be equalized, and reduced as rapidly as the national faith will permit.

5. The national debt, contracted as it has been for the preservation of the Union for all time to come, should be extended over a fair period for redemption; and it is the duty of Congress to reduce the rate of interest thereon. whenever it can be honestly done.

6. That the best policy to diminish our burden of debt is to so improve our credit that capitalists will seek to loan us money at lower rates of interest than we now pay, and must continue to pay so long as repudiation, partial or total, open or covert, is threatened or suspected.

7. The Government of the United States should be administered with the strictest economy; and the corruptions which have been so shamefully nursed and fostered by Andrew Johnson call loudly for radical reform.

8. We profoundly deplore the untimely and tragic death of Abraham Lincoln, and regret the accession to the Presidency of Andrew Johnson, who has acted treacherously to the people who elected him and the cause he was pledged to support; who has usurped high legislative and judicial functions; who has refused to execute the laws; who has used his high office to induce