Litchfield enquirer., 1866-09-13
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Conn. 7huriiday, Sept ls. 1sse
The Convention.

The Convention which sat in Philadelphia last week was a gathering of no ordinary sig ni6cance. It was in effect an organization of a true Union party over the whole South: In one after another ofthe Border States we have seen such a parry spring aap and gather stfsegtb during the war. Maryland, West Virginia and Missouri ranged themselves m der the right flag: there they will stand unless the return of Con- federate soldiers and the policy of President Johnson changes the aspect of affairs; for al- though all rebels are disfranchised. an attempt is being made. with the approval it is said of the Administration, to allow them to vote con- trary to law. and the result iu Kentucky teaches us what to expect if the attempt is sue eessful. It vas this difference of position which caused the difference of at ton between the delegates from the Border States and those further South. The former, hoping for present success, were disposed to be cautious and to avoid an expression of opinion upon questions not now at issue Satisfied with
 severe arraIgnment of the course of the Presi- dent and full endorsement of Congress they refused to go further The delegates from the unreconstructed South, on the contrary, toek strong ground in favor of impartial suffrage; a position which the partisan course of the President and the increased bitterness of the Southern people is every day rendering strong CT. -r s-.t7
 But above all this Convention has given us, what the late Conservative assembly was not allowed to give, full and free expression of opinion on the part of the Southern men in att tendance. How they feel towards an Admin istration which has deserted them in what po- sition this treachery has placed them at home, and how it has affected the condition of the freedmen they have explalnei most fully.-- w ith the utmost latitude of debate, the single objection made to the proceedings of Congress, was. that they had been too conservative. That indecent ontcry for immediate representa- ton, which has been raised by the men who were so lately in arms against us, found no ap- proving voice among these men. who, through out the war, had remained true to the Union.
 The Northern delegation took DO part in the proceedings of the Convention, the bad precedent set by the late Philadelphia Convention, where delegates belonging to another organization aud not renouncing their allegiance to it, cast half of the votes in a body by whose action they did not expect to be bound. -' l.
 The statement of facts set forth it. the ad. dress from which we have made large extracts this week is one which, it seems to us, ought to convince any patriotic supporter of Mr. John sons policy of the mistake he is making. = Corroborated as it is by the testimony before the Congressional Committee, last winter. by the reports of the Frsedmen's Bureau by con. stantly increasing mass of unofficial evidence from the South. and by the terrible occurrences at Memphis and New Orleans we do not see how it's substantial accuracy can be de:ied. It requires little foresight to preeeive that gov ernment which permits it's friends to be treated after such a fashion can neither have, nor de serve, any respect; and that a system of recon strucsion which punshes loyalty and rewards treason, is not system that can commend it. self to the Union party. a. ~s-;. . s,'-,=