Persons, ambitious, from whatever
mixture of motives, of figuring as leaders of opposition during a war
which they did not condemn, found a public to which to appeal, mainly
because the war was not going well. They found a principle of opposition
satisfactory to themselves in condemning the Proclamation of
Emancipation. (It was significant that McClellan shortly after the
Proclamation issued a General Order enjoining obedience to the Government
and adding the hint that "the remedy for political errors, if any are
committed, is to be found only in the action of the people at the
polls.") In the curious creed which respectable men, with whom
allegiance to an ancient party could be a powerful motive at such a time,
were driven to construct for themselves, enforcement of the duty to
defend the country and liberation of the enemy's slaves appeared as twin
offences against the sacred principles of constitutional freedom. It
would have been monstrous to say that most of the Democrats were opposed
to the war. Though a considerable number had always disliked it and now
found courage to speak loudly, the bulk were as loyal to the Union as
those very strong Republicans like Greeley, who later on despaired of
maintaining it. But there were naturally Democrats for whom a chance now
appeared in politics, and who possessed that common type of political
mind that meditates deeply on minor issues and is inflamed by zeal
against minor evils. Such men began to debate with their consciences
whether the wicked Government might not become more odious than the
enemy. There arose, too, as there often arises in war time, a fraternal
feeling between men who hated the war and men who reflected how much
better they could have if waged it themselves.

There was, of course, much in the conduct of the Government which called
for criticism, and on that account it was a grievous pity that
independence should have stultified itself by reviving in any form the
root principle of party government, and recognising as the best critics
of the Administration men who desired to take its place. More useful
censure of the Government at that time might have come from men who, if
they had axes to grind, would have publicly thrown them away. There were
two points which especially called for criticism, apart from military
administration, upon which, as it happened, Lincoln knew more than his
critics knew and more than he could say. One of these points was