Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1868-08-28
CONSERVATIVE SUPPORT or GEN.
GRANT.
Letter of Hon. j. S. Carlile to the BaIti /
more American.

more American.
MEssRs. EDmoRs l-My attention has
been called to the publication n your paper
Of my letter to General Kelly, and some
surprise expressed at its contents. / have
for considerations personal to myself, de-
layed any publication of my reasons for The
conclusions to which have arrived. | now
can only hint at few.
/ have never been, in the strict sense Of
the word, party man. My chief object 10
public life has been the maintenance Of the
Union under the Constitution The Union of
the States and the rights Of the States, as
secured By the Constitution, has been my
motto, and to the preservation Of that Union
and the maintenance Of those rights have
all my efforts as public man as well as
private citizen been directed | have long
been of the opinion, and still believe, that
partisan politics have been and still are tho
bane of the Republic
With the death Of Andrew Jackson the
Democratic party ceased to be guided by
principle, aud gradually became sectional
lied. Tie declaration Of Jackson-"The
Federal Union, it must and shall be pre-
served was discarded, and a Southern
Consederacy openly advocated and threat.
ened. Sectionalism assumed the phase of,
and was substituted for, patriotism.
Regarding as | always have my party
obligations as Of less binding force than the
obligations owe to my country, | have
often subjected myself to the charge of IN
consistency. To occupy such a position is
20 light or trifing matter. 1t requires much
more moral courage to subject oneself to
such charge, and 10 the denunciations and
detraction that always attend it, than at
first may be supposed necessary. The
action Of the Secession Convention in
| Virginia, and the results that followed i'm
mcdiately upon the adoption Of the or
dInance of secession, exhibited a fearful
want Of moral courage
/ believed then, and still believe. that if
dozen members Of that Convention from as
many different sections Of the State had
taken the course, and labored as | did the
! State could have been saved from the ter
/ rlble effects of secession. As it was. nv
| section alone was saved, and is now a State
IN the Union. ln that trying hour | adhered
! to my motto, and as | was the first in the
I Virginia Convention 70 openly and boldly
| denounce the heresy Of secession, so was |
/ the first IN Congress to denounce the policy
l Of Congress that was subsequently adopted,
when it was toreshadowed by Senator who
| has since gone to that bourne from whence
no traveller returns Ny remarks upon that
! occasion are reported in the Globe of the
/ 10th December, 1861
| My opposition to Radicalsm Is well
/ known. That / would have saved the Union
/ party from it, if It had been in my power, is
also well known. So great was my op-
/ position to the uftraism of Congressional
/ legislation, and so sincere my convictions,
! that rather than abate the one or surrender
/ the other / gave up my place in the Senate
I and for time lost the confidence of my
/ Union friends. had hoped and expected
/ hat the action Of the New Y York Convention
would have entitled its nominees to the
support of Conservative Union men Had
its members pledged themselves to the
maintenance of the right Of local selfgoyern-
ment In the States, as secured by the Con-
stitution, and nominated as their Presiden-
tial candidate a man Of undoubted Unionism.
who believed IN the right Of the Govern
ment to protect itself and enforce its lawful
authority, | should have voted for It's NOM
inees. This was not DONE On the contrary,
/ it is my opinion that Hendricks was defeated
/ because he Is not believer in the right of
I secession. The war record Of Hancock de-
feated him. Mr.. Nallandingham patriot
| ism nominated Seymour and crushed the
aspirations of the Chief Justice. The friends
/ OF 'the lost cause" triumphed over the
| Unionsm of the Convention, and the strife
/ of the battlefield is to be renewed, to be
! fought out at the ballot box. As much as |
am opposed to the Radical legislation of the
: last SIX years, / am more opposed to disuniOn..
I So long as we are one people vicious egis-
I ation may be corrected, even constitutional
| amendments may be abolished, and consti-
| tutional, liberty preserved; but once divided
/ into separate States, under different Govern
ments, liberty and prosperity, peace and
/ good government are lost forever, Grant
/ will receive no support from Secessionists or
/ their sympathizers; they are all to be found
/ in the ranks of the party supporting Mr.
/ Seymour. The conservatism of Republican
/ ism nominated Grant. The radicalism Of
/ Democracy nominated Seymour.
If the Supreme Court shall decide as the
/ Democracy hold it viii decide next winter,
/ the reconstruction legislation Of Congress
unconstitutional, it will doubtless be for the
/ reason among others that the State has the
/ right, free from Congressional Interference
OF Executive dictation, to form for itself its
own Constitution, provided it be republican
/ in form. If this be SO, the Governments
created by the Constitutions of the seeded
/ States, under the laws of Congress, are
1 Governments created under Executive die
l tation must share the same fate, aud these
/ States will be RENTED back to the Govern
ments created By the Constitutions adopted
by each after the passage Of their several
ordinances of secession and the reputation
Of their allegiance to the Constitution OF the
United States. In this situation, with an
/ Executive who thinks, with the late Presi-
dent Buchanan, that the Government Of the
United States cannot use force against the
people Of a seeded State to compel obedi-
ence to its lawful authority, viii not disunion
be fact accomplished, and will not the war
have been fought in vain? II Is not possible,
in the limits allowed by the press to com
munications Of this sort, to do more than
briefly refer to a few considerations that have
brought my mind to the conclusion to which
| have arrived. l may have occasion, before
the election, to enter fully upon the vindica-
ton Of my proposed action. This, if done,
| shall do before the people who have
heretofore honored me with their confidence.
JNo. 5. CARLILE.