Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1866-07-26
The johnson COnventiOn--At-
torney-General Speeds Letter
TO Mr.. DOOIttfle.
WASHINGTON, July Is, 1866.

To tie Hon: j. R Dooltttle, Chairman, dc.
SIR: have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt OF your note of the 10Th inst, with
printed copy of call for a National Union
Convention, to bo held at Philadelphia on
the 18th of August next. You request, in
case the call and the principles enunciated
| IN 1t 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 the principles
avowed in il; in other words, that a failure
to reply may be interpreted as disapproval
not only of the call, but of. each and all Of
the princi ,,les announced in it.
This is position in which am unwilling
to be placed, when l approve Of many Of
the principles set forth in the call, and yet
do not approve of the call itself will
briefly state my reasons: first promising
that | do not recognize the very respectable
gentlemen who have made this call az the
acknowl lodged organs of the great Union
party Of the country.
Since the outbreak Of the terrific strug.
gle from which the country has now emer-
ged, we have had National Union marty
that have exhibited more devotion, made
greater sacrifices, and manifested more un.
selfish patriotism than any party ever did
previously in the history of the world.
That party is still in being. with its or
ganlzatlon intact, and its organs known
and as that party, by its faith, its doctrines,
and It's exertlons, has, in the face of its
prophecies of half the New and all the Old
World, saved the Government and Republi-
can institutions Of our common country from
decentralization, and indeed from utter ruin.
by vindicating at all hazards the primordial
theory Of the eternal, indissoluble union of
the States, through which only can par
tlce of the theory of State rights ever. be
maintained and carried out; it would ap-
pear to me to be still the only one or at any
rate the most effectual means, as far as par
ty can do it, OF finally adjusting all the re-
naming minor and unsettled matters of re-
construction consistently with the require.
ments of the theory mentioned.
This party is the same to-day as it was in
the days Of its trial the same party now
as when, but few short months ago, it
elected Lincoln aud johnson, and the ma
Jorlty OF the present Congress; and as |
acted with 1t then, for paramount reasons,
my, sense OF duty demands that | remain
and act with it now
The ,pth and marrow of the present call,
| should say, tends toward a convention to
N''' Pu'tJ iol SustululUS, HDt tllC tNDFcr0-
ment in its entir, t las has been mission of
the Union party. but department Of the
Government. And hero | 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 becoming dislocated and broken
up by divisions, or that of one branch of
the Government of the country taking an
isolated position upon questions of deep and
common interest, and placing itself in hostile
conflicts with coordinate departments.
For these and other reasons which might
be mentioned, cannot join in the call for
the Convention in Philadelphia -...
have said that many of the principles
stated IN the call are, in my view, unoljec-
honabie. will not stop to criticise those
which are o6jectionabl, but content myself
with stating that the call fails to take any
notice OF one great issues now before the
American people. | allude to the question
whether the several States shall ratify or
reject the last amendment proposed by Con-
gress to the Constitution of the United
States This is grave and al-important
question. 81. .H,.F
The issue upon it cannot be avoided. 1t
should be placed fairly and squarely before
the people, The failure to take ground
upon so important and all-absorbing ones
tion must be attributed either to desire to
avert an issue,' or as declaration of belief
and policy against the adoption of the
amendment. Being myself earnestly and
decidedly in favor of the adoption of the
amendment by the States, | cannot go into
an organization that would either openly ep-
pose that measure or that would smother it
by avoiding its discussion.
L must also add that no man is more de-
sirous than am to attain the entire restor-
alton of the American Union, with its
practical workings in more perfect harmony
and concord than ever, and the surety, as
Tar as moral affairs can be made sure, of
endless perpetuity in the future. The bless
ings to flow from such Union are count
less and inestimable. But such Union,
consistent within itself, maintained by the
universal consent of all classes and sections,
and laughing to scorn both the assaults of
foes internal or external, and the ravages of
time and change, will only be obtained by
sternly retracting every departure from, or
compromise with, the supreme and general
idea Of the American fundamental law, the
Constitution. '
That general idea consists, in brief, of the
polical liberty and equality of mankind un-
der the law. Such, and such only, can be
the Union, the nationality, that will put in
form the magnificent and lofty dreams of
the. American continental mind and fulfill
in the future the highest efforts of the pres
ent and the past. 1t is not the vague delu-
sion that the rights of the States need doc
toring. The American theory eliminates
properly in the sacredness of the rights of
individuals-of each single individual. That
after all, is what Washington carved out
with the sword, and Jefferson, filtering it
through his subtle and freemind, drew up
and put on record with the pen.
1t is wellknown that in the political and
legal history of the United States, the only
departures or compromises Of the kind al
luded to have been those in the interest Of
slavery, and Of its manifold incidents.
do not, of course, propose to 60 over the
thousand. .times-told tale of the past 60 years.
TG day, slavery, as a confessed legality, lis,
as we all know, no more. But some Of the
most i'm portan. of its incidents or compro-
misses still remain--biots and incongruities
upon the law. What equitable reason can
be given why these incidents also should not
be erased? Time was that when the brains
we're out the man would die; but now We
see the limbs demanding to live and move,
as if the nervous center still existed.
The persistent attempt to keep. in the