reaped any real, permanent advantage from the
delay of their convention.

On coming together, the only manner in which the peace men and war
Democrats could arrive at an agreement was by mutual deception. The war
Democrats, led by the delegation from New York, were working for a
military candidate; while the peace Democrats, under the leadership of
Vallandigham, who had returned from Canada and was allowed to remain at
large through the half-contemptuous and half-calculated leniency of the
government he defied, bent all their energies to a clear statement of
their principles in the platform.

Both got what they desired. General McClellan was nominated on the first
ballot, and Vallandigham wrote the only plank worth quoting in the
platform. It asserted: "That after four years of failure to restore the
Union by the experiment of war, during which ... the Constitution itself
has been disregarded in every part," public welfare demands "that
immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities." It is
altogether probable that this distinct proposition of surrender to the
Confederates might have been modified or defeated in full convention if
the war Democrats had had the courage of their convictions; but they
were so intent upon the nomination of McClellan, that they considered
the platform of secondary importance, and the fatal resolutions were
adopted without debate.

Mr. Vallandigham, having thus taken possession of the convention, next
adopted the candidate, and put the seal of his sinister approval on
General McClellan by moving that his nomination be made unanimous, which
was done amid great cheering. George H. Pendleton was nominated for
Vice-President, and the convention adjourned--not _sine die_, as is
customary, but "subject to be called at any time and place the executive
national committee shall designate." The motives of this action were not
avowed, but it was taken as a significant warning that the leaders of
the Democratic party held themselves ready for any extraordinary
measures which the exigencies of the time might provoke or invite.

The New-Yorkers, however, had the last word, for Governor Seymour, in
his letter as chairman of the committee to inform McClellan of his
nomination, assured him that "those for whom we speak were animated with
the most earnest, devoted, and prayerful desire for the salvation of the
American Union"; and the general, knowing that the poison of death was
in the platform