He accordingly sent Colonel Jaquess, a distinguished Methodist clergyman in the army, and J. R. Gilmore, of the Tribune, on a secret mission to Richmond for this purpose. They must go without credentials or authority, as private individuals and risk life and liberty in the undertaking.
Both men promptly accepted the mission and left for Grant's headquarters to ask General Lee for a pass through his lines.
The Democratic Party was now a militant united force inspired by the Copperhead leaders, who had determined to defeat the President squarely on a peace platform and put General McClellan into the White House. Behind them in serried lines stood the powerful Secret Orders clustered around the Knights of the Golden Circle.
Positive proofs were finally laid before the President that these Societies had planned an uprising on the night of the election and the establishment of a Western Confederacy.
Edmunds, the President of the Union League, handed him the names of the leaders.
"Now, sir, you can strike!" he urged.
The tall, sorrowful man slowly shook his head.
"You doubt the truth of these statements?" Edmunds asked.
"No. They are too true. Let sleeping dogs lie. One revolution at a time. We have all we can manage at present. If we win the election they won't dare rise. If we lose, it's all over anyhow—and it makes no difference what they do."
With patient wisdom he refused to stir the dangerous hornet's nest.