Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/502

496 ABRAHAM LINCOLN plan and scope of the campaign, see GRANT, ULYSSES S. ; for descriptions of the battles, see WILDERNESS, SPOTTSYLVANIA, and PETERSBURG. On May 18, just after the bloody struggle at Spottsylvania, a spurious proclamation, an- nouncing that Grant's campaign was closed, appointing a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, and ordering a new draft for 400,000 men, found its way into the New York " World " and " Journal of Commerce." The other morning papers, suspecting its character, refused to publish it. It was issued just as the mails were being made up for Europe, and was telegraphed all over the country before the fraud was discovered. By order of the presi- dent, the offices of those two journals were closed and their publication suspended until it should be made apparent that they had pub- lished the proclamation in good faith. This action was denounced as an outrage on the liberty of the press, and Gov. Seymour attempt- ed to have Gen. Dix and others indicted for it. On June 22 Mr. Lincoln visited the army be- fore Petersburg, and met with a hearty recep- tion; but the country felt a keen disappoint- ment that the bloody march from th Rappa- hannock to the James had not resulted in the immediate capture of the confederate capital or destruction of the confederate army, and congress, just before adjourning on July 4, re- quested the president to appoint a day of fast- ing and prayer. The general depression was somewhat relieved by news of the sinking of the Alabama, but returned when Early's raid down the Shenandoah and across the Potomac threatened Washington. The fugitive slave law was repealed in June, 1864, and about the same time, in an interview with some gentle- men from the west, Mr. Lincoln said : " There have been men base enough to propose to me to return to slavery our black warriors of Port Hudson and Olustee, and thus win the respect of the masters they fought. Should I do so, I should deserve to be damned in time and eter- nity. Come what will, I will keep my faith with friend and foe. My enemies pretend I am now carrying on this war for the sole purpose of abolition. So long as I am president it shall be carried on for the sole purpose of restoring the Union; but no human power can subdue this rebellion without the use of the emancipa- tion policy and every other policy calculated to weaken the moral and physical forces of the rebellion." The national republican conven- tion, June 8, 1864, renominated Mr. Lincoln, with Andrew Johnson for vice president. The platform approved " the determination of the government of the United States not to com- promise with rebels, nor to offer any terms of peace except such as may be based upon an unconditional surrender," and recommended the complete prohibition of slavery through- out the United States by constitutional amend- ment. Secretary Chase resigned on June 30, and was succeeded on July 5 by William P. Fessenden. On July 18 the president called for 500,000 men, ordering a draft in case the quotas were not filled by Sept. 5. In that time volunteering reduced the number re- quired to 300,000. The democratic conven- tion, Aug. 29, nominated Gen. McClellan for president and George H. Pendleton for vice president. The essential portion of the plat- form was the following resolution : " 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, during which, under the pretence of a military necessity, of a war power higher than the constitution, the constitution itself has been disregarded in every part, and public liberty and private rights alike trodden down, and the material prosperity of the country essentially impaired, justice, humanity, liberty, and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate con- vention of all the states, or other peaceable means to the end that at the earliest practicable moment peace may be re- stored on the basis of the federal union of the states. Although the force of this resolution was ma- terially reduced by the neAvs of the fall of Fort Morgan and by the immediately following cap- ture of Atlanta, the issue thus squarely present- ed was maintained throughout the canvass, and the election was looked to for a popular verdict whether the war should be continued. A con- vention of radical republicans, held at Cleve- land, Ohio, May 31, had nominated John C. Fre- mont, who in September withdrew from the contest. A fragment of the republican party attempted a movement for the nomination of Gen. Grant; but his prompt declaration that he would not be a candidate put an end to it. The action of the government in surrendering to the Spanish authorities Don Jose" Agustin Arguelles, charged with selling a cargo of ne- groes into slavery in Cuba, was used as a polit- ical weapon against Mr. Lincoln, and Senator Wade of Ohio and Representative Davis of Maryland (both republicans) made a violent at- tack on him for refusing to sign a reconstruc- tion bill which had been passed by congress on the last day of the session. The refusal of the confederate authorities to exchange colored soldiers captured in battle, and their demand (as a condition of the release of civilians car- ried off from Pennsylvania by Lee) that the government agree not to arrest any one on account of his opinions or his sympathy with the confederate cause, resulted in a suspension of the system of exchanges. When Sherman seemed likely to effect the release of the pris- oners at Andersonville, the confederate gov- ernment offered to forego its discrimination against colored soldiers, and exchange man for man ; which offer was of course declined. The ill treatment of federal prisoners in the south- ern stockades then became more barbarous than ever, and the opposition journals boldly held Lincoln's administration alone respon- sible for the suffering caused thereby. In July several agents of the confederate government appeared at Clifton, Canada, and communi- cated with Mr. Horace Greeley on the subject of peace, professing to be authorized to nego- tiate for that end, and asking for safe-conduct