Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-09-25
The Cleveland Convention,
ADDRESS TO THE SOLDIERS AND
SAIL.OItS OF THE UNION.

At the session Of the Soldiers and Sailor.
Convention at Cleveland, on Tuesday, Gen
GEORGE p. ESTE, from the committee on ad
dress, read the following which was &C
cepted and adopted:
Fellow-Soldierg and Sailors Of the Army ans
More than fifteen months have elapsed
since you were released from the service and
permitted 20 return 10 your homes, with the
assurance Of the country that your work was
done, and that the rebellion was substantial
~ suppressed. For four years. on the ocean
and in fields stretching froIn Gettysburg to
New Orleans, you had fought in order 20 re-
store the integrity Of the nation, and you
rested from your tolls with the conviction
that il only remained for statesmen 10 riYet
the broken bands which you had laid to-
gether. You knew that their task required
wisdom and deliberation; but you had a
right 10 expect that like your own, il would
be taken up promptly and conducted with
singleness OF purpose. You had yourselves
leii party ties behind when you marched to
the field and thenceforth knew only your
country. You had right 10 demand that.
in the peaceful completion Of your work,
they would follow your example. You ex-
pected that those who had called upon you
70 suppress, not Only n revolution, bat the
spirit Of revolution, and 10 vindicate the
violated law, would set a new example 10
the nation, by strict adherence 20 their own
constitutional powers, a revival Of the old
spirit Of sacred obedience 10 law, and a sterE
forbearance to usurp in the hour Of tempta-
tion. You expected, and, after the perform
anees Of such services, you had peculiar
right 10 demand, that your successors in the
work Of restoration should not only devise
measures which should be Just, but propose
them at season when they should be prac-
ticable, and that by means ofthese measures,
the people Of the South should long since
have been subjected 10 all the penalties
which the vindication Of the law demanded,
and brought back to the performance Of all
their duties TO this nation, and 10 a real par
ticipation in its life.
For more than year you have looked on
in silence, and the work for which you pro-
vided, the opportunity has not yet been
done. Your Successors have acted neither
wisely nor in season. That which might
have been well and justly accomplished, if
proposed at the proper time, has been made
iDpracticable by delay; and a condition
which il would have been Of doubtful wis
dom 10 impose a any time is at last imposed
when il is too late. After yob had been
withdrawn from the field because you had
annihilated the power Of your opponents 10
disObey their government an entire year
was added 10 their already long estrange-
ment from IL before any conditions Of return
we're offered TO them and, when these con-
ditions were at last announced, they con-
tanned terms which proposed TO make the
arrangement Of large part Of our popua-
zion perpetual. The youth OF the South,
who had never known, when the rebellion
commenced, what il was 10 share in the du-
ties and business Of national citizens, have
grown 30 manhood andinhuence in its affairs,
and still are strangers in their own land,
excluded from the instruction which might
make them patriots. The union Of these
States, for which these partiz2ns deemed
your lives not too great price, is yet as in
complete as when you marched home, and
bY their measures its restoration is still in
definitely postponed. They say TO you, "If
our terms are not accepted by the South we
can wait" It becomes therefore, your pc
culiar duty, since you prepared the ground
for this final work, 10 inquire how it has
been DONE and consider whether it is wise |
or safe TO wait. Meantime, while you de-
termine whether to wait or move on, i is |
INDISPENSABLE MfaL &c AikfENGn Yourselves IN |
a position Of impregnable facts.
The power Of the National Government |
over the affairs Of its insurgent citizens ex-
oept for purposes of Judicial punishment, is |
purely OF belligerent character, and It's be- |
ligerent right concerning them is included |
in. while Il is also limited by one Of the |
grants Of the Constitution. The Govern |
ment Is authorized TO suppress instruction |
by military means, and these include all |
belligerent functions and capacities which |
may be necessary for that end. In theexer- |
else Of It's necessary belligerent rights, tits as
competent to require Of its insurgent citizens |
~ il would be ola foreign enemy, not only |
the laying down Of arms, but the surrender /
Of every position which threatened a renew
al Of the conflict. The right is perfect and /
complete Tor is purposes, but it is limited /
by its purpose. The Constitution directs /
that armies and belligerent law shall be |
used for the suppression Of insurrection. |
With this complete suppression, which in |
cludes the prevention Of a renewed, the legiti- |
mate application Of compulsion to their fu.
ture course as communities must cease. Il |
is not true that, in case Of war, this Govern |
ment acquires all the beligercnt rights |
known 10 international law. IL has only 50
much Of that kind Of right over its own |
people rs il finds embodied in its own Con-
stitn;ion. Il derives from this source so |
much as is necessary in suppressing insur-
rection, and this does not include the right !
to take and hold lis rebeliious citizens and
their territory as a conquest IL is author
lied 20 employ war 20 vindicate its old title |
10 allegiance, not 20 acquire a new one.
In accordance with this rule, the Presi- |
dent, as commander-in-chief, compelled the |
insurgents, after they had laid down their !
arms, 10 abolish by their local laws the in |
stitution Of slavery, the agitation Of which |
had been the cause Of this war, and might |
be cause Of another; 10 declare null and |
void their acts Of secession, which had been |
part Of their belligerent action, and until re- |
scinded, embodied claim which threatened |
future conflict; and, finally, to repudiate |
their war debts, recognition Of which would |
have been hostile act, vindicating the le- |
gitimacy of instruction and threatening its |
renewal. The Institution Of slavery, the or |
finance Of secession, and the maintenance |
Of an insurreciionary war debt were strictly |
hostile positions, and threatened a possible |
renewal Of the war. Until they should be !
surrendered there could be no complete |
surrender Of the belligerent attitude of the
insurgent communities Of the South. There |
fore the commander-in-chief, clothed with |
the double functions Of military command
and OF the civil execution Of the laws Of the
Union, compelled this surrender and at this
point the belligerent power Of the National
Government, the power TO apply compul-
sion in any form 80 the political future Of
the lately revolted States, was exhausted.
The legitimate aud restricted use Of COM
pulsion appeared to accomplish the desired
end. It is true that the subdued and i'm
poyerished people Of the South did not and
could not az once pass from hostility to
friendship. Their homes were darkened
with sorrow, which no sense Of error could
mitigate their fields we're cemeteries, their
farms were the burnt path Of our armies
and they could not love us in the midst Of
their desolation. But they knew that the
issue Of the appeal 10 arms had been deter
mined forever against them they saw that
they had lost by war what they had attempt
ed by war 10 save; they had suffered too
much 20 dream Of renewing the strife and,
seeing no future before them but that Of oiti-
sens of the United States, they were ready
90 return 10 their allegiance, as defined 70
them anew by the event Of the struggle
When Congress first assembled they had ao-
quired temper towards the National Gov
eminent as healthy as ]; vas possible for any
,,eopla 10 attain aller such a conhicl and