The Administration party led off with their great meeting in Philadelphia on the 14th of August. There were a few prominent Republicans among the delegates, such as Montgomery Blair, Raymond, Dix, Cowan, Doolittle and Browning, but the vast majority of them were Democrats. All of the Southern delegates were such. The larger number of the Northern Democrats were conservative men of the stamp and style of R. C. Winthrop, W. B. Lawrence, S. J. Tilden, J. P. Stockton, J. E. English and Reverdy Johnson, but there were also present men of more radical anti-national creed, like Fernando Wood, J. G. Sinclair, and James Campbell. Even Clement L. Vallandigham, presented himself as a delegate. There were many, however, who objected to his presence and he withdrew. The doctrines put forward at this meeting were simply those of the President's Reconstruction policy, the doctrines that the "States" in our Federal system are indestructible and immaculate, and under submission to national authority always possessed of the rights of local self-government and of representation in the National Government. These doctrines were developed into such extreme forms of statement, and such extreme results were boldly accepted as their logical consequences, that the cause of the Administration was damaged rather than helped at the North by the work and experiences of the convention. Inasmuch as there had been a great display of harmony between the leading men of the South and the Northern delegates in the convention of the 14th of August, making it appear that the Democrats were the party of peace and reunion, while the Republicans were {100} in favor of a continuation of the hostile status, the Southern Republicans, or as they called themselves the loyal Union men of the South, assembled in considerable numbers in Philadelphia on the 3d of September, for the purpose of conferring with the leading Republicans of the North in regard to the condition of things in the South. Such men as John Minor Botts, William G. Brownlow, George W. Paschal, Thomas J. Durant, M. J. Safford, Thomas H. Benton, Lewis M. Kenzie, G. W. Ashburn, and many more of almost equal reputation came to counsel with the leaders of the Republican party. Many of the most important of these were there, Trumbull, Greeley, Morton, Chandler, Schenck, Schurz, Matthews, Curtin, Cameron, Gerry, Speed, the ex-Attorney-General, and Creswell. These are only a few names of the eminent men who were present.