Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1866-09-13

It's character and size hose NiO hare fIL-
len--Johnson and Dnris--Look To them
!, fer The truth Whatthey ,cnnt--Northrn
Conrenfion--The Union of both--Isnn-
sylrania safe 7ennessseeans on Mr. Bing-
hnne--1he 40h Congress their hope of
SAFETY.
Correspondence Of the Belmont Chronicle.
PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 9th, 1866.
To say that the Convention of Southern
Loyalists now in session here is success
would but feeby express the character of
the meeting; and indeed, in the brief space
allotted me for this letter it will be difficult
to convey any definite idea Of the magnifi.
cence Of the meeting, or rather meetings,
now in progress. This glorious city of so
many hallowed associations of the revolu.
ton has been for the past three days in
blaze of excitement Never before in the
history of parties has such an assembly been
convened.
The Southern Loyaliss' Convention,
proper, numbers about six hundred dele.
gates--every man of them host, in him.
SELF Tried through five bloody years in the
fires of rebel persecution and cruelty. they
look around them in tho hour OF victory to
find their condition scarcely less critical
than it was in '62 when the Union cause
seemed almost hopeless. They find them
selves governed by the same men that five
years ago banded together to break up the
government They feel that the foul spirit
of slavery which brought on the war. and
which has been responsible for all its untold
horrors, still rules in the reconstructed
States. They find that, notwithstanding
their defeat by arms in the field the rebels
are still in the ascendant, and that they
have changed in feeling only by acquiring
more bitterness towards all persons who
fought 10 sustain the government. To in.
auire what is best to bo done in this terrible
condition of affairs, and how to do it is the
eljcct Of this meeting,
The character Of the delegates composing
the meeting is an interesting feature. Here
are the men who for years of war stood
shoulder to shoulder with Andrew johnson
10 support ofthe old flag. Here are the men,
but for whom he never would have lived to
Gil his present position. When he was pro-
scrited and hunted as felop, these men
concealed and protected him at the peril of
their lives. Here is that lion.hearted old
man, (Brownlow;) who never feared danger,
and never doubted success; who has given
his all for the use Of law and order and
justice, and who has now dragged his feeble
frame to this meeting, to give, as 1t seems,
the last spark Of his life to tho great cause
for which he hos suffered so much.
But these fire tried patriots speak in
hushed tones Of many absent companions,
who have fallen by the way. Some have
starved in southern PRISONS some were torn
to pieces by blood. hounds, and others by
the fercer human hounds Of the rebellion.
Many of them were hung in their own door,
yards in the presence of their weeping fam.
lilies. Ofthese they tell us with moistened
eye and quiverine lip. But when they tell
OF that other class that have joined the ranks
Of their Prosecutors have turned traitors
to the great cause Of the right, their denun-
Citations are fierce and terrible. Better, far
better, say they, the martyred Dostie 10 his
bloody grave, than the fsithless johnson in
the high Office which he has SO disgraeed
and prostituted, Who can doubt that this
also will be the verdict Of historyt
Andrew johnson and his supporters will
seek in vain to beiittfe the actors III this
Convention. They were his associates and
equals during the war, and they are infinite
ly his superiors now. They have betrayed
no trust They have been instrumental in
shedding no innocent blood They have
sought to corrupt no civil or military Off