The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-07-13
The Convention OF Southern Unionists.

Inc COnVButtOu Ol BOuLuBIu UulOulSBs
From te Tribune
Unionists, to be held at Philadelphia in Septem-
Der, is the most important political movement
in the South since the close of the war. OF
Southern loyalists we have heard much; now,
we hope, we are to know more. This should be
a trumpetcall to the Union men of the South
Never had they nobler opportunity to proclaim
their principles Their protests against Seces-
sion we're useless, and during the Rebellion they
were too weak to effect much good. But now
their influence is of immeasurable Importance
they are, to the army of freedom, reinforce
ment which may be like the troops of Blucher at
Waterloo. We anticipate for them no speedy
victory in the South; they can have no hope OF
carrying single State that rebelled; but the
reform they have begun must, in the end, be
revolution,
But though the South will reject this Conven.
ton, 1t Is certain TO have an immediate and
great effect upon the North. Those who fought
and voted against the Rebellion cannot fail TO
see that the sgners OF this call are the picked
men of the South. They are not OF those con-
quered Rebels, who come back like the prodlgal
SIN; but. unlike him, repent not Of their sins.
Throughout the war they were the only friends
of the Government, except the negroes. All
that they could do to avert the Rebellion they
did; they warned the South of its error, and
when treason triumphed, did not plead State
allegiance as an excuse for joining its ranks.
Perseouted as they were, they never yielded.
Can the appeals of such men be disregarded by
the North? Can it be doubted that they above
all others, have the right to speak for the loyal
people of the South2
The call emphatically sustains the general
policy of Congress, and denies the wild and fatal
Cheory that "the rights OF the citizen must be
left to the States alone, and under such rsgula-
tions as the respective States choose voluntarily
to prescribe" "Wth Rebels in the foreground"
it adds, controlling Southern legislation, and
embittered by disappointment in their schemes
to destroy the Union, there will be No fety for
the loyal element in the South" Their reliance
is Tnow upon Congress, and therefore they
urge the importance OF bringing the loyal men
of the South into conjunction with the true
friends of republican government in the North.
The call Ia not fully signed, but the names
already obtained ought to have weight with the
North. There is W. B. Stokes, member OF Con-
gress elect from Tennessee, probable candidate
1or Governor, and friend of impartial suffrage;
Gov. Hamilton, of Texas, one of the few Southern
Governors who have not attempted to galvaniZe
armed rebellion into political defiance; George
w. Paschal and Lorenzo Sherwood, prosecuted
Unionists; Judge Underwood, q radical Aboli-
ZIONIST of the worst or best type; Durham Ward
well, of Virginia, who for his devotion to the
Union was imprisoned in Salisbury and Castle
Thunder; j. w. Hunnicutt, editor OF the 4Ne,o
South, the loyal journal of Richmond, and others
whose loyalty has been proven, not by late re-
pentance, but by unbroken fidelity. The con-
vention will be, in short, an Endorsement of the
policy of CONGRESS- by the only men in the South
whose political opinions deserve the slightest
respect.