The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1872-03-30
CINCINNATI CONVENTION.
Hon. Leonard sweet On the Stu.
alton.
He Projects n Bonn hell into the Radical
Camp.

A thunder clap from a clear sky or a small
earthquake would fail to create half the as
tOnishment and dismay that seized upon rad
icallsm in Illinois on the appearance. last Sat
urday, in the Chicago Times, of four column
letter from the Hon. Leonard Sweet. announc
ing his determination to support the nominees
OF the Cincinnati Convention, and giving a
host of trenchant and unanswerabc reasons
therefor. Mr.. Sweet is, aside from Trumbull
and Judge Davis, about the aOiest and most
prominent republican politician in Illinois
An original and fast friend of President
Lincoln, he could have had almost any polit
ical preferment he might have coveted under
that honest chieftain, but having an exten.
sive and lucrative practice rs a lawyer, he
preferred his profession to the honor and emol-
uments OF office, and always declined to enter
the public service. Occupying this high and
independent position, his words on the polit-
iCal situation of the day will have more
| weight than those of any other man In the
state. We regret that our limited space pre-
cludes the possibility of laying the letter be-
fore our readers. We cannot forbear, how
| ever, giving them specimen paragraph,
which indicates the spirit of the whole. Says
Mr.. s.:
AZ the close of the war, the government en-
! frsnchised the negroes, aud by attaching dis.
| abilities to men prominent in the rebellion,
practically distranchised 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 holding CONTROL and the country
thus subordnated, political power became
| questions OF muscle and enterprise. Adven.
turers, without character at home, swarmed
there, ana encouraged by the government, be-
cause they were republicans, corralcd the ne
groes 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 has been
ssddled with debts which generations cannot
pay, and for which the people have literally
nothing to show. These leeches are still at
their work, feastlng upon all that is valuable
party is aiding and encouraging them. The
| PS'PAS '"N' SiApp'SN S"Hi''S Sh"hS CHCm VII,
and they will gorge themselves until the
rights OF citizenship are restored to those they
are depicting.
You and became republicans because OPP.
posed to the oppression of slavery. What
| hand has nodded us until we have become its
advocates and patrons? The same reason
which made US sympathizc with the negro,
makes me the friend of the white man, now
that war and time have changed their mutual
relations.
In this connection the significant fact is no,
out of place, that the Hon. Andrew Curtin, O
Pa, has resigned his position as minister t.
Russia, and is returning home to participate
in the anti. Grant movement in that state and
the nation.
We also observe that the Fl'eie Pyysse, the
leading German paper of Minnesota, and the
StdatSzettuHg, the leading German paper N
Indiana, both declare in favor of the Cincn
natl movement, and assert that the entire
German population Of their respective regions
will vote with Schurz.
That the Cincinnati Convention will thus be
a success, and will have it IN its power the
naming of the next President and vice Pres
ident of the United States, is as little matter
of doubt as it is that November will come