The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1867-09-21
letter from Schuyler COlfax.

The following letter from Hon. Schuyler
ColElx, in response to the invitation to at
tend the Border State Convention, held in
Baltimore, last week, was addressed to John
l. Thomas, and its publication has been de-
layed by Mr.. Thomas absence:
SoUrm BEND, Ind, Sept. T, 1867.
Dear Sir :-Returning home from a visit
to the copper and iron mines of the Lake
Superior REGION, find letter asking me TO
attend the Border State Convention, on the
18th INST, from the Chairman of the Repub'
Ican Union Committee OF your State
Win You please explain to the Convention
t at am unable to be present, having prom
red to speak in various parts OF Ohio.
| shall watch the proceedings of yonr
Convention with the deepest interest. The
country scarcely realizes how sorely tried are
t .e faithful Union men of the Border States,
e pecally those Of Maryland, Delaware and
kentucky, the States Of West Virginia, Ten
ne see aud Missouri being administered nm
dr. happier auspices. When in kentucky
lat Juue, just before the meeting OF Con,
,r.eg3, was panied and saddened at what
h ard from IFS most reliable citizens, of the
acro"ant and dominecring conduct OF tho
d ,minant Rebel sentiment there, and 1t con
ynced me that the House of Representa-
lives should at least inquire, as in July it re
solved to do into what kind of constituent
C na had elected the Representatives. sent to
the National Councils.
AT the same session, although some o.
O II friends hcsitatcd when Mr.. Kelsey, Ct
Now York. offered his resolution instruct
ing the Judiciary Committee to inquire il
Maryland, Delaware and Kentucky had ne
publican State governments, so that the
tie on scconding the previous question was
a., | iha vote n tho n tlirma.
tige, because honestly thought it was a
most important and most timely inquiry
Ii is time to settle what is ga republican
government" Ifastate which enfranchises
by the tens of thousands every man who
bore arms to destroy the nation, and along
with them every man who took official oaths
Of ALLEGIANCE to n so.called government,
which could only exist on the ruins of the
republic, and at the same time DISTINGUISHES
by the tens of thousands other men who are
free citizens of the United States, and un.
mistakably loyal if such State has re.
publican government / would like some
learned jurist to inform us what would be
an anti .republican government.
If State where loyalty is made odious,
and devotion to the Union in its darkest
hours of trial. is punished by ostracsm, out.
rage ana dishonor, and the bitterest enmity
anu bloodiest hostility to the Republic is
the surest passport to social distinction, 10
public honor, and to official trust; if tn t
kind of government is one that the United
States is to guarantee-and that means to
secure, to indorse, to protect-our revolu-
tonary fathers must have sadly misunder.
stood the meaning OF the language. they
placed so solemnly and emphatically in the
Constitution. will not insult their mem.
cries by believing it,
I have the fullest faith that Congress,
which has dared to defy Rebel hate and
Executive obloquy and reviling, will not al.
low such conduct to pass unrebuked. 1t is
their duty to protect loyal men everywhere,
and they will do it. Sneered at and de
nounced for sending investigating commit.
tees South when the Presidents policy had
ripened into that horrid crop of riots, out.
RACES and massacres legislation which grew
out of these Investigations has been Endorsed
since by all who love loyalty and abhor Re-
bellion, throughout the land; and though
their first duty when they reassemble will
be to determine whether the recent Execu.
tive action--so aagrantly defiant of the will
Of the people, and so notoriously at the de-
mand Of unrepentant traitors-does not re.
ouire them to present the President at the
bar of the Senate, as an enemy of the coun.
try in his persistent revivifoation of the
spirit of rebellion; an enemy ofapeace in
his persistent obstruction to reconstruction
by law, and persistent defer of the ex
pressed will Of the nation, yet / cannot
doubt that they will also execute that con
stitutonal guarantee so wisely and so thor
oughly that, hereafter Union men in tn,
Border States, as elsewhere, shall realiz'
that devotion to the country has not brough
upon them dishonor, tyranny and oppres
sion, but that throughout the whole Repnb
lie every one who has proven his love ofth
Union and who rejoces in its preservation
shall be adequately protected against al
enemies by the power OF the land he helpe'
to save. SCHUYLER CoLFAx.
nED sACKING, for sale by ;. ,n