The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1866-03-30
AMOS KENDALL.

| Below will be found a letter from Mr..
! KENDALL, in answer to an invitation
| to attend the great political meeting in
! Washington City on the birthday Of
/ the father Of his country. Mr.. KEN
DALI was the personal and political
| friend of the Hero of New Orleans /;
opposed notification in 1882, and was
| equally opposed to secession and rebel
/ lion in 1860 and 1861. The veteran pol
itician, who once supported ANDREW
/ JACKSON now sustains ANDREW JoHN-
/ s0N:
KENDALL GREEN, Feb. q, 1866.
Hon. CHARLES MASON:
DEAR SIR: Your note of the 18th in
slant came to hand yesterday. While
the state of my health will not allow
me to participate in the contemplated
proceedings of tomorrow, / heartily
approve of their object. see no pros
pect of the permanent restoration OF
/ peace and prosperity to our country,
or even Of the preservation of our fed
eral system of government otherwise
than bya firm support of the President.
/ It is sad to see how like flock of I'M
/ thinking sheep a majority ofthe House
/ ofRepresentatives followale leader whose
avowed political principle is to 'ttro1c
/ conscience to the deUU." Every member
/ Of Congress is sworn to support the
+ Constitution; that Constitution entities
every State in the Union TO representa-
/ ton in Congress, yet at the dictation Of
one bad man q majority Of the House
/ of Representative vote that eleven
/ States hall have no Representatives III
/ Congress. Thus conscience and COnsti-
/ tuition are both "thrown to the devil" "
/ States cannot be rebels. They have no
''necks to be hanged" Persons only
can be rebels, and the laws provide fol
their punishment.
But the erevolutionistsi in Congress, moi
content with punishing persons for re-
/ beIlion, undertake topunish States, thus
conl0unding the innocent with the
/ guilty. Members Of the House of Rep
/ resentatives do not represent States, but
/ do represent the people in wel-defined
districts. Loyal districts have sent 10y
. al members and have claimed their
+. right to representation. Why should
+ they not be received? Ought loyal men
in one district to be punished because
other districts have been dis oyal OF
have elected disloyal Representatives
! If disloyaIty be the real ground of eX-
/ cIusion, why not admit the loyal and
/ exclude only the disloyal?
( The truth is, the idea Of re5el State
is fiction, invented by factionists tC
prevent all representation from the
South, loyal or disloyal, lest perchance
they should be driven from power. II
Il mutilated Congress, with only two
thirds Of the constitutional members,
they may be able to maintain their ma
jority-a result very doubtful in a Jujt
| Congress. If this be not the motive,
why do they not admit loyal member,
from the South, excluding only those
| who by their conduct have rendered
! themselves unfit to be members of q
loyal Congress? BY such meansall diff
! ficultiesW would beremOvedand harmony
/ preserved between all the Departments
/ OF the Government.
! Power, political poocer, is the object
of the radical leaders. For political
power they would have let the South
ern States depart in peace" and THIS
! p&petaated Slarc1y. Thwarted in that
| by the patriotism of the people, Demo
Gratis as well as Republicans, they per
verted the war for the Union to wal
against slavery. For p0'cer they would
now, by undisguised usurpatiOn, force
negro suffrage on the States in the hope
OF ayailing themselves Of negro aid il
! governing the white population. FCl
power they now maintain that the
Federal Union was destroyed by the
successful use Of the means adopted
! t. preserve it! In this struggle for po
Iitical power, no principle is too absurd
to be adopted. We may well bid al
eternal adieu to our Federal Republic
unless the President be sustained auC
these unscrupuIous revolutionists de
prived Of the power to do mischief
When began, intended to write only
a few lines; but the alarming state O
the country presenting itself more an(
more vividly as l wrote, has led me or
from paragraph to paragraph and from
page to page.
Yours, truly, AMOS KENDALL.
G,zE=zszwzazs1zszzaz
/ CAN YOU SWALLOW 1T?