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 difficult 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

other officers to ignore and violate the laws; who has employed his executive powers to render insecure the property, the peace, liberty, and life of the citizen; who has abused the pardoning power; who has denounced the National Legislature as unconstitutional; who has persistently and corruptly resisted, by every means in his power, every proper attempt at the reconstruction of the States lately in rebellion; who has perverted the public patronage into an engine of wholesale corruption; and who has been justly impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and properly pronounced guilty thereof by the vote of 35 Senators.

9. The doctrine of Great Britain and other European powers, that because a man is once a subject, he is always so, must be resisted at every hazard by the United States, as a relic of feudal times not authorized by the laws of nations, and at war with our National honor and independence. Naturalized citizens are entitled to protection in all their rights of citizenship, as though they were native born; and no citizen of the United States, native or naturalized, must be liable to arrest and imprisonment by any foreign power for acts done or words spoken in this country; and, if so arrested and imprisoned, it is the duty of the Government to interfere in his behalf.

10. Of all who were faithful in the trials of the late war, there were none entitled to more especial honor than the brave soldiers and seamen who endured the hardships of campaign and cruise, and imperiled their lives in the srrvice of the country; the bounties and pensions provided by the laws for these brave defenders of the nation are obligations never to be forgotten; the widows and orphans of the gallant dead are the wards of the people-a sacred legacy bequeathed to the nation's protecting care.

11. Foreign immigration, which in the past has added so much to the wealth, development, and resources, and increase of power to this Republic, the asylum of the oppressed of all nations, should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy.

12. This Convention declares itself in sympathy with all oppressed peoples struggling for their rights.

13. That we highly commend the spirit of magnanimity and forbearance with which men who have served in the Rebellion, but who now frankly and honestly co-operate with us in restoring the peace of the country and reconstructing the Southern State Governments upon the basis of impartial justice and equal rights, are received back into the communion of the loyal people; and we favor the removal of the disqualifications and restrictions imposed upon the late Rebels in the same measure as the spirit of disloyalty will die out, and as may be consistent with the safety of the loyal people.

14. That we recognize the great principles laid down in the immortal Declaration of Independence as the true foundation of democratic government; and we hail with gladness every effort toward making these principles a living reality on every inch of American soil.