tered a word which could pain the most sensitive Southern heart."

1

The declaration of principles adopted at Cincinnati was sometimes called a "Douglas platform" and sometimes a "Southern platform." The platform might be represented as looking one way and the candidate the other. But when the committee notified Buchanan of his nomination, his speech in reply satisfied the South. He fully endorsed the Cincinnati platform. He said that the slavery question was paramount, and the endeavor of his administration would be to settle it in a manner to give peace and safety to the Union and security to the South. He believed that the KansasNebraska bill was necessary as a fit supplement to the compromise measures of 1850. When Buchanan had finished his formal speech, he said: "If I can be instrumental in settling the slavery question upon the terms I have named, and then add Cuba to the Union, I shall, if President, be willing to give up the ghost and let Breckinridge take the government." Senator Brown, of Mississippi, one of the committee, heard this remark, and it so aroused his enthusiasm that he wrote to a friend: "The great Pennsylvanian is as worthy of Southern confidence and Southern votes as Calhoun ever was."

The nomination of Frémont' was virtually decided upon before the Republican convention met. It was a selection reached by a full comparison of views in the press, in private correspondence, and confidential conversations, and an honest and open canvass of the merits and strength of prominent Republicans. If merit alone were considered, everything pointed to Seward as the proper nominee, for no man in the country so fully represented Republican principles and aims. But if his unpopularity with the anti-slavery

'See speech of Douglas, New York, June 11th; Boston Post, June 13th. "National Era, June 12th.

'Letter of Senator Brown to S. R. Adams, June 18th, published in National Era, Aug. 21st. 4 Infra, p. 181.

Know-nothings made it seem unwise to put him up, and if the Whigs, though numerically the largest portion of the Republican party, were willing to sacrifice their desire of having an ancient Whig for their standard-bearer, then consistency demanded the nomination of Chase. The more radical members of the party were clearly of this conviction. Dr. Bailey, of the National Era, was at first for Chase and later for Seward. For the sake of sharply defining their principles he was content to wait, if need be, until 1860 for the election of a President.' Theodore Parker wrote to Sumner that his first choice was Seward, and his second Chase; and the historian feels no hesitancy in affirming that as the Republican party of 1856 had more disinterested and sincere men in its ranks than any party in this country before or since, as its members were honestly devoted to a noble principle, it was not true to its constitution. and aims when it passed over Seward and Chase and descended upon Frémont.

Had the party with one accord looked to Seward as its leader; had the majority of its prominent and influential men, after canvassing all the points and weighing all the arguments, settled down to the conviction that the logic of the situation and the character of the party demanded his nomination, he would have accepted it gladly and entered into the contest with spirit. It was personal enmities, his too Whiggish views, and the question of availability that forbade. Yet had he decided to make a fight for the nomination, his friends would have urged it with pertinacity and zeal; care would have been taken to send delegates to Philadelphia favorable to him; and after a contest with Frémont, he

1 Dr. Bailey "is eaten up with the idea of making Chase President," Greeley wrote Dana, Dec. 1st, 1855, New York Sun, May 19th, 1889. "Seward wants to be the candidate, and Dr. Bailey, of the National Era, is for him, content to wait till 1860 for a victory."-Samuel Bowles to H. L. Dawes, April 12th, 1856, Life of Bowles, Merriam, vol. i. p. 172. 'Life of Parker, Weiss, vol. ii. p. 180.

would undoubtedly have been nominated.' Seward was bold in words, timorous in action; he hesitated to claim the place which was rightfully his. It is possible that his own mind was warped by the reasoning of Thurlow Weed, his political mentor, who, regarding the situation with the narrow eye of a practical politician, would not have Seward run the race when there was so little probability of his election. After it had been decided that he should not contest the nomination, he expressed a plaintive regret that he had taken the course marked out for him.' Yet it is hardly supposable that even his optimism was proof against the prevailing opinion that his election was impossible; and his confident expression in the Senate was not the judgment of cooler moments. By the 18th of April it was known that

1 John A. King, in his speech at the Republican convention, said: “I had hoped that circumstances would have permitted us to present to this convention the name of W. H. Seward. I believe, if that state of things could have existed, that name would have received the universal approbation of this convention." Robert Emmet, the temporary chairman of the convention, said at a ratification meeting in New York city: “Had it not been for the refusal of Mr. Seward himself, who charged his friends not to permit his nomination, he would have been nominated;" see also Life of Thurlow Weed, vol. ii. p. 245. I may add that in the contemporaneous political literature the indications are numerous that Seward would have received the nomination had a well-directed effort been made in his behalf. See also Blaine's Twenty Years of Congress, vol. i. p. 126.

* See Seward's letter to Weed, April 4th; to his wife, June 6th, 13th, 14th, 17th, Life of Seward, vol. ii. pp. 269, 276, 277, 278.

• See his letter of May 4th to Thurlow Weed, Life of Thurlow Weed, vol. ii. p. 244.

• Seward said in the Senate, March 12th: "I give those honorable gentlemen [Douglas and Toucey] notice that they have but about three hundred and fifty days left in which they will have the power of wielding the military and naval arms of this nation." In a confidential letter to Baker in 1855, Seward shows great doubts of Republican success in 1856, and adds, "I do not want that you and I should bear the responsibility of such a disaster," and "I am by no means ready to accept the command, if tendered."-Life of Seward, vol. ii. p. 252.

Seward was not a candidate for the nomination.' The disappointment of the Democrats and conservative Americans at this virtual announcement seemed to confirm the wisdom of the decision."

There was a common objection to Seward and Chase; they were too pronounced on the slavery question. Both were on record in favor of the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and of the repeal of the Fugitive Slave law, points on which it was deemed unadvisable to make an issue at the coming election. Moreover, the Chase movement never acquired popular strength outside of Ohio, and by the middle of April he was no longer seriously considered a candidate.

Some time during the winter the Republicans, who were casting about for an available candidate, lighted upon Frémont. His fitness had been urged by the German press;" he was early nominated for President by Banks, who said, at a dinner in Boston, that Frémont would soon write a letter defining plainly his position on the Kansas question.* Early in April this letter appeared. It had the earmarks of shrewd politicians. Addressed to Governor Robinson of Kansas, an old California friend, it was nothing but a warm expression of sympathy with the free-State cause in Kansas. It gave notice to the public that he was a formal candidate for the Republican nomination, and the comments to which it gave rise made the fact apparent that he had powerful backing. Francis P. Blair, John Wentworth, Banks, Thurlow Weed, and Greeley were for him. Dan Mace, a prom

'See editorial in New York Times of that date. 'See New York Times, April 22d and 25th.

The New York Abend-Zeitung maintained that the first suggestion of his name came from the German press.

• Reminiscences of a Journalist, Congdon, p. 152.

It is printed in the campaign Life of Frémont, by John Bigelow, p. 447.

• See Life of Thurlow Weed, vol. ii. p. 245. See the strong argument for an available candidate, New York Tribune, April 30th.

inent and influential congressman from Indiana, a former Democrat, spoke for a large number when he wrote: "It will never do to go into the contest and be called upon to defend the acts and speeches of old stagers. We must have a position that will enable us to be the charging party. Frémont is the man for the operation."

1

As an available candidate, Frémont had strong recommendations. He had been a Democrat, and the feeling among those who were formerly Democrats was that one of their number ought to be the standard-bearer.' The Germans, among whom were not a few educated and libertyloving men, exiles from the fatherland after the failure of the revolution of 1848, were enthusiastically in his favor.3 Yet he was not obnoxious to the Know-nothings; and, as was said by Emmet, the temporary chairman of the convention which nominated him, Frémont "had no political antecedents."

3

Two days after the letter of Frémont to Robinson was published, Pike wrote to the New York Tribune from Washington: "Among the Republicans there is a strong apparent current for Frémont. Some say it is all set running by the politicians and will not do."

After the virtual withdrawal of Seward, the preponderance of opinion was that availability should determine the candi

This was a private letter, written April 20th, but the Indiana Courier published it, and it was copied by the New York Evening Post.

See, for example, the letter of Dan Mace already cited; also article in John Wentworth's Chicago Democrat, quoted by New York Evening Post; also New York Abend-Zeitung, June 14th.

'New York Abend-Zeitung, June 6th and 13th; Die Freie Presse, Philadelphia, cited by Evening Post, June 18th; New York Staats-Demokrat, June 13th; see quotations from several German papers, New York Evening Post, June 16th. A majority of the hundred German papers in the country were for Frémont, statement made by Schneider, of the Illinois Staats-Zeitung at the convention.

At the ratification meeting, New York city. 'Pike's First Blows of the Civil War, p. 322.