As the twenty-second balloting was progressing, Gen. McCook, of Ohio, proposed the name of Horatio Seymour in behalf of his delegation, saying that the latter could now accept the nomination without dishonor though it might be against his inclination. Mr. Seymour, who occupied the chair, protested against the use of his name, thanked the convention and the Ohio delegation for the intended honor, but said that he could not receive the nomination without placing himself and the great Democratic party in a false position. He hoped that God would bless them, but their candidate he could not be. Mr. Seymour shortly after called Gen. Price, of Missouri, one of the Vice Presidents, to the chair, and retired from the hall. Several delegates appealed to the convention, and the result was that State after State changed their votes from others to Hon. HORATIO SEYMOUR, and amidst a scene of wild excitement he was declared the unanimous nominee for President.

After a recess, the convention reassembled, and several names were proposed for Vice President, but all were withdrawn in favor of Gen. FRANCIS P. BLAIR, of Missouri, who was unanimously declared the nominee by acclamation. The convention soon after adjourned.

THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES.

HON. HORATIO SEYMOUR, candidate for President, was born in Pompey, Onondaga County, New York, in 1811. He was liberally educated, adopted the profession of law, and commenced its practice in Utica, but inher

iting a large property, devoted himself to its care, and abandoned his profession. He first entered public life in 1842 as Mayor of Utica, and member of the Assembly of New York, which latter position he held three or four years, and served as Speaker in 1845. He has always been a Democrat. In 1850 he was the Democratic candidate for Governor and was supported for the same office four times thereafter, having been twice elected, (1852 and 1862) and three times defeated. The votes cast for and against him on each occasion were as follows:

1850 Horatio Seymour, 214,352 Wash. Hunt, Whig,

214,614

1852

264,121

239,736

Tompkins, F. S.

19,290

Myron H. Clark, Whig,

156,804

D. Ullman, K. N.,

122,282

J. S. Wadsworth, Rep.,

295,897

R. E. Fenton, Rep.,

369,557

Mr. Seymour was defeated the first time by 262 majority, elected the second time by 24,385; next defeated by 309; then elected by 10,752, and defeated the third time by 8,293 votes. Gov. Seymour's last term was during the late rebellion, and he opposed the policy of the administration of President Lincoln, though as Governor of the State of New York, he sent forward soldiers. He opposed the draft in 1863, and has been severely censured for his course during the celebrated draft riots in New York City, in July, 1863, it having been charged that while he did not directly encourage the riot, his language in an address made to the rioters was construed as palliating their offence. Mr. Seymour is said not to entertain the views of many members of his party on financial matters, though he also opposes the financial policy of Congress. He presided over the Democratic National Convention held at Chicago in 1864 and at New York the present year. He is an able man, and his name has been mentioned heretofore in connection with the office for which he is now the candidate of a large party. It was generally understood before the recent convention assembled that he was not an aspirant at this time, but the division as to a candidate led to bringing him forward at a moment when

it seemed that no other man could secure the nomination.

GEN. FRANCIS P. BLAIR, the candidate for Vice President, is a native of Lexington, Kentucky, born February 19th, 1821. He graduated at Princeton College, studied law, and practiced at St. Louis, Missouri, for many years. He served in the Mexican war as a private under Gen. Doniphan. In 1848, he first became known in political circles as a member of the Free-soil party, was editor of the Missouri Democrat, at one time, and in 1852 and 1854 was elected to the Missouri Legislature as an Emancipationist or supporter of Thomas H. Benton. In 1856 he was elected a Republican member of the National House of Representatives, was defeated in 1858, but re-elected in 1860 and 1862, though his election was contested the last time on the ground of fraudulent voting, and the seat given to Mr. Knox, a Radical. He early entered the military service of the Government after the rebellion commenced, as a Colonel of Missouri volunteers, and was soon after promoted to the rank of Brigadier and Major General. He served under Gen. Fremont in Missouri, and was with Gen. Sherman in his march through Georgia and the Carolinas, and performed brave duty. He has for the past few years acted with the Democrats, and was supported by them as a candidate for the Missouri Legislature in 1866, but was not elected. He is a man of considerable ability; and has recently subjected himself to sharp criticism by writing a letter favoring the nullification of the reconstruction acts of Congress by a Democratic President, should one be elected at the next election.

MR. SEYMOUR'S SPEECH OF ACCEPTANCE.

[The compiler desired to insert here the letter of Hon. Horatio Seymour, accepting the nomination for the Presidency, but at the time this portion of the Manual went to press, it had not been published; in place of the letter, therefore, is here presented his speech of acceptance, made at a Democratic meeting, held in

Tammany Hall, Friday evening, July 10th, the evening of the next day after his nomination.]

As

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee-I thank you for the courteous terms in which you have communicated to me the action of the Democratic National Convention. I have no words adequate to express my gratitude for the good will and kindness which that body has shown to me. Its nomination was unsought and unexpected. It was my ambition to take an active part, from which I am now excluded, in the great struggle going on for the restoration of good government, of peace and prosperity to our country. But I have been caught up by the whelming tide that is bearing us on to a great political change, and I find myself unable to resist its pressure. You have also given to me a copy of the resolutions put forth by the Convention, showing its position upon all the great questions which now agitate the country. the presiding officer of that Convention, I am familiar with their scope and import, and as one of its members I am a party to their terms; they are in accord with my views, and I stand stand upon them in the contest upon which we are now entering; and I shall strive to carry them out in future wherever I may be placed in public or private life. I congratulate you and all conservative men who seek to restore order, peace, prosperity and good government to our land, upon the evidences everywhere shown that we are to triumph at the next election. Those who are politically opposed to us flattered themselves there would be discord in our councils; they mistook the uncertainties of our views as to the best methods of carrying out our purposes for difference of opinion in regard to those purposes. They mistook an intense anxiety to do no act which should not be wise and judicious for a spirit of discord; but during the lengthened proceedings and earnest discussions of the Convention there has prevailed an entire harmony of intercourse, a patient forbearance and a self-sacrificing spirit which are the sure tokens of a coming victory. Accept for yourselves, gentlemen, my wishes for your future welfare and happiness. In a few days I will answer the communication you have just handed me by letter, as is the customary form.

GEN. BLAIR'S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE.

Gen. GEORGE W. MORGAN, &c.,~General: I take the earliest opportunity of replying to your letter notifying me of my nomination for Vice President of the United States by the National Democratic Convention, held in New York. I accept without hesitation the nomination tendered in a manner so gratifying, and give you and the committee thanks for the kind and complimentary language in which you have conveyed to me the decision of the Convention.

I have carefully read the resolutions adopted by the Convention, and most cordially concur in every principle and sentiment they announce. My opinion upon all the questions which discriminate the great contending parties, have been freely expressed on all suitable occasions, and I do not deem it necessary at this time to reiterate them. The issues upon which the contest turns are clear, and cannot be obscured or distorted by the sophistries of our adversaries. They all resolve themselves into the old and ever recurring struggle of a few men to absorb the political power of the nation. The effort under every conceivable name and disguise, has always characterized the opponents of the Democratic party, but at no time has the attempt assumed a shape so open and daring as in this contest.

The adversaries of free and constitutional government in defiance of the express language of the Constitution, have erected a military despotism in ten of the States of the Union, have taken from the President the power vested in him by the supreme law, and have deprived the Supreme Court of its jurisdiction; the right of trial by jury, and the great writ of right, the habeas corpus, shields of safety for every citizen, and which have descended to us from the earliest traditions of our ancestors and which our revolutionary fathers sought to secure to their posterity forever in the fundamental charter of our liberties, have been ruthlessly trampled under foot by the fragment of a Congress. Whole States and

communities of people of our race have been attainted, convicted, condemned and deprived of their rights as citizens without presentment, or trial, or witnesses, but by Congressional enactment of ex post fucto laws and in defiance of the constitutional prohibition, denying even to a full and legal Congress the authority to pass any bill of attainder or ex post facto law. The same usurping authority has substituted as electors in place of the men of our race thus illegally attainted and disfranchised, a host of ignorant negroes, who are supported in idleness with the public money, and combined together to strip the white race of their birthright, through the management of freedmen's bureaus, and the emissaries of conspirators in other States; and to complete the opprèssion, the military power of the nation has been placed at their disposal, in order to make this barbarism supreme. The military leader under whose prestige this usurping Congress has taken refuge since the condemnation of their schemes by the free people of the North in the elections of the last year, and whom they have selected as their candidate, to shield themselves from the result of their own wickedness and crime, has announced his acceptance of the nomination, and his willingness to maintain their usurpations over eight millions of white people at the South, fixed to the earth with his bayonets. He exclaims, Let us have peace.

"Peace

reigns in Warsaw," was the announcement which heralded the