the greatest obstacle in
the way of his own views. The mere fact that he holds them is their
condemnation with a public utterly exasperated with his rudeness and
violence."[1099] A few weeks later the Brooklyn minister, tired of the
insincerity of the President and of his Philadelphia movement, opened
the campaign with a characteristic speech in support of the Republican
candidates.[1100]

[Footnote 1095: _Ibid._]

[Footnote 1096: The _Nation_, September 6, p. 191; September 27, p.
241.]

[Footnote 1097: New York _Tribune_, October 1, 1866.]

[Footnote 1098: New York _Evening Post_, September 11, 1866.]

[Footnote 1099: Extract from private letter, September 6, 1866.]

[Footnote 1100: New York _Tribune_, October 16, 1866.]

In animation, frequent meetings, and depth of interest, the campaign
resembled a Presidential contest. The issues were largely national. As
one of the disastrous results of Johnson's reconstruction policy,
Republicans pointed to the New Orleans and Memphis massacres,
intensified by the charge of the Southern loyalists that "more than a
thousand devoted Union citizens have been murdered in cold blood since
the surrender of Lee."[1101] The horrors of Andersonville, illuminated
by eye witnesses, and the delay to try Jefferson Davis, added to the
exasperation. On the other hand, Democrats traced Southern conditions
to opposition to the President's policy, charging Congress with a base
betrayal of the Constitution in requiring the late Confederate States
to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment as a condition precedent to the
admission of their representatives. The great debate attracted to the
rostrum the ablest and best known speakers. For the Republicans,
Roscoe Conkling, sounding the accepted keynote, now for the first
time made an extended tour of the State, speaking in fourteen towns
and cities. On the other hand, true to the traditions of his life,
John A. Dix threw his influence on the side of the President.

[Footnote 1101: _Ibid._, September 7.]

Hoffman, also, patiently traversed the State, discussing
constitutional and legal principles with the care of an able lawyer.
There was much in Hoffman himself to attract the enthusiasm of popular
assemblages. Kind and sympathetic, with a firm dignity that avoided
undue familiarity, he was irresistibly fascinating to men as he moved
among them. He had an attractive presence, a genial manner, and a good
name. He had, too, a peculiar capacity for un