ncluded. Peace does not appear so distant
as it did. When it comes, it will prove that no appeal lies from the
ballot to the bullet, and that those who take it are sure to lose
their case and pay the costs. "And then there will be some black men
who can remember that, with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and
steady eye, and well poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to
this great consummation; while I fear there will be some white ones
unable to forget that with malignant heart and deceitful speech they
have striven to hinder it."[915]

[Footnote 915: New York _Herald_, September 3, 1863.]

The influence of this letter, increased by the dignity and power of
the President's office, proved a sharp thorn to the Democrats. Recent
military successes had made it appear for the time, at least, that
rebellion was about to collapse, and the Democratic State Union
convention, which convened at Albany on September 9, shifted its
policy from a protest against war measures to an appeal for
conciliation. In other words, it was against subjugation, which would
not leave "the Union as it was, and the Constitution as it is." In its
effort to emphasise this plea it refused to recognise or affiliate
with the Constitutional Union party, controlled by James Brooks and
other extreme peace advocates,[916] and although its platform still
condemned emancipation, conscription, and arbitrary arrests, the
pivotal declaration, based on "manifestations of a returning
allegiance on the part of North Carolina and other seceded States,"
favoured a wise statesmanship "which shall encourage the Union
sentiment of the South and unite more thoroughly the people of the
North." Amasa J. Parker, chairman of the convention, who still talked
of a "yawning gulf of ruin," admitted that such a policy brought a
gleam of hope to the country, and Governor Seymour, at the end of a
dreary speech explanatory of his part in the draft-riot,[917]
expressed a willingness to "bury violations of law and the rights of
States and individuals if such a magnanimous course shall be
pursued."[918] Lincoln's letter, however, unexpectedly spoiled such an
appeal, compelling the convention to "regret" that the President
contemplates no measure for the restoration of the Union, "but looking
to an indefinite protraction of the war for abolition purposes points
to no future save national bankruptcy and the subversion of our
institutions."[919]

[Footnote 916: The Constitution