COMPLETE RECORD OF THE BUSINESS OF ALL
THE CONVENTIONS;

WITH

SKETCHES OF DISTINGUISHED MEN IN ATTENDANCE UPON THEM,
AND DESCRIPTIONS OF THE MOST CHARACTERISTIC

SCENES AND MEMORABLE EVENTS.

Compiled from the Correspondence of the Cincinnati Commercial, written
"On the Circuit of the Conventions," and the Official Reports.

BY M. HALSTEAD,

AN EYE-WITNESS OF THEM ALL.

COLUMBUS:

FOLLETT, FOSTER AND COMPANY.

1860.

PREFACE.

Ir I have a prejudice against or partiality for any political party, such that I am incapable of taking an impartial view of its proceedings, and of telling the truth of it irrespective of the antagonisms, that demand concealment on the one hand and perversion on the other, I am unconscious of the fact.

I know that in making the "Circuit of the Conventions," in the capacity of a journalist, I endeavored to pursue the path of candor; and that this was not only my personal feeling but the policy of the journal with which I am connected.

In the first letter of the correspondence from which this publication is largely made up, I promised to remember in my writings of the Conventions the entreaty of Othello, concerning information to be despatched from Cyprus to Venice:

I should consider the displeasure and hostile criticisms of partisans of all persuasions and organizations, the best testimony that I have kept this promise.

M. H.