The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-10-18

Dr1Dant past ta, we trust, Dub tue 0efheSt Ot u
glorious futures the representativessJn convention
assembe cd, Of that portion Of your body politic
winch by an invidious distinction Incorporated in
your organ Q law, is debarred, save under onerous
conditions, from the exercise OF our indefeasi Jle
rignt-the elective rancnise-salute you in The name
In these sacred names we convratulate you that
the civil war, which for four years had oonvuleed
the land, has terminated IN the disoomhture OF
supremacy OF the Federal Union. Esto perpetud!
We congTatu ate you also that, in the providence
of God the nation emerges from the Gery ordeal OF
battle with frmer belief in human rights and a
higher conception Of social duties-seainR IT'S deyo
tion to the of human freedom by the sacrifice
of its best blood and demonst ang its sincerity by
the emancipation of its bondmen.
Sharing, as we believe you DO, In this nationS,
hasten to illustrate the motto of your State by
breaking the shackles of caste so unworthy OF you,
lation of the State to higher embodiment OF con-
stitutional liberty. We deeply sympathize with
You for the bereavement and desolation in many
home, caused by the absence of your gallant dead,
who fell battlingn against treason, or yielded up
their lives prisoners of war, beneath the endish
For now, in the hour of thanksgiving and chas-
tened exultaton, having cheeriuly borne our aliot-
common risk, We TOO, can point with honest pride
to honorable and mutilations received in the
defense of constitutional government the only
safeguard of our common liberties.
We too, have sacred memories of our departed
brave, whose mangled forms are mingled with the
soil OF many battlefield. whereon they died, fight.
ing beneath the starry flag whose folds now proudly
wave supreme throughout the land. Ihese scars,
these mutilations, and these memories irrefragIbe
proofs of manhoods noblest duty fully done and
pledges for its future performance being impre-
scriptibly ours, and our postertys forever do but
bind us the more firmly to the rest of our fellow
citizens Tor whom and with whom we have stiug-
Rled, endured, and trlumphed.
AS native born Americans, we feel it to be our
duty to act as soldiers in war, as natveborn Ameri
cans we believe u to be our night to act as citizens
cooperating, through appointed instrumentalites
in making them. For we believe that governments
tnEf ftrfn dOn1 fnR hA nFn tim
individual rights and derive their Just Lower from
the content of the governed. Wehold with Mon
tesquieu that Gin a free state every man who is
supposed to be a free agent ought to be concerned
In his own government; therefore, the legislative
or their representatives." and weafirm that society
can neither justly ignore our rights, nor absOlve
us from our duties.
Coming together, therefore, on this occasion TO
consult as TO what measures are best calculated to
further the varied interests of fifty thousand of your
population--fve thousand five hundred of whom
went forth to battle in defense of the Union, aud
five thousand OF whom are voters, Notwithstanding
dscr,minatve constitntionaI rconrements siiIte ab
surd and iDiui ious-we deem it our duty to make
this solemn appeal in their behalf, to those of our
telow-ctizens in whom the law of the State virtu-
ally vests monopoly Of Its rights and immunities,
and TO ask OF you as measure OF justice, to remove
the hindrances which partial legislation has thro
in the way of our progress and development
Fellow:citzens of the Empire state, your Consti-
tqlion arms that I'VE the people q the state OF
dom in order to secure Its blessings, do esta Dsh
this Constitution We therefore would urge you,
irrespective of party to manifest your gratitude to
God, and your appreciation of the inviolabe char
acter Of the freedom He has bestowed upon you,
by no longer withholding from us a tull and free
participation in its blessings.
We charge you, before Him whose name you
invoke, that to deprive any citizen of the State, of
lawful age, of sound mind, and unconvicted of
crime of the right to vote Is VOCATION OF the
dinal principle of the American theory Of govern
zens, your Constitution provides larticle thirteen
section two) that, "At the general election to be
hnIH IN Unn
tion TO the Cons itution and amend the sameP
shall be decided by the electors qualified to vote for
member re- of the Looisature.r
You are, therefore, about to be called 10 decide
whether SAID Convention for the purposes specified,
sa We ou S enea yo by Sos
to cause that Convention to be held We are
aware 1haI ansTe are of opr state Copstuon al
this time is desrabe reasons which, re ang as they
do to the better regulation OF our metropolitan Gov
ernment and the purer administration of JUSTICE
appreciate of the hest importance TO the gene
raj veal; still the interest OF the fifty thousand
whom we represent. depending upon the oDportu,
an equal participation In the rights and immunites
OF citizenship, paramount to every other present
consideration. In The event of its beng made q
party question, it alone will determine how the votes
which we now possess shall be cast.
In conclusion, fellow-citizens, we would say that
we have endeavored to address you, not as part
Men, high-minded men,
Men who their duties know;
as such ask you to see the coming occasion, and
TO rem odel the State so that
Sovereign law, that States collected will,
Sit empress crowning good, repressing i'll,
and dispensing equal and exact justice to every
citizen So shall you vindIcate those imperishable
July 1776 your representatives IN Congress assem-
bed-William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis
Lewis and Lewis Morrs-piedged for themselve:
and you their lives, their fortunes and their sacred
honor IN, Y. Herald.