The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-08-29
For the Intelligencer,

The Loyal convention at khtlAGelp phiA
The loyal men of the States lately in
rebellion, including West Virginia,
Missouri and kentucky, have issued n
call for delegates to meet mt Philadel-
phia upon the Sd of September next.
And what should West Virginia do
The convention which has just ad-
journed in that city has adopted as its
platform, that the only test of loyalty
hereafter is to be the willingness of the
person to be inducted into office, Estate
or Federal) to take an oath to support
the Constitution of tho United States,
without any examination as to his an
tecedentS.
This construction makes jefferson
Davis or J. c. breckenridge just rs loyal
before the law, and rs much entitled to
IA seat in Congress as the man from the
South who never wavered in his adhe-
renee to the Union. And this is the
basis on which the new partyis to carry
on the reconstruction OF the Union.
What, 1 ask, will be its effects when
fully in operation7 Simply to place the
political power of this country in the
their allies, the copperheads in the
North. In vain will few mistaken
Union men who have entered this par
ty, endeavor to control the action
thereof, and turn aside the ruin which
would be upon us. They would find
themselves overwhelmed justas did the
moderate men of the South in 1861,
when secession had mustered her forces
for rebellion.
Then would the control of this nation
pass from the hands Of those who car
ried to n successful conclusion the late
war; and the men who were defeated in
arms would be triumphant in diplO-
macy. Then would rebels who year
since were upon their knees begging for
mercy, be installed in power and the
Union men driven from their homes.
Already are our friends insulted and
murdered, and if such be already the
case, what may we expect when our
noble allies shall be bound hand and
foot? The terrible scenes at Memphis
and New Orleans,-the cry for help
that already comes up to us from all
parts of the South can give the answer.
If to be accounted loyal, it IS only
necessary to swear TO support the Con-
stitution, then may every peTjured viii
liam who once had n seat in Congress
and left to go into rebellion, stand side
by side with Sherman and Grant. Then
will treason have been made reSpecta-
BILE, and all the blood and treasure so
freely laid upon our country'S altar
have been given tor naught.
West NirGinians, do not mistake the
issue. Ifthe Union men of the South
go down, we share their fate. If rebels
rule the South, Union men will be trod-
den to the earth. And II Copperhend
Congress, with n Legislature in our
State OF a like complexion, will place us
under the yoke of old Virginia. The
platform ut Chicago avOwed this as
their policy in 1864. 1t was echoed by
every orator on the stump, and the
shibboleth OF the party opposed to put
ting down the rebellion was every
where to speak of the restored govern
men and the new State as the bogus
government.
With the Union men of the South we
must stand or fall. Are we so ungrate-
full, so craven, so lost to all sense of
honor, as to desert our friends in tho
hour of their danger? They stood by
us and their country in the darkest
our armies and, side by side with us,
fought the monsters, slavery and seces-
sion, to the death. And will we! can
we! stand supinely by and see them
driven from their homes, or murdered
around their -hearthstones d? No! hu-
manity fOrbidS it. The recollection OF
all that they have suffered for one COM
mon cause should prompt us to stand
for their defense.
Then again, ask what shall be done?
Lot US stand as we have always done,
for our country and her friends. Lei
our delegation in Congress be as they
have always been, the friends of the
loyal man. And appealing to the great
North and West for aid, let our State
be found where she has always stood,
i'll the van, where the enemies of our
country are to be met, the first to res
pond when our friends are calling for
help. HANCOCK.