Lincoln because of his deliberation in
dealing with the slavery question, or of those others who thought he was
going entirely too fast and too far.
Both these factions, alarmed at the multiplying signs which foretold his
triumphant renomination, issued calls for a mass convention of the
people, to meet at Cleveland, Ohio, on May 31, a week before the
assembling of the Republican national convention at Baltimore, to unite
in a last attempt to stem the tide in his favor. Democratic newspapers
naturally made much of this, heralding it as a hopeless split in the
Republican ranks, and printing fictitious despatches from Cleveland
reporting that city thronged with influential and earnest delegates.
Far from this being the case, there was no crowd and still less
enthusiasm. Up to the very day of its meeting no place was provided for
the sessions of the convention, which finally came together in a small
hall whose limited capacity proved more than ample for both delegates
and spectators. Though organization was delayed nearly two hours in the
vain hope that more delegates would arrive, the men who had been counted
upon to give character to the gathering remained notably absent. The
delegates prudently refrained from counting their meager number, and
after preliminaries of a more or less farcical nature, voted for a
platform differing little from that afterward adopted at Baltimore,
listened to the reading of a vehement letter from Wendell Phillips
denouncing Mr.
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