The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1866-08-20
!. A
p . 20 OF THE o7
National Union Convention.
OF THE
Adopted at the WigwHm, Phiiadei
phia, Thursday, Augnst 10, 1865

YORK was then announced to the Con-
vention by the President, and was re-
ceived with loud cheering Silence hay-
ing been restored, Mr.. Raymond proceed
ed to read the address which had beeh
agreed upon by the committee:
To the People Of lie United States
Having met in Convention, at the city
\ of Philadelphia, in the State Of Pennsyl-
vania, this 10th day of August, 1866, rs
the representatives of the people III all
sections, and all the States and Terito
ries OF the Union, to consult upon the
condition and the wants of our common
country, we address to you this declara-
tion of our principles, and OF the polltl-
cal purposes we seek to promote.
THE LATE WAR.
Since the meeting of the last National
| Convention, in the year 1860, events
have occurred which have changed the
character of our internal politics and
given the United States a new place
among the nations of the earth. Our
| Government has passed through the vi
cissitudes and the perils OF civil war-a
war which, though mainly sectional in its
ical differences that from the very begin
ming of the Government have threatened
the unity of our national existence. and
has left its impress deep aud ineffacea-
Bile upon all the interests, the sentiments,
and the destiny of the Republic.
While it has inflicted upon the whole
country severe losses in life and property,
and has imposed burdens which must
weigh on its resources for generations to
come, it has Developed degree OF ma
tional courage in the presence of nation
al dangers-a capacity for military or
ganlzation and achievem ant, and de-
Yotion on the part of the people to the
form of government which they have
ordained, and to the principles OF liberty
which that Government was designed to
promote, which must confirm the con fl.
dence of the nation in the perpetuity OF
its republican institutions, and comman u
the respect of the civilized world.
Like all great contests which rouse
the passions and test the endurance OF
nations, this war has given new scope
to the ambition of political parties, and
fresh impulse to plans of innovation and
reform. Amidst the chaos of conflicting
sentiments inseparable from such an era,
while the public heart is keenly alive to
all the passions that can sway the public
Judgment and affect the public action;
while the wounds of war are still fresh
and bleeding on either side, ana fears for
the future take unjust proportions from
the memories and resentments OF the
past, it is n difficult but an imperative
duty which on your behalf we, who are
here assembled, have undertaken to per
form
ASSEMBLAGE IN AMITY.
For the first time after six long years
of alienation and of conflict, we have
come together from every State and every
| section of our land as citizens of com.
mon country, under that flag, the symbol
again Of common glory, to consult to-
gether how best to cement and perpetu-
| ate that Union which is again the object
Of our common love, and thus secure the
blessings of liberty 70 ourselves and our
| posterity.
In the first place wa invoke you TO re-
member, always and everywhere that
| the war is ended and the nation is again
at peace The shock of contending arms
no longer assails the shuddering heart of
the Republic. The insurrection against
the supreme authority of the nation has
been suppressed, and that authority has
been again acknowledged, by word and
act. in every State and by every citizen
within its Jurisdiction. We are No
LONGER required or permitted tO regard
or treat each Other as enemies Not only
have the acts of war been discontinued
4 Il Of l1i
The state of wal no longer exists, and the
sentiments, the passions, tho relations
of war have no Longer lawful OF rightGul
place anywhere throughout nmr broad
domain. We are again people of the
United States, fellow citizens Of one
country, bound 10y the duties aud "bliga-
tions of common patriotism, aud having
neither rights nor interests apart from n
common destiny
DUTIES OF PEACE
The dnties that devOlve upon us now
are again the duties of peace, and no
| longer the duties Of war. We have as
sembled here to take counsel concerning
| the interests of peace; to decide how We
| may most wisely and eflectually heal the
wounds the war has made, and perfect
and perpetuate the benefits it has Sc
cured, and the blessings which, under a
wise and benign Providence, have sprung
up in its fiery track This is the work,
not of passion, but of calm and sober
Judgment; not Of resentment for past of
fenses prolonged beyond the limits which
Justice and reason prescribe, but of
liberal craftsmanship which tolerates
what it cannot prevent, and builds It's
plans and its hopes for the future rather
upon a community of interest aud am
bition than upon distrust and the wea-
pons of force.
POLITICAL RESULTS OF THE WAR.
In the next place, we call upon you to
recognize in their full significance. and
to accept with all their Legitimate coDse
quences, the political results OF the war
lust closed. In two most important
particulars the victory achieved by the
National Government has been final and
decisive. First, it has established be-
yond all further controversy, and by the
highest of all human sanctions, the abso-
lutte supremacy of the National Govern
ment, as defined and limited by the
Constitution of the United States, aud
the permanent integrity and indissolu-
| bility of the Federal Union as necessary
consequence; and, second, it has put an
end finally aud forever to the existence
of slavery upon the soil or within the