Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-09-13
Custnr on FOrney and the Phil
adeIDhia Convention. aJ

John w. Forney recently published q
| bitter attack on General Custar, the dash
ing cayalry1,General, charging, that his
course was inconsistent with his past, and
| that his views on Reconstruction had been
modified since his testimony before the
Congressional committee on RecOhstruc-
ton. Custar has replied. We have not
space for all his letter, but give the follow
ing extracts: ...... .; ..,
| To John w. Forney:
y 49, A few OF the most extreme
Radical journals have pretended to- dis
| cover an inconsistency between the views
embraced in my testimony before the Con-
gressional committee on Reconstruction in
| March last, aud in my present action AS
delegate to the Philadelphia Convention,
and q supporter of the principles enuncia-
| ted in the resolutions and platform pro.
| claimed and adopted by that illustrious,
| national and patriotic assembly, composed
| of representatives from every. State and
every Territory In the Union, and
therefore the first truly National Conven-
tion which has assembled in our country
during the past six years. Prominent in
this misrepresentation and wilful perver-
sion OF the TRUTH is the organ controlled
and edited by YOURSELF, and, were itrnotl for
the official position which you hold, L
would not deem myself justified in referring
to you. | will not refer to the seditiOus and
inflammatory epithets you applied to that
Convention, of which | am proud to have
been member, but will only class them
with your insidious and wicked harangues
pronounced in; the city Gf Philadelphia,
during the sitting of the Convention, In
which you endeavOred to stir the passions
Of what you supposed amOb TO deeds OF
violence and blood. Neither will | occupy
s,,n hag in
terizing those gallant soldiers of the Union
who took part in the Convention as being
influenced by any but the highest, nobiest
| and most patriotic impulses which govern
the human will. Much less were they, as
you insinuate, tinctured with disloyalty.
| Such unwarranted, unjust and unpr0Yoked
assertions come from you with bad grace
when directed against those who, during
the entire war, have freely and unselfishly
| periled their lives to restore, defend, and
| perpetuate the principles of cOnstitu-
| tional Government, which you are laboring
| to destroy. What have you to gain in
malgning and traducing those whose patri-
otism has undergone the test of battle and
is beyond impeachment? T |
| As to the prOpriety of my course in at
| tending the National Union Convention, L
| recognize neither in you, nor in those you
represent, the right to question my mo-
tives. If satisfy my God, my country and
my conscience, achieve my highest aim.
| That my course has received the approval
of the first, and will ultimately,i If not now,
| receive that of the second, is evidenced by
the hearty approval of the third.
AS was so feelingly expressed by
the distinguished statesman and patriot
who presided over the deliberations of the
| Convention, ''peace hath her victories,
none the less renowned than war"
and along with the many victories achieved
upon many hardly contested field by the
courage, fidelity, and perseverance OF our
noble and patriotic armies, and in which Il
| am proud to have been an humble partici-
pant, | place as q crowning victory the
| harmonious assembling of that Conven-
ton, composed as it was of representatives
from every State aud Territory-men who
for years past have been opposed in prin-
| ciple and policy, but who, casting aside all
prejudice and personal feeling, assembled,
intent but upon one purpose, to secure
peace, prosperity and preservation of the
country. To achieve this grand purpose
it seemed rs if one and all were inspired by
| the sentiment, Union, Concession and Har
mony-everything for the cause, nothing
| for men. And as a result of their delibera-,
tions the platform and principles adopted
by that Convention may be expressed in
six words--National Integrity. Constitu
tional Liberty, Individual Rights. Upon
1 this platform all who desire TO promote
peace, harmony and justice throughout the
length and breadth Of our land may stand.
| Those who desire to perpetuate strife, dis
/ cord and disunion will reject it. Duty. as
1 well as interest, demand that this Govern
ment should be national; this cannot be SO
| long as twenty-four States legislate for
thirty-six States, and ten millions of our
| felloW-citiZens are unrepresented. The
] Constitution makes each House of Con-
| gress the sole Judge of the qualifications
| Of its own members. is not required by
| that instrument, nor is it demanded by any
consideration of right aud justice, that the
| two Houses of Congress should conjointly
| pass upon the qualifications and claims of
members of either branch, and by no law
or principle of free government can one or
! both Houses deprive an entire State OF that
fair representation to which, under the
| Constitution, it Is entitled, unless by the eX-
| ercise of an assumed power. You can tes-
| ti(y with what eafnestness | fought until
] that struggle was declared ended, the VIC
| tory won. With that same earnestness |
still desire peace, that peace for which our
armies contended. And now that the ma
tional authority is everywhere recognized,
| the doctrine of secession forever settled,
1 the public debt acknowledged. the rebel
| debt repudiated, and peace, order, and har-
mony proclaimed in every State it only
| remains for Congress to receive to seats
| therein, LOYAL representatives from every
State in allegiance to the. United States,
| subject to the constitutional right OF each
house to Judge of the elections, retdrns
and qualifications of its own members. %
'0N ai o7sduuu . g. A. GUSTAV.