At  the  end  of  August,  1864,  the  National
Convention  of  the  Democratic  Party  met  at


VICTORY  181

Chicago  to  nominate  its  candidate  for  the
Presidential  office.  It  first  carried  the  resolu-
tion 4  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  .  ..
justice,  humanity,  liberty,  and  the  public
welfare  demand  that  immediate  efforts  be
made  for  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  with  a
view  to  an  ultimate  convention  of  the  States,
or  other  peaceable  means,  to  the  end  that
at  the  earliest  practicable  moment  peace  may
be  restored  on  the  basis  of  the  Federal  Union
of  the  States.'

Its  next  step  was  to  nominate  General
McClellan  as  the  Democratic  candidate.
