Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1867-08-22

nidious giant, and stood before the aston
shed fisherman as the genius Of destruc-
lion.
The demon of rebellion had been !
iwarfed, ENGAGED, and sealed with the
blood of loyal hearts; but our sworn ex-
ecutive had the temerity to break the
seal, and the black monster, full of re-
sentiment and the spirit of persecution,
again was abroad in the land.
In consequence of this rash act the
Union men were prosecuted with relent-
less vigor. In all the insurrectionary
States they were absolutely at the mercy
of their defeated enemies. All the local
Governments fell into rebel hands, and
they swayed their power as an iron rod.
In vain the loyal citizen looked to the
national Government for support, for that
Government could only reach them
through the executive arm, and that arm
absolutely refused to do the will of the
Government, but, on the contrary, per-
sisted in opposing that will. The rebels
saw the dilemma of the Union men, and
they laughed him to scorn. They trod
him under their feet. They took the
bread he was offering his wife and chill
dren and drove him out to starve. Thous-
and of mechanics and other laborers
were forced oleave their Southern homes
with the grim spectre of poverty upon
their track. Children were ridiculed
out of school because their parents
had been opposed to confederate authori-
ties. The cold shoulder was given to 10y
alists i'm society, in business, in the church;
Justice could not be had in courts presi-
ded over by rebel magistrates. But these
conquered rebels, resuscitated by the
Presidents policy, did not stop at mere
negative measures. They were active in
their prosecutions. All over the South
Union men were maltreated, murdered,
shot down in broad daylight, without
any redress. Arson went hand in hand
with murder; dwellings, school houses,
and churches were ruthlessly given to
the flames, and the terrified inmates
butchered i'm the attempts to escape the
confiagations. The Memphis riots are
fresh in your memories. The hundereds
of horrors perpetrated elsewhere, coming
to us so well attested as to leave no room
for doubt, are not yet forgotten.
These prosecutions of loyal men by the
friends of slavery and enemies of law un-
der the encouragement of the nations
chief magistrate, reached their zenith on
the thirtieth of last July.
The loyal men of Louisiana finally deter
mined to make an effort to restore law
and order. Their State Government had
been destroyed in 1851 by the convention
which had so changed the Constitution
as to make it repugnant to that of the
General Government. That convention
had stricken out of the instrument the
words United States" and inserted
Confederate States, and required all
officers to swear allegiance to the State of
Louisiana and the Confederate States of
America. In the eye of the Federal Con-
stitution, Louisiana was thus deprived
of it's position as State of the republic,
for it could not be at the same time in
union and opposition. In 1S64a attempt
was made to make a new Constitution,
but the instrument prepared was not
submitted for ratification to the whole
people. In 1866, when the oppression of
the defeated enemy had become intolera-
BILE, call was made for the convention
of 1864 to reassemble, with representa-
tives from every parish, to complete its
work, to be submitted for approval to the
| whole people. Asit had adjourned subject
tocall; and as the people had the undoubt-
| ed right to make their own organic law
to be submitted to Congress with petit
| ton for the admission of Louisiana into
the Union as new State, and as any ir-
regularities in the manner of framing
| the instrument would be healed if the
\ constitution should be rati fed by the
people, there could be nothing improper
in the attempt. Certainly the right OF
citizens to meet together to counsel on
political affairs is beyond question:
Clearly it was the duty oftheGovernment
through executive power, to protect citi'
zens everywhere, and particularly in a dis
trict where it had exclusive authority in
the absence ofany valid state government
And if the executive was bound to pro-
tect on any occasion, it seems to have
been particularly his duty to have
done SO on such an occasion as this
! when the purpose was so commendabie
| Within this hall, one year ago this day
sat an assembly of citizens, peaceably in
clined, gathered together for lawful
patriotic, and praiseworthy purpose
Suddenly they were surrounded and at
tackled by armed enemies of law, order
and liberty, suddenly they were made
the victims of preconcerted violence, anc
these walls resounded with the report OF
firearms, the heavy stroke of bludgeons
the fall of the dead, theagonizing shriek'
and grOans of the wounded and the dy'
ing. The floor ran blood. The prayers
and expostulations of the innocent suf
ferers were drowned amid the oaths and
eXecrations of the assailants. In vaiI
was raised the flag of truce: the minis
ter of peace who bore 1t was ruthlessly
shot down with the white emblem IL
his hand. In vain was exhibited the ban
ner of the country itonly excited its enc
mics to deeper hate. In vain were the
sworn officers of the law and conserva
tors of the peace besought to arrest rath
er than kill: the petitioners were slair
with the appeal upon their lips. Those
who sought to withdraw from the hal
were eeithermurdered or orgrossly maltreat
ell in the attempt. Those who sought
egress through the windows and bywayi
at imminent personal risk, escaped deatf
in the descent only to meet 1t on thestree
at the pistols mouth. To be known a
a member of the convention, even as 9
visitor at its first hours session merely
as a friend of the convention, called dowr
upon the citizen the policeman's clubs
and drew out their newly supplied revol
vers to do fatal execution. Wild frenzy
seized the maddened rioters; the old de
mon of the rebellion was rife within
them the spirit of the Fort Pillow as
sassins was revived; and no man was saf'
who was known to love his country, the
constitution, law, and order better thar
he loved the ghost of the late rebellion
Not only in this legislative hall, hut fOl
} several blocks around, the systematic
carnage went on by the official and non
official instruments of the plotters who
J managed the massacre. While every
room and passage, every loft and closet