The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-08-18

assembled in the city Of Philadelphia, COM
posed of delegates from every State and
Territory in the Union, admonished by the
solemn lessons which for the last five years
it has pleased the Supreme Ruler of the
Universe to give to the American people,
profoundly grateful for the return of peace,
desirous, as are large majority Of their
countrvmen, in all sincerity, TO forget and
to forgive the past, revering the Constitu-
tOn as it came 10 us from our ancestors,
regarding the Union in its restoration as
more sacred than ever, looking with deep
anxiety into the future As Of instant and
continuing trial, hereby issues and pro-
claims the following declaration Of princi-
pies and purposes on which they have with
perfect unanimitv agreed:
lst. We hail with gratitude to AL
mighty God the end Of the war and the
return Of peace to an afflicted and beloved
land.
ID. The war Just closed has maintained
the authority OF the Constitution with all
the powers which it contcrs and all the
restrictions which it imposed upon the Ge-
neral Government, unabridged and unal-
tered, and il has preserved the Union with
tie equal rights, dignity, and authority of
the States perfect and unmpaired.
Sd. Representation in the Congress Of
the United States and in the electoral
college is a right recognized by the Con-
stitution as abiding in every State, and as
a duty imposed upon its people, funda-
mental in its nature and essential to the
existence Of our republican institutions,
and neither Congress nor the General Co.
vcrnment has any authority or power to
deny this right to any State or TO withhold
enjoyment, under the Constitution, from
the people thereof.
4th. We call upon the people Of the
United States to elect 10 Congress as mcIn-
bers thereof none but men who admit the
fundamental right Of representation, and
who will receive TO seats therein loyal
representatives from every State in allie
glance to the United States, subject to the
constitutional right of each House TO judge
Of the elections, returns, and qualifications
Of its own members.
5th. The Constitution of the United
States and the laws made in pursuance
thereof are the supreme law OF the land,
ANYTHING in the constitution or laws Of any
State to the contrary Notwithstanding. All
the power not conferred by the Constitu-
ton upon the General Government, nor
prohibited by il 10 the States, are reserved
to the States or to the people thereof; and
among the rights thus reserved to the
States is the right to prescribe qualitica-
tons for the elective franchise therein,
with which right Congress cannot inter.
fere. No State or combination of States
has the right to Withdraw from the Union,
or TO exclude through their action in Con-
gress or otherwise any other State or
States from the Union. The union Of
these States is perpetual, and its govern
ment is Of supreme authority, within the
restrictions and limitations Of the Consti-
tuition.
9th. Such amendment to the Constitu-
tion Of the United States may be made by
the people thereof as they may deem ex-
pedent, but only in the mode pointed ont
by its provisions and in proposing such
amendments, whether by Congress or by .
convention, and in ratifying the same, all
the States Of the Union have an equal and
indeieasible right to a voice and vote
thereon.
7th. Slavery is abolished and forever pro-
hibited, and there is neither desire nor
purpose on the part of the southern
States that it should ever be reestablished
upon the soil or within the jurisdiction OF
the United States; and the enfranchised
slaves in all the States Of the Union should
receive, in common with all their inhabi-
tants, equal protection in every risht oi
person and OF property.
sth. While We regard as utterly invahd,
and never TO be assumed or MADE OIL bihd-
ing force, any obligation incurred or under.
taken in making war against the United
States. we hold the debt Of the nation to
be sacred and inviolable, and We proclaim
our purpose to maintain unimpeached the
honor and the faith Of the Republic.
9th. II is the duty Of the National Go.
vernment TO recognize the services Of the
Federal soldiers and sailors in the contest
just closed, by meeting promptly oil their
just and rightful claims for the services
they have rendered the nation, and By ex-
tending TO those Of them who have fallen
the most generous and considerate care.
10th. In Andrew Johnson, President Of
the United States, who, In his great Office,
has proved steadfast in his devotion to the
Constitution, the laws, and interests OF his
country, unnoved by persecution and un-
sweryed by reproach, having faith unas-
sailable in the people, and In the prccepts
Of the Government, We recognise chief
magistrate worthy Of the nation and equal
to the great crisis upon which bin lot Is
east; and We tender 70 him, y ~ dis