The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-07-18

National Union Convention, to be held
at Philadelphia on the 18th day of Au-
gust next. You request, in case the
call and the principles enunciated in
1t, meet my approval, that reply at
my earliest convenience. This Language
would seem to imply that no answer is
desired if 1 do not approve the call and
the principles avowed in it; in other
words, that a failure to reply may be
interpreted as a disapproval, not only
of the call, but of each and all of the
principles announced in it.
This is position in which am mfun-
willing to be placed, when approve of
many of the principles set forth in the
call and yet do not approve ofthe call
itself. / will briefly state my reasons;
first promising that / do not recognize
the very respectable gentlemen who
have: made. this call as the acknowI-
edged organs Of the great Union party
Since the outbreak of the terrific
struggle from which the country has
now emerged we have had a National
Union party that has exhibited more
devotion, made greater sacrifices, and
manifested more unseltish patriotism
than any party ever did previously in
the history of the world. That party is
still in being, with its organization in
tact, and its organs known; and as that
party; by its faith, It's doctrines, and its
exertions, has, in the face of the pro-
phecies OF half the New and all the Old
World, saved the Government and the
republican Institutions of our common
country from demoraliZation, and in
deed from utter ruin, by vindicating at
all hazards the primordial theory of
the eternal, indissoluble union of the
States, through which only can a
particle of the theory of State
rights ever be- maintained and
ga rripd ont ~ Ivo1Id pD1apr Fr mo
to be still the only or at any
rate the most etfectual means, as far as
party can do it, of finally adjusting
all the remaining minor aud unsettled
matters of reconstruction consistently
with the requirements of the theory
mentioned. - -st~
This party is the same to-day as 1T
was in the days of its trial; the same
party now as when, but a few short
months ago, it elected Lincoln and
johnson, and the majority of the pres.
enU Congress, and as 1 acted with 1t
then, for paramount reasons, my sense
OF duty demands that remain and act
with it now. nj i. iaill.lol tlssiEa
The pith and marrow of the present
call II should say, tends towards a con-
vention to form a party for sustaining,
not the Governmentin its entirety las
has been the mission of the Union par
ty), but a department of the Govern
ment. And here must take the Iiber-
ty of adding, that can hardly yconceive
of any sadder spectacle, under the crisis
of present circumstances, than that of
the tried Union party of this country
becoming dislocated and broken up by
divisions, or that of one branch OF the
Government of the country taking an
isolated position upon questions of
deep and common interest, and placing
itself in hostile conflict with co-ordin-,
ate departments. 7t h. .at5 itt3s ll
Forthese and other reasons which
might be mentioned, / cannot join in
the call for the convention in Philadel-
phia. f,-r. 4s III u. f3f,.j IL si5i iifs
1 have said that many of the princi-
pies stated in the call are, in my view,
unobjectionable. will not stop to
criticise those which are Objectionable
but content myself with stating that
the call fails to take any notice Of one
of the great issues now before the
American people. allude to the ques-
ton whether the several States shall
ratify or reject the last amendment
proposed by Congress to the Constitu-
tion of the United States. This is a
grave and all-important question. The
issue upon it cannot be avoided. 1t
should be placed fairly and squarely
before the people. The failure to take
ground upon SO important and all-ab-
sorbing question must be attributed
either to q desire to avoid the issue, or
as declaration of belief and policy
against the adoption ofthe amendment.
Being myself earnestly and decidedly
IN favor of the adoption, of the amend
mentb the StatesI cannot go into an
organization that would either openly
oppose that measure or that would
smother it by avoiding its discussion.
I must also add, thatno man is more
desirous than 1 am to attain the entire
restoration of the American Union,
with It's practical workings in more per-
feet harmony and concord than ever,
and the surety, as tar as mortal affairs
can be made sure, OF endless perpetui-
ty in the future. The blessings to flow
from such Union are countless and
inesttmable. But such a Union. CON-
sistent within itself; maintained by the
universal consent of all classes and sec
tions, and Laughing to scorn both the
ASSAULTS OF foes internal and external,
and the ravages of time and change,
will only be obtained by stern1y re-
tracting every departurefrom, or COM
promise with, the supreme and general
idea of the American fundamental law,
the Constitution. That general idea
consists, in brief, of the political liberty
Shnd equality of mankind under the
law. such, and such only, can be the
UntonS the nationality, that will put in
form the magnificent and lofty dreams
OF. the American continental mind,
and fulfil in the future the highest eff
forts of the present and the past.D 1t is
not the vague delusion that the rights
of the States need doctoring. The
American theory culminates properly
in the sacredness of the rights of indi-
viduals-of each single Individual.
That, after all, is what Washington
carved out with the sword, and Jeffer-
son, fltering 1t through his subtle and
free mind, drew up and put on record
with the pen.
I 1t is well known that in the political
and legal history of the United States,
the only departures or compromises of
the kind alluded 20 have been those in
manifold incidents. / do not, ofcouFse,
propose to go over the thousand-timest
told tale of the past sixty years. To-
day, slavery, as confessed legality, is,
as we AL know, no more. But some of
the most important tof its incidents or
compromises still remain-bIots and
upon the law. What
equitable reason can be given why
these incidents also should not be eras-
ed2 Time was that when the brains
were out the man would die; but now
we see the limbs demanding to live and
move, as If the nervous centre still ex-
isted.
The persistent attempt to keep in the
Constitution the rule of an unequal
and unfair basis of representation is
perilous to the future peace OF the co1n-
try, and will surely cause chatting
sense Of injustice as long as it is COM
tinned. s.Is -. zli- i15if
Furthermore, the high mission of the
Union party, as aYowed in the Balti-
more convention. 70 "extirpate slave-
ry," includes The removal of all the
hateful and anti4populaF exereseences
engrRfted by that institution for its
own selfish ACKNOWLEDGMENT UFlon otIr