Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-08-23
Address to the Soldiers and Sailors.

sNo'sN
Army and Navy Of che United States during
the late rebellion:
In pursuance of resolution of meet
ing of soldiers now or lately in the Union
army, held In this city last evening, we in
vite those Of you who approve the restora-
tion policy of the President and the prinei-
pies announced by the National UnionC Con-
VentiOnr at Philadelphia, TO assemble at
Cleveland on the 18th day of September
next, for consultation on the momentous
issues now convulsing our country, We
need not avow " you at length the import
ance of the issues, nor our duty to take
part I'M their settlement. After five years
Of fierce aud destructive war, in which our
arms We're gloriously triumphant, the
Union for which we fought is still prac-
struggled to maintain the rightful suprem-
acy OF the General Government, to conquer
all who in arms disputed its authority, and
to make every rebellious citizen yield to
its laws. 5..,a ..r. t-l ~ 90 a..
We held throughout the war f., that the
Union is indissoluble, and its power, as ex-
pounded by its courts, supreme; that no
/ State can of its own motion withdraw, or
at. the will of its sister States be excluded,
and that the duty of each State to maintain
the Union, and its right to take part In the
Government are alike absolute. Every
object of the war, ever recognized by or
known to, the army and navy, has been
thoroughly achieved. The Southern peo-
pie, decimated, Impoverished and subdued,
have for more than Ii year past abandoned
the rebellion, and now only ask that the
Union for which we fought may be recog-
nized as existing, and that they may be
dealt with as the Constitution and laws
prescribe. In their anxiety to restore the
Union and bring harmony to its councils,
they have gone beyond mere silent sub
mission to It's laws. Through their dele
gates at the National Union Convention,
they solemnly renounced the doctrines of
notification and secession, from which the
war arose; repudiated the rebel debt, and
declared of sacred obligation the National
debt; proclaimed the faith OF the nation
pledged to the continuance of bounties and
pensions to loyal soldiers and sailors, and
their families; declared slavery forever
abolished. and the freedmen entitled to
equal protection of the law in person and
property with their former masters. 40. d..
Their platform is not only one of en-
phatic loyalty, but is, moreover, most lib
eral in spirit on all the great issues grow
ing out of the war. Tue character of the
men who represented the Southern States
in that Convention. precludes us from be-
lieying this enunciation of principles to
be insincere. They sent to it their fore
most statesmen-men who, like Reeves,
Graham, Orr, Harrison, Sharkey, Houston,
Brockenborough, Hunt Manning and
Stephens, were known throughout the land
before the war as men of the highest char
acter and influence. Among the five hum
dred delegates from the South, there was
not voice or vote dissenting from the res
olutions adopted by the Convention. If the
best of the Southern people are ever to be
believed, we must accept these solemn dec
larations to be sincere. We do accept them
as conclusive evidence that great majOri-
ity of the Southern people, sick of war and
anarchy, and longing for restoration of
free government, are ready to bear true al
legiance to the Constitution and laws of the
Union. We are, therefore, unwilling to see
the Southern people held longer in vassal-
age They are our countrymen, citizens
Of the United States, who have incurred
penalties, but who have rights.
! Those who wilfully participated in the re-
bellion, and are unpardoned, are subject to
the penalties prescribed for treason; but
though individuals may be tried, convicted
and punished. communities can not nor can
the States and their people, without a plain
of the Constitution, be denied the
right of representation, through men per-
qualified, in the councils of the ma
tion. The intentiOnof Congress seems to be
10 deprive them of representation just so
long as it suits the purpose of the Radical
party. Many assert that 1t will concede the
right whenever the Constitutional Amend
mept shall have been adopted, and the pre-
scribed number of States shall have ratified
it.; but it is quite certain. that the amend
ment will not be ratified by three-quarters
of the States, and, therefore, that itwillnot
be adopted. Some, perhaps many, of the
Northern States will reject it; and we can
not expect its legal ratification by any Of
the lately insurrectionary States.
If there were no other reasons why the
Southern States will reject it, it is enough
that it proposes to disfranchise nearly all
the men in the South who have influence
over the masses of the people. If none
were to be disfranchised except officers of
the rebel army, we still could not expect
the South to adopt it, for large majority
of men In the lately insurrectionary States,
through compu sion or choice, served in the
rebel armies, aud their votes alone would
overwhelmingly defeat il. Would Union
soldiers, to recover political privileges, dis
franchise their leaders, whom they love
and revere for their heroic virtues? How,
then, can we expect Southern soldiers to
and degrade their old com
there is no possibility that
fourths of the States, the plan of restoration
which Congress appears to have determined
on Is at best impracticable.
That proposed by the President and APP
proved by the National Convention is teas
ible, and, we believe, safe. We have no
fear that the South can overthrow the Fed
eral Government, or even disturb Its career
of power and glory. They will be the last
of the States to rebel, aud If they shall
again rise in insurrection, the loyal people
can and will subdue, and, If need be, de-
stroy them. The Government has asserted
its power for self preservation, and the de-
vastation and misery of the South proclaim
to this generation. at least, the crime and
the terrible penalties Of treason. Behold
ing their woes and contrasting their weak
ness and our strength, we could afford to
show the confidence and courage of mag
nanimity. We might well let our vanquish
ed opponents arise, and, like James Fltz-
James at Cailantogle Ford, staunch their
wounds and forgive their treason. But we
are not asked TO be magnanimous, but only
consistent and just.
This we cannot refuse, without a viola
tion of the Constitution of our country and
a risk of its utter overthrow. We seek and
will have no association in political action
with men, North or South, who are not
avowedly and in our opinion sincerely
faithful to the constitutional principles for
which we fought; but if men who have
taught or practiced treason now openly
renounce their errors and maintain with US
the true principles of our Government,
we shall not reject their cO-0peration.-
When the destruction of the Union and
the preservation of our form of Govern