The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-09-05
A Soldier on the Cleveland Com
yention. ,ai .... =:
An Unpretending but Telling
Document. go
The WhoIe case Admirably Put.
Ftom Me cInelnn1qtt cgnaleretql.


EDS. CoM.-Some of our Generals are
going to have a meeting up at CIeve-
land, and have issued an address to all
oftis soldiers! They tell us that 1t does
not become soldiers to press on a sur
rendered foe, but that we ought to be
magnanimous. I agree tn that. have
shared my FatiUns with rebel soldiers.
and shared my money with themt when
had any, down in the field, and they
nave slept under my blanket, and al
ways liked to have a talk with them,
whether on picket or AFTER they came in
as prisoners. Ifthat is all our Generals
up at Cleveland laveito say, we can all
agree. But that is not all. They say
Congress has all gone wrong and we
must set Congress right. They say
Congress is harsh and oppressive in
saying that the people who carried on
the rebellion must agree to some condi-
tions before they again take seats in
Congress TO pass lawsfor us. Now, the
Generals up at Cleveland may be all
right; but justin begin to differ from
As I said before, when rebel soldiers
surrendered to us we used to share with
them the best we had and treated them
like men who had made good fight.
But still we used to take their paroles
before setting them at liberty again,
and we took their paroles in writing.
ANObO0J SNON. ludy was
or oppressive, or ungentlemanly. AT
Vioksburg we became like old cronies
with the surrendered garrison in the
week after the surrender. We were
glad to see each other, to talk over the
siege, and we shared with them like
partners everything we had. When
they went out, General Grant gave
them more horses, and wagons than he
had agreed to in the capitalization, and
gave them all the rattons they could
carry. But, at the same tune, he took
written parole from every officer and
man, and q very particular parole, too.
Nobody ever accused him of want of
magnanimity for that. It is true that
q great many were forced aflerward, by
Bragg or Davis, tojviolate their paroles,
but nobody thought that made 1t harsh
and oppressive to require paroles from
subsequent prisoners. ~ I5l
Now these States have surrendered.
I certainly wish them all good luck and
prosperity and want to see them inn
proYe and have schools, &c. But you
need not tell me it is harsh and oppres-
sfve, and unbecoming a soldier to re-
qnire a. parole from them before ttheY
are set entirely at liberty again, as they
were before the war-and written pa
role, too. .s'2l5 te % 5Tst
Now a constitutional amendment is
what 1 call a written parole.
A parole might, indeed, be SO exact
Ing as to be unfair. But is this consti-
tutioua1 amendment untair3 ,ffa,S s.
1t provides that all persons born ia
the United States shall be citizens, and
entitled to the equal protection of the
laws. That gives the negroes the right
TO hold property, and to have it and
their lives protected by the courts.
They can't live unless they can own
something to live on. They can't own
any thing unless they have a right to
complain before the courts against per-
sons who take their property away ;
and there is no use in going before the
courts unless they can call witnesses to
prove their case. Iidon't consider any
person man who would deny the ne
gro so much. Certainly, soldiers who
in the South never failed to find friends
In the negro; who were guided, fed and
warned by them, who on escaping from
the prison pens were sure to be helped
alongIPY them, will not deny them
suchsrights.9 i don't know that any of
OUT 4eneralsat Cleveland were escaped
prisoners of war; but there are iGeher-
ais who We're, and Ohio soldiers know
them.talfe ;4. ,d ~. =. =, ia
1t also provides that If any State shall
exclude part of its populatfonlfrom vo-
ting, except for crime, its Representa-
tion in the General Government shall
be reduced in the same proportion.
Now, in South Carolina and Mfssissip-
pi more than half the population are
black. If this amendment does not
pass, -four hundred thousand white
people there will count more than eight
hundred thousand here. J. think a
white man in Dixie ought to count for
as much in the Government as do /;
but he ought not to count for more.
And he ought to be willing that I
should count for as tnuch asihe does.
1t next provides that no man who
tried, 70 break up the qoyernment, after
holding an office which required him to
swear 70 support the Constlt tuition, ShBil
hold any Office which requires him to
take the same oath, unless Congress re-
moves this disability. q This is not
harsh. Sdch a man ought not to be I'm
a hurry after such an Office. 1t won1d
be more decent in him TO wait awhile,
And even If this provision should for
some time keep out of office the old
poll heians who led the South astray,
and so put younger men in, i don't see
thatusO much harm would grow out
ofIit. Hp7ig nisB h7fs s0I1
The only other provision Is that the
public debt, including the debt for PEN
s1ons and ibountiess shall not be ques-
toned, and that the rebel debt shall not
be assumed. took partiof my pay in
United States bonds. "A good many
soldiers did, A good many men who
arc obbling about on crntGhes, a good
many women; whose Stands and
sons are buried, depend mainly on their
little pensions. II the debt is questions
&c, what will our little coupons and
peiisi oIs, be worth z ''i' What will green
backs be worth 2 + We paid ,enough for
them. We paid, blood for them, andWe
don't want them questioned. After
fighting for the country four years, we
care enough about Its honor to want its
credit to be beyond question.
] know the Phtlade elphia Convention
said the debt must not be questioned.
WHY, then, not make 1t sale, and put
it into the Cons tituhon9 The Demo-
crats are not bound by it. Democratic
orators are all the time making filings
at the public debt. When you take
away Democrats and Southerners, what
is LEFT for the Philadelphia Convention.
The rebel bonds are already rising in
Yslue in the English market. z = s
Il don't see anything harsh or oppres-
siVe in any of these, j don see why an
honest Southern man should not adopt
them. q don't ask my old opponents
in the fieId to aay ,'svFe were Nr6ng. y
But i do ask, and It Is fair to ask them
to say = We stalked these Questions on
the war; we lost and we Will not try Il
ae,aiIi.,l 4 or, IL they are no6 willing 70
agree they viii not try Il again, they
are still at. war in their hearts, and
there IS no room for the Question OF
magnantmity, but only for taking our
own secnritY
But there are other people in the South
whom onr Generals up at Cleveland
take no account loE-the people who're
mAined true TO their country even down
there where It took a hero to be true.
There were some. "A Mississippi
Joined the 73d Ohio, Georgian Joined
the SD Ohio; and an Alabamian Joined