Printed by order of the Fremont Central Committee.
THIE WADE-DAVIS MANIFESTO.
A Last Appeal to the Democracy.
BY CASPAR BUTZ.
[From the GOerman American, Monthly for September.]
Slowly and by degrees, but for all that the nioie'thordughly the conviction settles upon the mind
of the American people, that the continuation, in pqwer of the present administration is equivalent to
the destruction of the Republic. The fatal error,'vhicA the retginei s of Mr. Lincoln, supported by Lhe
misguided Union-Leagues, committed at Baltimore, by securing his cre-nomination, becomes more patent
from day to day. The unprincipled Lincoln press has never represented the true opinion of the people,
and at the same time it never has been successful in poisoning it for a lon- period. Truth always will
shine out; what we said eight months ago in our "N onthly," at a time when Lincoln seemed to be the
invincible candidate, is now preached from every liouse-top'rnd at every cross-road in the country"Abraham Lincoln is unable to save the Republic."
The only man to whom Lincoln is beholden for this change in plublic opinion is Abraharn Lincoln
himself. It is truly said that " some men are born to greatness and that others have greatness thrust
upon them."  Our present President certainly belongs to the latter class. The cloak of fame which his
retainers contended to see upon his shoulders, never fitted him; the smutty joker always peeped from
underneath, and the nation could only be deceived by him for a very short time. It would be better for
the Republic if Lincoln would at last perceive this; but the'sweet custom of governing and the flatteries
of his creatures have blinded him to such a degree, that besides playing the part of the " Honest," he
undertakes to usurp the part of the dictator and his " sic pvolo, sic jubeo" is heard in trumpet tones
from the White House to the Pacific.
A Dictatorship commends itself to the respect of even the most energetic nations and in a time of a
tremendous crisis they suffer, willingly or ullwillingly, violations of the constitution and encroachments
upon their rights, provided, that such violations and encroachments appear to be indispensable for the
salvation of the commonwealth, and that a Man exercises such usurped prerogatives. But Abraham
Lincoln, offending the representatives of the nation, and putting his will in the place.of the will of the
people, is but a caricature of a Dictator. There may be no immediate danger in his usurpations; but




here, as in every case, the old maxim, " obsta principiis," must strictly be adhered to, and it is the duty
of the people to tell the incapable dwarf, who tries to play the part of the giant: Till here and no
farther!
This has been done at last. After all the slights and affronts, which "My Lord President" threw into
the face of his servile Baltimore constituents, after the dismissal of Mr. Chase, by which measure Seward,
Halleck and Blair, the triumvirate, still more firmly held their grasp upon the weak old man, the proclamation of July 8th appeared. Congress had passed a reconstruction bill as to the Rebel States, if the
President did not want to sign the bill, there were two ways left for him in regard to it. Either he
could veto the bill and send it back to the House, where it originated, or, as the bill passed a few days
before the final adjournment of Congress, he could pocket it and send it back at the next session. He
did neither of these. HIle issued a proclamation, couched in the most horrible railsplitting English, and
declares to the people, that he intends to do with the bill just as he pleases, that he will execute such
provisions, which meet with his approval, and disregard entirely such which are in conflict with his own
views. " Car tel est notre plaisir."
Against this flagrant and wanton violation of the Constitution, two men, whose names are well
known to the people, and of whose patriotism there can be no doubt, have at last issued their protestSenator B. F. WVade and Representative Henry Winter Davis, both chairmen of the committees on
Reconstruction in the respective branches of Congress. It is indeed quite late in the day that the
gentlemen in question come to a definite conclusion about Mr. Lincoln; Mr. Wade particularly would
have been molre in his place at Cleveland, protesting with us against the nistakes and blunders of the
President; but for that wve do want to arraign him. The protest, fiom the pen of Winter Davis, if
certainly not devoid of thought, is still
" Sicklied o'er with the pale cast of regard"
but the acid logic of the talented Marylanrlder, although couched in the llildtest terms; is a c(ondennialtion
of Lincoln, which annihilates every prospect of his re-election. }is sincere and honest suplporters nIow
admit he cannot be re-elected.
It is not within olur task to review the said. maniflesto in detail, nr1 is it necessaly for us to give an
account of all the sins which Mr. Lincoln committed after the Baltimore nomination. We are not a
chronicler of passing events; our readers take their daily papers which furnish them everything worth
knowing, and all we have to do is to draw our own conclusions. Messrs. Wade and Davis regard their
protest only as the precursor of a new movement, to be o'ganized by them. They propose to hold a
new Convention on the 22d of September next (anniversary of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation) in
order to trot out a new Presidential candidate against Mr. Lincoln, in case the latter gentleman does not
think that " discretion is the better part of valor" and withdraws voluntarily.
When the friends of Fremont met at Cleveland, they committed (according to the opinion of Mr.
Lincoln's retainers) a crime, because they " split" the great Union party. Since then Mr. Lincoln, as we
always supposed he would, has succeeded with such admirable dexterity, to split the great Union party,
that the proposition of Messrs. Wade and Davis, although the call has not yet appeared, meets with the
decided approval of a great portion of the Lincoln press. The leading paper of America, the New
York Tribune, suddenly boils over with the praise of Fremont. It makes the proposition, to let the
friends of the different candidates vote for the same presidential electors, but head their ballots with the
names of the candidates for President, etc., and then the'electors should elect the candidates of the
majority. The proposition might be very acceptable-if the Republican electors had not been pledged
beforehand for Mr. Lincoln! It is evident even to the blindest supporters of Lincoln, that he cannot be
re-elected; the desertions from the Lincoln camp now already comprise whole regiments and brigades
and are still on the increase; the speculating politicians feel that a new star is in the ascendency, but




,they are not like the sages from the East; the star has as yet not appeared to thenl. Like the great
Daniel Webster they cry out in despair: Where shall I go? For the present the all important question
is, who shall be the successor of Abraham Lincoln?
And so far as this question is concerned we would like to address an earnest and last word to the
Chicago Convention which is to meet here in a few days and particularly to the German delegates in
that body.
No party, which seeks only in the defeat of the Nation the lever which may overthrow an incapable and corrupt administration, and which tries to profit by such a disaster in order to conclude a dishonorable peace, can be a patriotic party. American arms, wielded by our brothers, fight for the highest blessing which ever was vouchsafed to us; for Union and Liberty. A party which is ready to throw
away the sword because victory is not achieved fast enough is a party of cowards. Will the Democratic Convention load itself with this inextinguishable reproach? Shall all the blood that has been shed
be shed in vain?  Shall we declare ourselves vanquished when courage and perseverance, and before
all a better'ancd wiser supreme leadcership must attach victory to our banners? There are hundreds of
thousands who are ready to support this Convention and assist them to hurl a corrupt administration
from power. _But they are not ready to approve of the doings of this Convention, if the flag of Union
and Liberty is to be trampled upon, and ca dishonorable peace is to be proclaimed as thefervent wlish of
the Democracy.
If, in this respect, the Convention acts wisely, if it declares for the Union and universal liberty, then
there only remains the question of candidates. Does the Convention perhaps believe that Millard Fillmo re is the man to carry on to victory the banner of the opposition? We hereby tell the convention
that Fillmore, the former high-priest of the Know-nothing order, never can get the votes of the foreign,born population, be they Germans, Irishmen, Scandilnavians or Frenchmen. What? The Convention
will go into battle with a leader whose defeat is assuretd i.'dl\'ance? Is the Democratic party really
hbet on self9 estruction?
Franklin Pierce is spoken of' Ti'ern is  an  -xps:-*ssin extant, made by him, often repeated and,never contradicted, that if he was younger he would fight for the South. This classifies him with the
Rebels. Will the Democratic Convention elevate such a man to the position of standard bearer in the
greatest political campaign of the century? But, as a general thing, why is it necessary to go back to
the fossil politicians of by-gone times, whose administrations, at the time, the people so loudly condemned? Fillmore and Pierce both were candidates for re-election before their respective party Conventions,
and both parties acted wisely when they threw them overboard. Have these Gentlemen perhaps grown
wiser and more patriotic since that time?  We have never been able to discover anything except their
increasing age. And why is it necessary to revive all the old complaints against either of the Ex-presidents, heretofore buried in the dust of the past, and to burden with such a dead-weight the approaching
political campaign? We do not want such old men with a sullied reputation; what we want is a man,of unblemished charactei' and unconquerable.energy; the Republic is in danger.
From various sides General McClellan is recommended. It will be well for the Convention to
think of it, that outside of the city-of New  York there does not exist a real McClellan party. The
Country thinks that McClellan is a gallant but unfortunate general, whether by his own or Mr. Lin-co ln's fault is immaterial. There is no prestige of popularity about him; entirely unknown before the
war broke out, he has not had the good fortune during the war to find the claim to the Presidency on
the battle-field; his nomination would not kindle any enthusiasm in the masses; we think it would be a
political mistake.
And above all it is the enthusiasm of the people, so artificially suffocated by the administration,
which must be revived in order to save the Republic. The honest and sincere elements of the oppo



sition must be gathered together and united. In such a case it is but boys' play to beat a Lincoln. We
only know of one man who is able to unite this opposition; only one man, who after the bloody struggle, can, with a strong hand bind together the red and white rose again into one tuft and re-establish this
Union, and his name is
JOHN C. FREMONT.
It is superfluous to say even a single word to the Convention about the character and ability of
Fremont, nor about his present political position. Behind him there is already a great and nunierous
political party. We tell the Convention, and we know that we are telling the truth, that among Repube
licans as well as Democrats 400,000 German votes are sure for Fremont. Can the Convention pass
lightly over such afact? With Fremont as the leader of the campaign the death knell of a corrupt
administration and its shoddy aristocracy hasesounded. A leader who is already at the head of such a
host must be sure of victory. With the rallying cry, "Fremont and the Union," the Republic is saved.
The Goddess of Liberty will no longer hide her head in sorrow and despair. The starry flag of our.
Union Will again float over a prosperous and fiee Union, and foreign countries will soon recommence ta
believe in the perpetuity of our Republic. May the Convention well ponder these facts.
And on the other hand we trust that the members of the Chicago Convention will not believe that
they are omnipotent. There is a terrible responsibility resting upon them. We well know how much,
how very much depends upon their deliberations; the existence of the Republic is at stake. But the
power of the Convention collapses into nothing as soon as it pursues an anti-liberal course. Those men,
who left their former parties and only know one party: the party that will save the Union, will never
submit in case the Convention should take the wrong course. They will continue to fight Lincoln
with all honest weapons, but they will rather try the last ayld go to Buffalo with Wade and Davis, if the
Convention of the 29th of August, by a reactionary course, compels them to separate themselves
If the German Delegates approve of the views expressed in this article, then it is their duty to urge
them upon the Convention. At Cleveland the Germlan element was among the controlling ones; the timehas gone by when the German citizens were merebr regarded as the voting cattle at elections. Miany of
the German delegates, as far as we know, are excelient orators on the English tribune; it is their task to,
represent the German element in a dignified manner.
And thus we calmly and demurely await the result of the Chicago Convention. We are conscious:
of having performed our whole duty according to our humble talents. The dark clouds hapg heavily
over the ship of State and the waves rage furiously. Only a strong and energetic hand at the helm
can find the path through the foaming billows into the port of safety. May the Convention give us stchl.
a man! The times are portentous and full of dangers. God save the Republic!