Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1866-09-11

PHILADELPHIA, Sep. I'd, 1866.
Mr.. COVER

PHILADELPHIA, Sep. I'd, 1866
Mr.. COVER
am here at the Continental
oday-in the city Of Penn. Hav-
ing attended the great Copperhead
convention ut Chicago in 1864, | was
glad Of the opportunity Of attending
the Union convention here, not only
rs an observer, bnt rs member.
This Is not a convention to be atten-
ded b. mere Republican or Demo
crat as such came here to bear
from southern Union men what
their condition is now i'll he south
whether men holdiag northern opin-
ions, could exercise the rights of Tree
speech and free action, and whether
! the reconstructed rebels who have
possession Of the southern state gov
ernments Except in the state Of Ten
nessee) would protect Union men Of
the radical stripe, or of all stripes,
IN the inalicnable rights Of Ameri-
can citizens. Your readers are rad
ical--a large majority Of the people
of Wisconsin are radical. in the view
OF the reconstructed rebels, who
sway the lately rebellious States,
with but one exception. 1t is mat
ter OF the utmost importance to
northern men, especially to such as
are denominated radicals. to know
how they will fare, should they think
Of becoming citizens Of one of Andy
Johnson's newly built states. ! can
confer no greater favor, or do no
more important service to your read
ers than TO tell them what such men
rs Bolts and Underwood, and Porte
Crdyon OF Virginia, say Of the con
ditlon of union men there. North
ern cQpperhcads> may be safe there,
but your readers will desire to know
how it fares down south with men
who have fought rattlesnalies, with
bullets, and'copperheads with ballots
OF course, there is one class Of men
in the north who will put no conf>
dence in what Horace Maynard
Paroon Rrownlow and Congressman
Stokes may say,-who will give the
lie to Governor Hahn and Mr.. Du-
rant, and Gov. Wells Of Louisiana,
but the people in he north who sym
pathised with these men in the great
struggle Of the war will believe
them now, and not their rebel per>
secutOrs. Besides, the radical par
ty of the north will learn how large
the United States is. That is not
my country nor yours, Mr.. Herald,
where we can not go aad live if we
choose, without social ostracisrp, le-
gal persecution, and finally death by
assassination. In vain Mr.. Doolittle
may show us thirty six stars-if ten
or a dozen of these are malignant
stars, un caught in the first rudiments
Of republican government, to toler-
ate free opinion and free political ac-
ton such stars are alien to our
system, and the sooner they are eX.
tinguishcd in gloom and darkness
the better When under the p9s
Of one Of these stars, DR.. Dostie was
butchered, Hahn, "a lame man, was
wounded, and Horton, a minister OF
the gospel while holding aloft the
stars aud stripes over him, was Shot
down hike dog o il was 10 salts
faction to these men to know that
the state Of Louisiana was restored
to her practical relations 20 the Tn
ION Exile and persecution and
death are stronger than the hypc-
critical constitutional quihblcs, by
virtue Of which the Johnson party
are endeavoring to enlarge the pow
or Of rebels to do mischief by put
ting the national as we'll as state
governments in the hands southern
rebels, whipped by che bayonet and
northern copperheads whipt at the
ballot box. At least for that por-
ton Of the people Of the United
States called radicals the southern
states are at this time not only q
foreign but q hostile country. The
powers that be, in the southern
states know Of no law by which
men can be governed or controlled.
but that Of force Whether radi
cal party is to be tolerated among
them is a question, not of constitu-
tional right, but of force. A radical
meeting may be held in New Orleans,
if the party have pistols and bowie
knives enough to detcnd themselves
with. An obnoxious political organ
ization is not to be voted down, or
argued down its members must be
shot down and massacred
Suppose the Louisiana conven-
ton had no power to legislate? No
body educated in the north would
have regarded the members as gull
ty of any offence civil or criminal !;
their action would have been null
and void their laws blank paper.
Nothing more serious than that. 1t
was not an unlawful assembly in
view Of any law. They did not in
tend to attack any body, or use any
physical force, except that of saying
yea or nay. A coppcrhead judge
might have pronounced them knaves
or fools but mistaken belief, if
was such, in the possession of legis-
lative power must not only be in
dicted nay, they must be shot,
knitted, and butchercd by the heoa-
tomb, by the guardians of the law in
New Orleans-by its Thugs-its ne
gro hating, yankee cursiug police
its rebel hordcs shaking their batiied
thirst for northern flood, in the