The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1872-03-30
CINCINNATI CONVENTION.
Hon. Leonard sweet Oh the Situ.
alton.
He Project. u Rom hell into the Radical
Camp.

\ thunder clap from clear sky or small
earthquake would fail to create half the as
constituent and dismay that seized upon rad
icalsm 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 unanswerable reasons
therefor. Mr.. Sweet is, aside from Trumbull
and Judge Davis, about the aOlest and most
prominent republican politician in Illinois.
An original and fast friend of President
Lincoln, he could have had almost any polt-
ical preferment he might have coveted under
that " honest" chieftain, but having an extern
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 poit-
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 Saws
Mr.. s.:
Al the close of the war, the government en-
frsncbised the negroes, aud by attaching dis.
abilities to men prominent in the rebellion,
practically distranchised the property holding
nd int al tS,l, Oh
step was to empower the army quartered there
poor whites holding control, and the country
thus subordinated, 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, corraled the ne
groes in the name of iiberty, 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
saddled 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
aud 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 themselves until the
rights of citizenship are restored to those they
are depicting.
You and became republicans because op.
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 sympathize 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 not
out of place, that the Hon. Andrew Curtin, of
Pa, has resigned his position as minister to
Russia, and is returning home to participate
in the anti Grant movement in that state and
the nation.
We also observe that the Free Pyvse, the
leading German paper of Minnesota, and the
'>ta@tSssitung, the leading German paper Of
Indiana, both declare in favor of the Cincln-
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 a matter
of doubt as it is that November will come.