Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1866-08-16

neN glOry IN the apparent ScnlSm DetWeel
, the President and Congress in the policy o
restoring the States lately in rebellion, anC
rub their hands with delight at the idea o
. civil war in the loyal States.
In view of all this array of strong, stub
born facts, L own, my views of the concili
atory policy, i'm turning back TO allegianc,
! those who have been engaged in war I,
! destroy the Union, have undergone
change. The intolerent spirit engendcreC
by slavery still exists. Loss of propert,
and failure of hopes can never be forgiven
and though | regard them as impOtent tC
resist the constituted authority enforced by
the presence of the military, yet | am con
WINGED they would renew the rebellion TO
morrow ifthey saw prospect of success.
Impressed with the truth of these views
and foreseeing the necessity for the future
security of the Union men in the South
that the amendment To the Constitution
adopted by Congress, and submitted to the
several States for ratification, should pre-
vail, and fully realizing the fact that the
amendment would never be ratified oy the
present Legislature, | own | was in favor
of the rcassembling of the Convention OF
1864, as the only means of securing the
ratification as required, and thereby insure
the admission of our Representatives in
Congress.
The legal right of the convention TO con-
tinue its functions is a question, | suppose,
properly pertaining to the courts to decide.
Senators and Representatives in Congress
of great learning, and men of high legal at
tainments in New Orleans, have expressed
the opinion that under the resolution OF
adjournment. the Convention could law
fully re-asSemble. 4 distinguished Demo
cratic Senator in Congress took the same
view. For myself, if had any doubt on
the subject, which / have not, | should
have deferred to the opinions of abler men
The total number of delegates composing
the Convention was 80 The number
elected, -, the quorum, was fixed at 76,
this number being a majority of the whole.
There were - parishes unrepresented in
the Convention, entitled to 81 delegates
and adding thereto ten vacancies TO be fill
ed. would make Gl delegates TO be elected.
Besides, there were some 10 or ~ dele
gates. who, disappearing the emancipation
clause refused to sign the Constitution,
who may rank with the extreme cOnServa-
tiycs. Counting the 6l delegates to be of
the same class. and the balance of the Con
vcntion to be radical, it will be seen that
the parties would really have been equally
divided.
have gone into these details 10 show
The falsity of the charges that have been
made. that the convention would not have
represented he uhotc, and that IL was intend
I'd to Be- packed. Every parish would have
been represented. about onc-half having
elected their delegates in 1861. and the other
half in 1866. making a just equilibrium,
those who opposed and those who sustain
cd the cause oi the COnfcdcracv.
/ There are DISTINGUISHING clauses in the
Z Constitution of 1864. The much abused
members had il in their power To have
made the Constitution rs stringent against
| those engaged in the rebellion as Tennes-
see and Missouri have done. They pur-
SJic,l IN opposite course. trusting and be-
1 licying as did, that these men would he
aciuated by a spirit of tolerance, and for
bcarancc i'm return for the liberality shown
toward them. How the members of that
Convention have been treated Individually
by the very men in whose honor and good
faith they trusted. to say nothing of the
Scorn and villiication Eliminated against
them as collective body. and the consti-
tuition they made, let the record of the
bloody Goirws at Mechanics Institute on
Monday answer. In keeping with their
unrlcnting policy to maintain the power
of the State in their own hands exclusive
". they opposed the meeting of the CON
vcn;iOn in 1864. They need no better mon
itor than their own conscience TO tell them
HAT hy their proScriptivc conduct they had
forfeited all claim TO further liberty from
the original members of that convention
They resolved il must he put down. crush
ed out at all risks. The terrible scenes of
of the Both of July, confidently predicted,
i'm case the convention met was the result
The letter of Mayor Monroe 10 General
Baird, accompanying this communication.
is proof that il was the determination, if
every other means failed, to resort to force.
Everything was arranged ON Sunday pre-
Paratory To that purpose The police re-
ceiycd orders, and on Monday they were
in large numbers at the corner ofCanal and
Dryadcs streets, each having one or more
rcvOlvers on his person. Why were they
there except to commit violence? Among
all that has been passed, charged against
the speakers at the Friday night meeting,
they concealed nothing more than that the
blacks should come ground to defend the
committee in case the members should be
attacked.
Admitting they had assembled for that
purpose. what occasion was there for any
alarm. unless il was meditated to assault
able. from the massing of the police alone,
that il was designed to break up the con
vcntion by force. For this purpose a be-
ginning was necessary and an opportunity
sought for. This soon occurred by the
arrival of Il procession of blacks with mu-
sic. ON their way to the place of the meet
ing of the convention, which procession
had entered the street through the crowd
of policemen and citizens at the corner of
Canal. and were met with insults and ieers
which brought on collision 4 shot was
fired, but ended in nothing serious. The
next act of violence was the arrest of a col
orcd man by a policeman in front of the
institute but for what offence / am unable
to say. The crowd of colored persons as
sembled naturally became excited at this
occurrence. the same as a body of white
men would do under the same circumstan-
ceS. Some took the side Of the policeman,
others the side of the prisoner. Brickbats
were thrown and shot fired. testimony
going to show that it was done by one of
the colOred men. This was answered
Immediately by several shots from the
crowd of policemen at the corner, and fol-
lowed by a rapid firing on the blacks, who
returned the fire as fast as they could but
being overpOwered and driven from the
street, took shelter in Mechanics Institute.
If the object of the police was to preserve
the public peace, why did they not, after
the men had taken refuge in the Institute,
retire to their original position at the cor
ner of the street, which effcctually cut off
egress from the front, and placing a guard
in the rear of the building, await the arri-
val of the military, who were known to be
on the way. Their only reason against
this course is that il did not suit their pur-
poses. They accordingly advanced in the
front of the building and besieged it on ev
cry side. Every negro who attempted to
escape was murdered. The crOwning eli
max of these murderers' bloody acts is well
known. When the white flag was hung
out as token or surrender, the police ar