Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-08-30
Call for fEae Soldiers and Sail
0rs' Convention.

The following is the call for the conven-
ton Of soldiers, which will be held at Cleve-
land, Ohio, September II, instead of Chi
cago, as heretofore announced:
To the Soldiers and Sailors who served in the Army
and Navy of the United States during the late re-
bellion:
In pursuance of a resolution of meeting
of soldiers now or lately in the Union army,
held in this city last evening, we invite
those who approve Of the restoration policy
of the President and the principles an
nounced by the National Union convention
at Philadelphia, to assemble at Cleveland,
on the 18th day of September next for
consultation on the momentous issues now
convulsing our country.
We need not argue to you at length the
Importance of these issues, nor your duty
to take part in their settlement. After five
years of fierce and destructive war, in
which our arms were gloriousiy triumph
ant, the Union for which we fought is still
practically unrestored Why is this? We
struggled to maintain the rightful suprem-
acy of the general Government; to conquer
all who il arms disputed its authority, and
tc make every rebellious citizen yield to its
laws. We held throughout the war that
the Union was indissoluble, and its powers,
as expounded by its courts, supreme that
no State can, at its own notion, withdraw
or at the will of its sister States, be ex-
GUIDED; and that the duty of each State to
maintain the Union, and its right to take
part in the Government, are also absolute.
Every object Of the war ever recognized
by or known to the army and navy has
been thoroughly achieved This Southern
people, decimated, impoverished, and sub
dued, have, for more than year past,
abandoned the rebellion, and now only ask
that the Union for which we fought may De
| recognized as existing, and that they may
be dealt with as the Constitution and laws
prescribe In their anxiety to restore the
Union, and bring harmony to its councils,
| they have gone beyond mere silent sub
mission to its laws. Through their dele
gates at the National Union Convention
| they solennly renowned the doctrines Of
notification and secession, from which the
war arose; repudiated the rebel debt; pro-
| claimed that the faith of the nation is
pledged to the continuance of bounties and
pension to loyal soldiers and sailors and
their families; declared slavery forever
abolished, and the freedman entitled to the
equal protection of law in person and pro-
perty with their former masters. Their
platform is rot only one of emphatic 10y
atty, but is, moreover, most liberal in spirit
ON all the great issues growing of the war.
The character of the men who represent
ed the Southern States in that convention
precludes US from believing this enuncia
ton Of principles to be insincere. They
sent to it their foremost statesmen men
who, like Rives, Graham, Orr, Parsons,
Sharkey, Houston. Brackenboro, Hunt
Manning and Stevens, were known though
out the land before the war as men of the
highest character and influence. Among
the five hundred delegates from the South,
there was not voice or vote dissenting
from the resolutions adopted by the conven-
ton. If the best of the Southern people
are ever to be believed, we must accept
these solemn declarations as sincere. We
do accept them as conclusive evidence That
a great majority Of the southern people,
sick of war and anarchy, and longing for
a restoration of free Government, are ready
to bear true allegiance to the Constitution
and laws Of the Union. We are, therefore,
unwilling TO see the Southern people held
longer in vassalage. They are our conn-
trymen--c citizens of the United States, who
have incurred penalties, but who have
rights. Those who willfully participated
Ia the rebellion, and who are unpardoned,
are subject to the penalties prescribed for
, treason; but though individuals may be
tried, convicted, and punished, communi-
ties cannot, nor can States, and their peo-
pie, without plain violation of the con-
stitution, be denied the right of represep-
tation, through men personally qualified, n
; the councils of the nation.
The intention Of Congress seems to be tc
deprive them of representation just so long
| "a ftc he re- bn p odf
Many assert that it will concede the right
whenever the constitutional amendment
shall have been adopted, and each pre-
scribed State shall have ratified it; but it is
quite certain that the amendment will moi
be ratified by three fourtLs of the States,
and therefore that it will not be adopted
Some, perhaps many, of the Northern
States will reject it, and we cannot expect
its legal ratification by any Of the lately
insurrectionary States. Ii there were no
other reason why the Southern States will
reject it, it is enough that it proposes to
disfranchise nearly all the men in the South
who have influence over the masses Of the
people. If none were to be disfranchised
except officers of the rebel army, we still
could not expect the South to adopt it; for a
large majority of men in the lately insur-
rectionary States, through compulsion or
choice, served in the rebel armies, and their
votes alone would overwhelmingly defeat it.
Would Union soldiers, to recover political
privileges, disfranchise their leaders, whom
they love and revere for their heroic vir-
tues? How, then, can we expect Southern
soldiers to disfranehise and degrade their
old commanders?
If there is no probability that the amend
ment will be ratified by three fourths of the
States, the plan of restoration which Con
gress appears to have determined on is at
best impracticable That proposed by the
President, and approved by the National
Union Convention, is feasible, and, we be-
lieve safe. We have no fear that the South
can ever overthrow the Federal Government,
or even disturb its career Of powec and
glory They will be the last Of the States
to rebel; and if they shall sgain rise in in
surrection the loyal people can and will
subdue, and, if need be, destroy them
The Government has asserted Its power for
self preservation, and the devastation and
misery of the South proclaim, to this gem
GRAFTON, at least, the crime and the terrible
penalties Of treason. Beholding their woes,
and contrasting their weakness and our
strength, we could afford to show the conf
dence and courage Of magnanimity. We
might well let cur vanquished opponents
arise. and, like James Fitzjames at Coilan-
togle Ford, staunch their wounds and for
give their treason.
But we are not asked to be magnanimous,
but only consistent and just. This we can
not refuse to be without violation of the
Constitution of our country, and risk Of its
ut er overthrow. We seek and will have no
association in political action with men,