The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-07-20
Qbe gate Gitp.
Hts Recent Wastsslv 1Aply - the Invt-
tation from the Dsslittls.RaAAanD Dis
organizers. sa

His Recent Msstsslv 1splyfs The Invs.
tation from the Dsslittls-RaAaan Dis.
erganixers. ssa
WAsHIsaros, July Is.
The reply Of Attorney General Speed t.
the circular of the Doolittle Randall Club
demanding his endorsement Of the Philadel
phia Convention, is document which the
gentlemen of that organization will make nc
particular effort to circulate, the more par
tcularly a. it contains sound Union doctrine
eloquently and vigorously expressed. 1t il
as follows;
"WAsHIsGroE, July Is.
Hos. ]. R. DooLITTLE, Chairman, etc.:
"DEAR SRI have the honor to acknowl
edge the receipt of your note of the 10th
inst, with printed copy Of call for Ma.
tional Union Convention, TO be held at Phil
adelphia, on the 14th day of August next.
You request, in case the call and the princi-
pies enumerated in it meet my approval, that
! reply at my earliest convenience. This
language would seem to imply that no answer
is desired if do not approve the call and all
the principles announced in it. This is po-
sition in which am unwilling to be placed,
when | approve of many Of the principles set
forth in the call, and yet do not approve OF
the call. | will briefly state my reasons
First, promising that / do not recognize the
very respectable gentlemen who have made
this call as the acknowledged organs of the
great Union party Of this country. Since the
outbreak of the terrific struggle from which
the country has Just now emerged, we have
had National Union party that has exhibited
more devotion, made greater sacrifices, and
manifested more unselfsh pasriotism than
any party ever did previously in the history
fNf ha ell hat, pfvp h<,,.
with its organizations intact and its objects
known, and as that party by its faith, its doc
trines and its actions has, in the face Of the
population of half the new world and the old
world, saved the government and republican
institutions of our common country from
decentralization, and indeed from utter ruin,
by vindicating at all hazards the primoreial
theory of the eternal, indissoluble Union OF
the States, through which only can particle
of the theory of State rights ever be main
tanned or carried ont, it would appear to me
to be still the duty, or st any rate the most
etfectual means, as far rs party can do it, Of
finally adjusting all the remaining minor and
unsettled matters of reconstruction, consci-
entiously with the requirements Of the theory
mentioned. This party is the same to day as
it in the DAYS Of its trial; the same party
now ms when, but few short months ago, it
elected Lincoln and johnson aud the majority
Of the present Congress, and as | acted with
II then for paramount reasons, my sense of
duty demands that | remain and act with it
now.
The pith and marrow Of the present call
should say tends toward convention to form
party for sustaining that government IN its
entirety, as has been the mission oil the Union
party, but department of the government
and here must take the liberty of adding that
/ can hardly conceive of any sadder spectacle
under the crisis OF present circumstances, than
that of the tried Union party oil this country
becoming dislocated or broken up by division,
or that one branch ofthe government or the
country taking an isolated position upon
questions of deep and common interest, and,
placing itself in hostile conflict with co ordi-
nate~departments. For these and other res.
sonNwhich might be mentioned, | cam OF
join in call for the Convention in Philadel
phia. have stated that some of the princi-
pies stated in the call are in my view unexcep-
nonable- ! will no, stop to critleise those
which are Objectionable, but content myself
with stating that the call fails TO take any no. |
tice OF one Of the great issues now before the |
American people. | allude to the question |
whether the several States ratify or reject.the |
last amendment proposed by Congress to the |
Constitution of the United States. lhisis the |
gave ana all-important question. he issue
upon il cannot be avoided. 1t should be |
placed fairly and equally before the people. |
The failure to take ground upon SO important |
aud all absorbing question must be attrib- |
uted either to a desire to avoid the issue or
as a declaration Of belief Being myself |
earnestly and decidedly in favor of the adop |
ton of the amendment by the States. ! can
not go into an organization that would either |
openly oppose that measure aud that would |
smother ii by avoiding its discussion. must
also add that no man is more DESTROYS than ! |
am TO see the entire restoration of the Amer
lean Union, with its practical working in more
perfect harmony and concord than ever, and |
the surety as far Nc ortal affairs can be made
srre, Of endless perpetuity in the future. The |
blessings to follow from such an union are
countless-inestimab Such an union, con |
sstent with itself, maintained by the univer-l
sal consent of all classes and sections, and
laughing to scorn both the assaults of foes |
internal and external, and the rasages Of
time changes, will only be obtained Or com
promised with the supreme and general idea
Of the American fundamental law-the Con |
stitution. That general idea consists in be- |
half of the political liberty and equality Of
mankind, under the law. Such, and such on |
Is. can be the reunion. the nationality that
will put in form the megniieens and lofty |
dreams of the Amerieancontinent mind. and |
present and the past, 1t is not the vague de- |
las.on Of tbs rights Of the States, No dec |
laration Of the American theory eliminates
properly that does not assert the soundness of
the rights oil Indivl inals-of each single in
diyidual. That after all is what Washington
carried out with his sword, and Jefferson Ill
tered il through his subtle and free mind, I
and drew up and put on record with his pen.
1t is well known that in the political and \
lcya history OF the United States the only !.
departures OF compromises OF the KIND al I
luded TO have been those in the interests of
slavery aud of its manifold incidents do
not, OF course. propose to go over the thous
aud times told tale Of the past sixty years.
To-day slavery, as confessed legality, is, US
we all know, nominal; but some Of the most
important of its incidents and compromises /
still remain blots and incungruities upon the
law. What equitable reason could be gwen
why these incidents, also, should not he era- |
sed2 Time was when the brains were QUIT |
man would de but now We see the limbs
remaining live aud move as If the nervous
center yet existed. The persistent attempt to
keep in the constitution the rule OF an unequal
basis of representation, is perilous TO the
fntare pAce of the country, and will
surely cause a chatting sense of injustice as
long as il is continued. Furthermore, the
high mission of the Union party, as asowed
in the Baltimore Conversion. 10 exhrpnte
slavery, includes the removal of the hateful
and antl-popular excrescences engraNed by
that institution for its own selfish aggrandize-
ment upon our free National laws and policy.
The high mission and obligation cannot be
accomplished until all which slavery has en-
grated is cut out, for until then slavery is not
extirpeted.
Earnestly sympathizing with the men who
look to law Of equal representation as the
only guaranty, both for popular rights and
popular acquiescence, gould feel myself ont
of place in party that forms . basis Of rep
resentation giving peculiar aud uprishteons
advantages to portion OF the body poiitsc to
the detrimeni and dissatisfaction of the whole.
Uniting with you and oil good mea in the
soul-felt desire that peace, prosperity and
that amicable brotherhood which 10 more than
any worldly prosperity, may soon prevail and
continue unbroken through our beloved com
mon cuuntry that former enmities shalt die
out and be forever lost, and that all over the
broad domain OF America equal laws shall
nrofecf enuai rights TO all mankind,-f have