[Footnote 1016: Edward Cary, _Life of G.W. Curtis_, pp. 186-187.]

The sulkers now came out of their tents. Daniel S. Dickinson, no
longer peddling his griefs in private ears, declared "there was no
doubt of the President's triumphant election;"[1017] the tone of Bryant
and the _Evening Post_ changed; Beecher renewed hope through the
_Independent_ and preached a political sermon every Sunday evening;
Weed and Raymond discontinued their starless letters to Lincoln;
George Opdyke cancelled the call for a second national convention and
another candidate for President; and Horace Greeley, silent as to his
part in the recent conspiracy, joined the army of Union orators.
Catching again the spirit of the great moral impulse and that lofty
enthusiasm which had aroused the people of the North to the decisive
struggle against slavery, these leaders sprang to the work of
advancing the cause of liberty and human rights.

[Footnote 1017: New York _Sun_, June 30, 1889.]

The Democrats sought to evade Vallandigham's words of despair, written
into the Chicago platform, by eulogising McClellan, but as the glory
of Antietam paled in the presence of Sherman's and Sheridan's
victories, they declared that success in the field did not mean peace.
"Armed opposition is driven from the fields of Kentucky, Missouri,
Maryland, and parts of Louisiana," said Horatio Seymour, "and yet this
portion of country, already conquered, requires more troops to hold it
under military rule than are demanded for our armies to fight the
embattled forces of the Confederacy. You will find that more men will
be needed to keep the South in subjection to the arbitrary projects of
the Administration than are required to drive the armies of rebellion
from the field. The peace you are promised is no peace, but is a
condition which will perpetuate and make enduring all the worst
features of this war."[1018]

[Footnote 1018: _Public Record of Horatio Seymour_, p. 254.]

In their eagerness Democratic speakers, encouraged by the New York
_World_, then the ablest and most influential journal of its party,
turned with bitterness, first upon Lincoln's administration, and
finally upon Lincoln himself. "Is Mr. Lincoln honest?" asked the
_World_. "That he has succumbed to the opportunities and temptations
of his present place is capable of the easiest proof."[1019] This was
sufficient for the stump orator and less influential journal to base
angry and extravagant charges