in heaven and earth,
excepting fact, had their Northern and Southern originals in the time
of the great American war. Among these is a strange congregation which
assembled in the spring of 1864 and which has come to be known, from its
place of meeting, as the Cleveland Convention. Its coming together was
the result of a loose cooperation among several minor political groups,
all of which were for the Union and the war, and violently opposed to
Lincoln. So far as they had a common purpose, it was to supplant Lincoln
by Fremont in the next election.

The Convention was notable for the large proportion of agnostics among
its members. A motion was made to amend a resolution that "the Rebellion
must be put down" by adding the words "with God's assistance." This
touch of piety was stormily rejected. Another group represented at
Cleveland was made up of extreme abolitionists under the leadership of
that brilliant but disordered genius, Wendell Phillips. He sent a letter
denouncing Lincoln and pledging his support of Fremont because of the
latter's "clearsighted statesmanship and rare military ability." The
convention declared itself a political party, under the style of the
Radical Democracy, and nominated Fremont for President.

There was another body of dreamers, still more singular, who were also
bitter opponents of Lincoln. They were, however, not in favor of war.
Their political machinery consisted of secret societies. As early as
1860, the Knights of the Golden Circle were active in Indiana, where
they did yeoman service for Breckinridge. Later this society acquired
some underground influence in other States, especially in Ohio, and did
its share in bringing about the victories at the polls in the autumn of
1862, when the Democrats captured the Indiana legislature.

The most serious charge against the Golden Circle was complicity in an
attempt to assassinate Oliver P. Morton, Governor of Indiana, who was
fired at, one night, as he was leaving the state house. When Morton
demanded an investigation of the Golden Circle, the legislature refused
to sanction it. On his own authority and with Federal aid he made
investigations and published a report which, if it did not actually
prove treason, came dangerously near to proof. Thereafter, this society
drops out of sight, and its members appear to have formed the new Order
of the American Knights, which in its turn was eclipsed by the Sons
of Liberty. There were several other s