American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-04-06
THE CINCINNATI CONVENTION.
Letter from Hon. Leonard SWEET on
the Situation.

the Situation.
As matter of public interest we prin
the following letter from the Hon
Leonard SWEET, of Chicago, to Jesse w
Fell, Esq, of Bloomington, Ill, in reply
to a letter of inquiry as to the views O
the former respecting the reform move
ment in the Republican party.
Both Mr.. SWEET and Mr.. Fell are well
known citizens of Illinois, and Influential
Republicans. Both were among the mer
who laid the foundations of the Republi
can party who participated in its ear
lest organization who have persistently
adhered to its fortunes and given it the
aid of their cooperation. Both, more
over, were among the Jealous personal as
well as political friends of Mr.. Lincoln
the former was one of the Electors who
cast the fourteen votes of Illinois fol
Abraham Lincoln for the office OF
President
CmcAGo, March IA.
Isaac ". rel, bloomington, H.:
DEAR SIR: Your note asking my views OF
the Cincinnati Convention has been received.
l understand that Convention to be mass
meeting of all Republicans opposed to the
existing policy and practices of the party,
and intend to cooperate with the move
ment, because believe the principles of our
party have been subverted, and its present
policies and practices njurious and democrat
izing to the country.
At the close of the war, the Government
enfranchised the negroes, and, by attaching
disabilities to men prominent in the Rebel
lion, practically DISTINGUISHED the property
holding and intelligent classes of the South.
The next step was to empower the army
quartered there TO override civil authority.
The negroes and poor whites thus holding
control, and the country thus subordinatcd,
political power became questions of muscle
and enterprise. Adventures, without char
actcr at home, swarmed there. and, en-
couraged by the Government because they
were Republicans, " corralled " the negroes
in the name of Liberty, and appropriated to
themselves all the positions of profit and
trust. Thus, under forms of law, property
has been pillaged, intelligence enslaved, and
every, State, city, county, parish and town
have been sadded with debts generations
cannot pay, and for which the people have
literally nothing to show. These lecches are
still at their work, Teasing upon all that is
valuable and vital and if the truth may be
spoken, our party is aiding and encouraging
them. The people, thus crippled, cannot
shake them Off; and they will gorge them
selves until the rights of citizenship are
restored to those whom they are depicting.
You and l became Republicans because
opposed to the oppression of slavery. What
hand has moulded us until We have become
its advocates and patrons? The same reason
which made me sympathize with the negro
makes me the friend of the white man now
relations.
Recently, in our city, when 90 900 families
at night were homeless in the streets, and
fire and fear were universal, the Govern
ment, requested by the Mayor, established
a military guard over moldering bank
vaults and remaining valuabIes, and gave a
sense of restful security to worn-out and
panic stricken people. The Governor of this
Republican State complained that such pro-
lection was irregular, and our Republican
.s.,11
tanned him, under the fear that this grateful
kindness might become a precedent for Fed
eral oppression.
Now, if as party, we are such sticklers
about meeting interference at home that we
cannot let two companies of regulars help
save a burning city, when no one charges
motive except to relieve distress, what are
we thinking of ourselves when about to i'm
pose upon the South four years more of po-
litical disability and Federal control know
ing the consequences to be the practical en-
slavement of people incapable of resist
ance.
Abolitionsts were always charged with
hating the master rather than loving the
slave. This charge was persistently applied
TO the Republican party which absorbed
hem. We denied it uDon the stump, and
our people, between 1854 and 1860 have heard
Mr.. Lincoln deny it in almost every county
seat in the State. When the war broke out,
he southern people, alarmed by this fear,
declared they were fighting for their liber-
les, and must maintain the struggle bitterly
md to the last. We insisted they were our
brethren, "bone of our bone, and flesh of
our flesh" and all we desired was I'M
broken country, in which liberty should be
universal Mr.. Lincoln officially proclaimed
his, Congress declared it, and our party
National, State, county, town,
md ward, resolved it. 1t was for this, in
ears and pain, the mother gave her boy, and
5r this he carried the flag to his death on
he line.
With these accusations and fears univer-
ally known with all our denials, prOtesta-
ions and professions notorious as to
stand boldly out in the history of those
lines, the Rebellion surrendered in armies |
~ the fifty thousand, and history waited to
write whether their fears were well founded,
Or our professions sincere.
Seven years have since elapsed, and, look |
ng over the scene of the conflict we find the /
white men loaded with political disabilities, !
he control he used to exercise given to his |
ormer slave, and his country Botany Bay |
or every scallawag who wishes to plumber |
lin.
/ concede the right to have visited upon |
he leaders the death penalty of treason; but /
o fix permanent disabilities upon the body |
If the people, is to make slavery the conse /
luence of rebellion. In doing this, we vio- /
ate the laws of civilized warfare, subvert !
throughout the South the spirit of our insti- |
utions, and stand before the world confirm
ny their fears, and false to our professions. /
| canvassed this State partially in 1854 and |
SIS, and generally in 1856 and 1860 joined |
n all our denials, protestations and profess
ions; and | want some day to see these re-
ults changed and liberty restored, or to t
make tour as generally of penitence and |
onfession.
And what was the truth of the matter?
Did we love the slave or hate the master? |
Vas the war to restore the Union or subju- |
,ate the South?
yet affirm that the Northman never hated |
lis brother of the South, and the facts,
hey exist, belle and misrepresent the scnti-
nents of the Republican masses, and of their
,reat leader who fell in the conflict.
In reference to Mr.. Lincoln's hopes and |
'lans, neither friend nor foe can be mistaken.
lis public record speaks with no uncertain
ound; but those who knew his inner life be
ore his greatness dawned, and saw develop
Il his later years purposes of liberty for all,
NOW he looked on all this business with alb
florence.
Nor has our party in this State failed to
make the struggle to restore the right. At
ur State Convention held in September last,
resolution favoring immediate amnesty was
'asscd, in which the Convention officially
cclare that the time had come g whei, the
,'"tties e"yendered by the ~ar must yie'd to
he .ttteHdshi)s Of peace
Why, then, does not the Government
hange its course? Simply because it will
lot and cannot. The mission of the war
vas a mission of force. When the war
eascd, the duty was to bind the shattered
Wounds which violence had made. What
TIED the party for the one task, hardened
nd untitled it for the other. With fire, and
hot, and she'll it performed unflinchingly
he first duty ; but the war gave it too much
f violence for the missions of peace.
The carpet-baggcrs come back to Congress
ur strictest party-men. They ask no ques-
ions for conscience sake, and obtrude no
Troublesome Investigations. Mr.. Lincoln,
'hen beset for place, said che had more
orscs than oats" Our party has ilanked
his difficulty, and made of the South a pas !