, 1862-02-13
ILLINOIS CONVENTION.
knights Of the Golden Circle.

knights Of the Golden Circle.
Dispatches from Springfield yesterday, State
that the Egyptians were in desperate frame
Of mind over s4ru1nor'' noticed bE our Rc-
porter, and commented upon elitoria!1y. Tic
wrath of some Of the honorable gentlemen
was equal TO that Of d Bashaw five tails who
has just learned the escape Of his fayorlte
female slave.
The offending paragraph appeared last Tues
day, and is as follows:
STRANGE STORIES.
It has been rumored around for some days that
there were many knights of the Golden Circle
and members ot tic Mutual Protection Societies
in the Convention. Il have foreborne to al
upon nc that 1 can do 80 no longer. The number
oi K G. C.'s has been placed SO high as to come
within a few votes Of a majority OF 1hc Conrcn-
Convention to amend the Constitution Of free
State like Illinois. There is no doubt. however,
that this Convention is bent on destroying the Re-
publican party III the State, if il cau do SO.
When this reached Springfield, and was
read, We are informed that AE. Thornton, Of
Shelby rose to question Of privilege. He
read the above paragraph, and also some edi-
torfal remarks on the same subject, and after
commenting on thcn,, read the following pre-
:lnlble and resolution.
lFae,tcs, In a letter to the CHICAGO TRIBUNE
from its special reporter, published in the Tribune
OF tho 11th inst. it is stated that it is rumored
xent:on vent are Knights of1he Golden cirec, and in an
editorial that one delegate has had reasonable
correspondence with the rebels against this gov
Rsn1red. That Messrs Ross, OF Fulton, orme of
AicLcan@ Terry Of Vcrmillion, and Burr of Scott,
be- appointed 4 conmlttvc TO investigate said
1ion, and that said committee have power to send
for persons and papers.
On motion Of Mr. Buekmastcr, Mr.. Thorn
ton was added to the committee, and made
chairman. Considerable debate followed, af-
! ter which the resolution passed.
It appears from the discussion which cnsucd
that the rumor mentioned by our reporter had
been quite current in Springfield for some time.
Nfr. Hacker, the President Of the Conycntion,
stated that he understood that an attempt had
| been made TO name those delegates WHO were
Knights Of the Golden Circle. Allen, Of Will
hanson, said that 1c had been charged with
disloyalty, and others also referred 10 tic stru-
! nlor,'' as Il thing that was not new to them.
It is confessed that our reporter is not the
author Of it. How much fire there is under
all this smoke will he for the Investigating
Committee to ascertain In order to tighten
their labors as mach as possible, VIC will fur
niEh 1hem with thu original Of ! letter from a
citizen Of au interior county, from which We
take the following cxtr:>ct:
sECEssIoS1sTs IN OUR CONVENTION
Editors Ifibune:-The kind Of material com.
| posing part Of our Convention is fast becom-
ing apparent TO all; but I wish to call atten.
tion particularly to some uttcranccs Of an in
is the name is given III fulI), dele
gate from - county. Hc said, 4 tew day,
since, in Il conversation at tho railroad station
{plaacc g1ycn,) that "he hoped our Govern
'sment would speedily acknowledge the indie
"pendcnce Of tic Southern Confedcracy, anG
"tliat Illinois would go with llcr." Mr.. =
Il well known citizen Of that place, said t.
him, that no man should utter such senti
n1ents in his hearing, and WIS going to chas
tise the scccssionist, but WAS restrained by th<
citizens. This matter, if denied, will be attest
tcstvd by many good nanles-''
Tic writer Of the above appcnds his nant
TO t',c 1ettcrs< from which the above is tran
scribed. Now, if tlis statement shall be yer
flied upon Investigation, the disloyal mcmbc
should be promptly expelled, and the ayes ant
noes on the question Of expulsion will SHOW
to the public what members arc really 10y,
and who arc rebel sympathisers and secession
lists. During the discussion on Thornton'
resolution, Mr. McNcelcy sent up resolutio,
declaring it to be tic Sense Of the Convention
that if there arc disloyal men or sympnthiziu:
friends Of tho rebels or the rebel cause, the,
bv expelled. We have not learned whethc
this resolution was adopted, but sursnise tha
it Was not. If it be shown that all the mem
bcrs Of the Convention are unconditiona
Union men-straight out loyalists-the peopl
will rejoice 10 be 50 assured.