a month later,
and unanimously demanded that "the public authorities of Indiana
should see that the constitution and laws of the State are enforced
against the entrance of free negroes and mulattoes," declaring that
"when the people of Indiana adopted the negro exclusion clause in
their constitution by a majority of ninety-four thousand votes they
meant that the honest laboring white man should have no competitor
in the black race; that the soil of Indiana should belong to the
white man, and that he alone was suited to the form of her
institutions." In Illinois the Democratic party adopted substantially
the same platform as that proclaimed in Indiana. They made the
distinct and unmistakable issue that a war for the abolition of
slavery could not have their support; that the Government of the
United States was made for white men, and that negroes could not
be admitted to terms of equality in civil rights.

The most important election of the year was that to be held in New
York, not merely because of the prestige and power of the State,
but on account of the peculiar elements that entered into the
contest. The Democratic party proceeded in the selection of
candidates and in the definition of issues with great circumspection.
They avoided the rancorous expressions used in Pennsylvania and
Ohio, declared that they would continue to render the government
their sincere and united support in the use of all legitimate means
to suppress the rebellion, and cited the Crittenden Resolution,
unanimously passed by Congress in July, 1861, as embodying the
principles upon which they appealed for popular support. They
expressed their "willingness to withhold their views upon all
questions not rendered imperative by the imperiled condition of
the country." The had not one word to say on the subject of slavery,
and they avowed their readiness to act in the coming election with
any class of loyal citizens who agreed with them in the principles
embodied in their platform. This last clause related to a third
party, the remnant of those who had supported Mr. Bell in 1860 and
who had just held a convention at Troy. They had comprised their
entire platform in "the Constitution, the Union and the enforcement
of the laws," and had nominated Horatio Seymour for governor.

It was not difficult to see that politically the case was well
managed, and that the most partisan of partisans in the person of
Mr. Seymour, was enabled to appear bef