Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-07-22
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WHO WILL BE ADMITTED A. belle
fsATEsR
This question has Been rhooted. The Rich
mond Enquirer put it to the Washington
City Press. The Constitutional Union, in the
following extract, thus answers it:
We, therefore, earnestly conjure every
Southern State to send representatives to
the National Convention. We urge them
to send their wisest, ablest, and most mod
crate statesmen. Every white citizen Of the
South, whether ne fought in the Confederate
ranks or not, if he accepts the results Of the
war in good faith, and is willing to maintain
the union and harmony Of the caGre country,
with the rights Of each individual and Of each
State guaranteed and fully protected under
the Constitution of our fathers; every such
white citizen Of the South is entitled to, and
is expected to be, represented in this Ma
tional Convention. Such is or understand
ing of the spirit which prompted the call
for, and viii preside over the deliberations
Of this Convention. As an assembly which
is to include every patriotic lover of his coun-
try from the St. Croix to the ella, we en-
dorse it, As Convention eminently cath
Ole in its tone, and strictly conservative in
its temper, compromising the tchole coun-
try, and not merely petty section of il, we
most cordially approve of its call-and APP
prove of it on no narrower or more united
grounds"
We cordially endorse this view The
Philadelphia Convention is intended, and
should be an assemblage of men Of all Sec
tions and States lifted above sordid partisan
considerations, and animated by the single
purpose of restoring the integrity Of the
Union, and re-estabIishing the Constitution
as the supreme law of the land-to govern
equally the President and Congress, and che
people. To promote these ends we give an
earnest advocacy to this movement II
they can be accomplished, radicalism can be
restrained, and peace will resume its sway.
There can be no peace till the spirit Of the
radicalism which is now assuming to rule
the nation is curbed, and until the party Or
ganization which is being formed under it.
is destroyed. Itmeans to alter radically the
Constitution, and in so far az it fails to effect
that object, to construe it to serve its own
purposes, and to enforce its alterations and
constructions by any means at its command
There is no salvation for the Constitution,
and no safety for the liberties Of the people
save in the overthrow of the men who
avow themselves ready to alter or over.
throw it at pleasure The present Execu-
tive has become convinced that such is the
purpose Of the Congressional leaders, and a
concurrence in this conviction by the Con-
servatives, North and South, has led tc
this movement to devise means to check the
power Of the organization which upholds
this pernicious heresy. The Convention
should, and in its very nature, must include
every man who opposes radicalism-for a
successful opposition to the mischief which
that name purports is a support of the Con-
stitution, and the rule of that august
instrument is the restoration of the
Union. In a word, the Philadelphia
Convention is called for the purpose Of
putting under the feet of the conservative
people Of this country RadicaIism in all its
forms and guises. 1t is a platform broad
enough to uphold the whole people Let all
come on it who will. Let them come regard
less of Union or rebel antecedents, Of Fed
eral or States rights opinions, of citizenship
in Maine or Texas Let all come who esteem
the Constitution of the United States as the
chart of government, giving great powers for
wise purposes, and limiting all powers for
purposes equally wise; and who hold the
Union of States to be the best possible form
for it, administration. In the compost
ton of this great conservative assemblage
there should be no regard to the questions OF
the past-there should be no churlish in
quiry as to whether this member fought for
the Union or against it-there should be no
sectional sympathies-no ante-war antipa-
thies. All these matters are Of the dead past,
and there they should be buried. The men
who are to assemble there have present DIFF
fculties enough to absorb their energies.
One of the wisest political wriers has said
that a question once decided should never be
re-opened. Five terrible years have been
consumed in deciding the unity Of this Re-
public. The urgent question now is whether
we shall preserve this unity as a free
republican government or permit it
to glide into a virtual despotism. 1t
is a question above all sectional or
merely political ideas or purposes. We
believe the Philadelphia Convention can
be made to exert wholesome influence
in deciding this question in favor Of the
integrity Of the Constitution, and the
preservation Of the blessings which its faith
ful administration guarantees to the citizen.
1t is to be a great Convention in point of
numbers, and the character of the delegates
who compose it. Originated under the
auspices of the friends of the President, it
has received the cordial sanction of the
leading Conservatives in the nation, and we
exhort the districts Of our own State to Sc
lect the best men they can find. As an ev-
idence Of the hold which the movement has
taken, we append the following statistics re-
garding the position of he newspaper press
Of the country: