The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-07-28
Southern Unien Convention.

Texas, Col. STOKES, of Tennessee,
and other true men, have called
Convention of the Union men of the
Southern States to meet on the first
Monday in September They have
been driven to this course by the
character of the delegations which
will come up from the South to the
JOHNSON Philadelphia meeting, and
the treatment they are receiving at
the hands of the President and his
special friends in the South. The
delegates to the JOHNSON Convention,
now being selected in the South, are
well known rebels, many of them
prominent in the late Confederate
army and Congress. They are not
the men to represent the loyal senti-
ment of that section of the. country.
1t was expected at the close of the
war that men who had proved true to
the countrywide had endured the
persecution of the rebels, and who
had fought in the Union army
would be the men at the South who
should receive the special favor
and confidence of the Government.
But how different is the state of affairs
in that section to-day. With the ex-
ception of Tennessee and Arkansas,
where the Union men cling with te-
nacity to the lease of authority, which
must soon be given up even there if the
Presidents policy is successful, in no
other Southern State can the Union
men claim to have any authority,
q, voice in the administration of pub
lie affairs. The State governments
are as much in the hands of the rebel
leaders as they ever were in the palm
lest days of secession. And these are
the men whom the President is urg
ing to come up to Philadelphia and
unite their councils in plan for war
fare against Congress and the Union
party of the country.
But it is not now a question as to
the right of the loyal men of the
South to the control of public affairs,
or part in them, but it is becoming
a question as to their peaceable en-
joyment of their homes among the
rebels. So far from treason being
made odious," the reverse is now
true, and none are more heartily de-
spised, and ostfaeised from the SYM
pathy and favor of Southern society,
than the men of the South who were
true to the country during the rebel
lion, and who now adhere to Congress
and the Union party of the North.
The term Radical is now as much a
title of reproach as Abolitionist was
before the war. And no influence
has been so strong to bring about
this result as the policy and spirit
manifested during the past twelve
months by ANDREW JOHNSON.
In view of the meeting of the Con-
federate Convention at Philadelphia,
and the state of affairs in the South,
it was eminently proper that the true
loyalists of the Southern States
should come together, and re-
demonstrate against the conduct of
these men, make known their views
and wishes, and identify themselves
with the Union party of the country.
We are gratifed with this movement,
especially for the reason that it is an
important step towards the organiza-
ton of party in the Southern States
identical in principles and names with
the great party which controls the loyal
States and Nation. We do not be-
lieve that there can be any true peace
and hearty unity of action in
the country, till the principles
of te Union Republican party
pervade the whole nation, North
and South. They were the princi-
pies at issue in the war, and they are
the principles which must be accepted
throughout the country before we can
have the Government established on
the sure foundations of equal rights
before the law. We therefore hail
the movement of these Southern 10y
alists as an omen for good to the
South, and for the nation. We have
already published the views Of Gov.
HAMILTON, and to-day we present
; our readers with strong letter from
Gen. CAN'T, of Arkansas. Such
men as these can find no sympathy il
the company of Southern rebels, o.