Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-08-20
Oblo Statesrlrarr,
RESTORATION AND PEACE.
Result of the Great National
..re Convention. .l..,
Address to All the People of
the Union.

| In the National Union Convention at
Philadelphia, on Thursday, Hon. HenryJ.
Raymond, of New York, on behalf of the
committee of two from each State and
| Territory of the United States, appointed
on the previous day, reported the following
4 address, wfllelf had been approved aud re-
commended by the unanimous vote of the
committee: ' .,.....it.. ........ ....
To THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES:
| Having met in Convention, at the city of
Philadelphia, in the State Of Pennsylvania,
this 10th day of August, 1865, as the rep
resentatives of the people in all sections,
and from all the States and Territories OF
the Union, to consult upon the condition
and the wants of our common country, we
address to you this Declaration of our
Principles, and of the political purposes we
seek to promote.
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 q new place among the ma
| tions of the earth. Our Government has
passed through the vicissitudes and the
| peTils of civil war-a war which, though
mainly sectional in its character, has, never
theless, decided political differences That
from the very beginning of the Govern
ment had threatened the unity of our ma
| tional existence, aud has left It's impress
deep and ineiiaceable upon all the interests,
| the sentiments, and the destiny Of the re-
public. While it has inflicted upon the
whole country severe losses in life and in
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 national
dangers-a capacity for littry organiza-
tion aud achievement, and devotion ON
the part of the people to the form OF Gov
ernment which they have ordained, and to
the principles of liberty which that Gov
ernment was designed to promote, which
must confirm the confidence of the nation
in the perpetuity of its republican institu-
tionS, and command 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 am
bition of political parties, and fresh i'm
| pulse 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 pas
siOns that can sway the public judgment
and affect the public action; while the
wounds of war are still fresh and bleeding
on either side, and fears for the future take
unjust proportions from the memories and
resentments of the past, it is a dilficult but
an,imperative duty which, on your behalf
we, who are here assembled, have under
taken to perform.
| For the first time after six long years of
alienation and of conflict, we have come to-
gether from every State and every section
| of our land, as citizens of common cOun-
try, under that flag, the symbol again of
common glory, to consult together how
best to cement ard perpetuate that Union
which is again the object of our common
love, and thus secure the blessings OF llber-
ty to ourselves and our pOsterity.
| |. In the irstlplace, we 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, and the weapons of war
laid aside, but the state of war no longer
exists, and the sentiments, the passions,
the relations of war have no longer lawful
or righttul place anywhere throughout our
broad domain. We are again people of the
| United States, fellow-ctiZens of one cOuu-
| try, bound by the duties and obligations of
a common patriotism, and having neither
rights nor interests apart from common
| destiny. The duties that devOlve upon us
| now are again the duties of peace, and no
| longer the duties of war. We have as
sembed Lere to take counsel Concerning the
| interests of peace-to decide how we may
most wisely and effectnally healthe wounds
the war has made, and perfect and perpet-
uate the benefits It has secured, and the
blessings which, under wise and benign
Providence, have sprungup inits fiery track.
| This is the work, not OF passion, but of calm
and sober Judgment, not of resentment
| for past otienses prolonged beyond the
limits which justice and reason prescribe,
but of liberal craftsmanship which toll
crates what it cannot prevent and buildsi its
plans and its hopes for the future ratherupOn
a community OF interest and ambition than
upon distrust and the weapons of force.
ii. In the next place. we call upon. you
to recognize in their full significance, and
to accept with all their Legitimate cOnse-
Quences, the political results of the war just
closed. In two most important particulars
the victory achieved by the National Gov
| ernment has been final and decisive. First
! it has established beyond all further contro-
veisy, and by the highest of all human
sanctions, the absolute supremacy of the
| National Government, as defined and limit
| ed by the Constitution of the United States,
| and the permanent integrity and indissolu-
bility of the Federal Union as necessary
consequence; and, second, 1t has put an END
| finally and forever to the existence of
slavery upon the soil or within the juris-
dietion OF the United States. Both these
points became directly involved in the con-
test, and controversy upon both was ended
absolutely and finally by the result.
| ILL.,, In the third place, we deem it of the
utmost Importance that the real character
of the war and the victory by which it was
closed should be accurately understood.
The war was carried on by the Government
] of the United States in maintenance Of its
| own. authority and in defense Of its own
existence, both of which were menaced by
the insurrection which 1t sought to sup
press. The q suppression of that In
surrection accomplished that result.
| The Government of the United States
maintained by force of arms the supreme
authority over all the territory, and
| over all the States and people within Its
| Jurisdiction, which the C0nstitution con-
Efers upon il. but 1t acquired thereby no
new Tpower, no enlarged jurisdiction, no
| rights either of territorial possession or of
civil authority whichit did not possess be-
| fore the rebellion broke out, All tKeright-
l hll power it can ever possess is that which
II IL conferred uponit, eitheriin express terms
Or by isir and necessary impllcations by