New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-09-10
THE RADICAL CONVENTION.


The Jack Hamilton convention at Phila-
delphia does not seem to have answered the
expectations of Its contgivers. 1t was called,
originally, as a convention Of Southern sloy.
alists, with some vague and underlined object,
which was probably, topersuade the Northern
people that it was unsafe for the so-called
t'tTnionists to assemble IN a Southern city.
This, indeed was, for time, the burden o!
i all the speeches delivered by the Southern ora.
4 tors. The principal business Of Mr.. Durani
and Governor Brownlow seemed to be to prove
that they and their fellow loyalists were
not safe in the South AIR, Durant, rising tc
Il a flight Of fancy which must have been very
exhausting to him, drew moving picture o.
the wholesale slaughter of New Orleans
"Unionists, and depicted his nallow escape
! from an imaginary knife in the hands Of some
1 hypothetical rebel
On that memorable 30th Of July the sun
g rose maiesticaIly over the city of New Or
leans"-a phenomenon which the orator seem
then to have witnessed for the first time 'tA i
1 nature gloWed under his abounteous beams, ;,
and under this remarkable influence the
Queen City of the valley Of the Mississippi
became alternately 20 rich diamond in a
1nonarch's crown, and I. the brightest jewel
in the girdle of the republic" Mr.. Durant
then informed his astonished auditors that 'tno
/ indication in the heavens showed the dark
fatality which was to approach that day -
which is very likely, as the days of astronomi-
cal miracles are passed. But then Mr. Durant
night have extemporized solar eclipse or a
a5onday comet, if only for this occasion. 1t
would have added greatly totthe effect, with
out etraoting from the probability of his nar-
ratiye.
However as the sky did not eondescend to
give q sign, the Union citizen, in pursuit of
his business. avocations, went to his desk, his
workshop and ibis store J" and, we may re-
mark, that if the Union citizen had eontin-
ued to pursue his business aYocations, the
Union citizen you'd not have gotinto trou-
bic. But continues this highly imaginative
gentleman, If there was any thought Of APP
prehension Iii any man mind, it was imme-
diately sllenced, for there hoated the Ameri-
can flag over New Orleans, the guarantee Of
protection, and there stood the American gen
eral, with an American amy to shield TIE
American citizen if in peril The Union man
unnindful of harm, was purs4ine bis dailv
business of life; but Yl,.s.it was that sound
that smote upon bis ear? Did you not hear
III y vas like the gtided cry IF the distant
multitude. No, it was but the wind, Of the
car rafting Ger the stony street.
Having satisfied himself With this quiet
little mental quotation from Byron, the
Y Union citizen, who, We presume, must be
supposed to be M. Durant himself, faces
the flag that is protecting him again, and
then. for the moment, like sensible man, he
= turns once more to the business of the day"
Now, however, comes the climax This I'M
fortunate G Union citizen is destined to have
his nerves shattered on that eventfui day. He
would not consent to e pursue his ordinary
aYocations, I but insisted on being pursued by
infatuated policemen and phantom knives,
and so Mr.. Durapt proceeds with his harrow
ing description. : But bark, that heavy I
sound breaks in once more He starts He
listens more attenti9eiE Hark again. Nearer
than before that shout is heard The streets
IRE allied with the infatuated populaee A
Dand Of aasassins instho garb of policemen,
aeaded by that prince of murders, the mayor
# New Orleans (oheers and groanis, appears
i The streets to seek the long account of
vengeance H
Now, considering that New Orleans is five
niles long and q mile o. more broad, we may
estimate the aeuteness Of the hearing and |
sharp ness Of the vision Of the Union cit5-
ZEN who saw all these narrowing sights and
sounds !; especially when We remember that
5he disturbances were confined to an extent Of
about two squares. Nor can We fail to admire
the prodigious power of an imagination which
could see tho streets illea with an iriatetl
populaee,R and could translate the mayor from
his quiet office IN the City Hall TO theheadtsof.I
d band Of assassins." judiciously disguised as
policemen. 95.iif4fra,
/ HAfterthis there5was little left for the3use
thsother orators. Jack Hamilton was com
paratfyely tame and subdded, and Brownlow
could not rise To any higher flight bof fancy
tIlah that Of imagining himself pendent on 4
Nashville lamp post. And. thus, the Southe1n
delegates played 4 their concerted parts. But
with this theyfWere not satisfied, They went
ON toiahoW thattthe great grievance of which
IthedSautherna aoyalistsF have to complain is
that their fellow citizens viii not vote for
lthenl4 will not put them in office, which isi
extremely tlnlaaso nable considering that these
patriotic and tnseIfish siloyalistsa do not on
their showing amount to a tenth 81. the white
white population. Hence it happened that a
remarkable phenomenon marked the history
'ef this convention ia0 = 5#8; 8s
The Southern delegates insisted on com
pulsory negro suffrage, whilst the Northern and
border State delegations would not consent
to commit ri themselves on that point The con
Yyention was called, il is true, as, 81 meeting of
Southern i'loEalistsg Gaming Southern rad
iealefice7huntersr-but, whether they lacked
even sufficient responsibility for q radical con-
yentions or whether it was feared that their
gagaries might iniure the party, the North
sent delegates to the meeting who tried to
restrain the ardor Of their Southern brethren. |
The consequence was that Speed was attacked I
with 4 asuddan fittof deeannx, haoa,,,1, 49,,