Year: 1866

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respective delegations who are known to


be dishonorably discharged from the SER


vice of the United States, and that such


persons so reported be not allowed to


participate in the proceedings of this
Convention.


General Custar announced that many


of the delegations were not yet full, that


members were now on their way, who


ought to have an opportunity to partiei-


pate in the business Of the permanent Or


ganization, and he therefore offered a
resolution to adjourn until ten o'clock
tomorrow morning.


Subsequently this resolution was with


drawn, and Mr.. Campbell moved that


General Thomas Ewing, Jr., of Kansas,


now address the Convention. In response


to calls from all sides General Ewing ap-


peared upon the stand and was introduced


blythe President, saying:


If you have any cheers to give you


can give them. Loud cheers greeted the


suggestion and Gen. Ewing, who pro-
ceeded to address the Convention at great


length on all the political topics of the


day. He said they had assembled to


consult as to their duty and action in the


impending political conflict. He owed


allegiance to no political party, but to


the country and its laws. Before the


war many of them had been Republicans,


many of them Democrats, with varying
opinions on the question of slavery
That question was decided in the contest
of 1860 At the close of the contest
eleven States withdrew from the Union,
and the President called upon the people
to come forward and suppress the revolt.
The call was promptly responded to by
Democrats, Republicans, and Bell and
Everett men; and after four years Of war
the rebellion was suppressed. What
bound US together in that conflict of arms
Not hatred of slavery for on that ques-
ton we differed. Not love Of war; for
we all desired was peace. Not hatred of
the Southern people for they were our
countrymen. No it was the sentiment
of nationality, the determination that
the Union should be preserved and made
perpetual. That was the only purpose
of the war known or recognized by the
army and navy of the United States. It
was the sentiment that raised all our
armies, and the soul of them all Neither
army or navy, nor people, had any other
purpose Lincoln adhered throughout
the war to that purpose. When it was
seen that the rebellion was staggering,
and about to fall, the Radicals began to
consider how the contest would be wound
up so as to perpetuate their power and
promote their sectional theories and in
terests. A month after the amnesty
proclamation of Lincoln they presented
their plan Of reconstruction through
Henry Winter Davis, declaring the
Southern States annihilated and requir-
ing their re-admission of the same as
Territories. Lincoln refused to sign it, !
and they then opened their assaults on
him the same as now on johnson, and for |
precisely the same reason. a Convention
was called at Cleveland to denounce
Lincoln's plan. The speaker here read
the call for that Convention, which he
said sounded like a blast from the bugle |
of Greeley or Forney at the present day.
The same men are now threatening to |
impeach johnson. The same men who I
stood by Lincoln then stand by johnson |
now, with the single exception of Mr..
Lane, OF Indiana. The Presidential
canvass came on, and the party that had |
carried on the war met in Convention at
Baltimore and renominated Lincoln by
reclamation. That Convention passed a
resolution drawn by Hon. il. J Raymond,
declaring that the only condition ofpeace
and restoration we're the surrender of the
rebel army and thereturn Of the Southern
people to their allegiance. The Radi-
Gals hung Oh the skirts of the war party,
and thereby secured their reelection.


But nothing dauned, they renewed their
onslaught on the President. In the light OF
this recital, is it johnson or Congress that has
turned traitor to the principles on which he
and Lincoln and Congress were elected ?
Congress still wishes to blow the embers Of
war, while johnson desires peace. They Will
have no peace except on terms which secure
party and sectional dominion, while johnson
desires union on the basis Of the Constitution.
The secessioniSts drove the States into REBEL
ion by the dreaded cry Of Aboltionist, while
the Radicals kept the Union separate by the
still more dreaded cry of traitor That cry
bad no terror to the soldiers. Their oath ia
ken on entering the army bound them to
preserve the Union by every means in their
power They owed allegiance rather to the
Constitution than 10 phiianthropit theories,
however right To save that Constitution
they were ready to strike hands with the
Democratic party, and labor with it so long
as it remained true TO the Union.


The speaker discussed at length the quns-
lion Of the constitutional amendment, hold
ing that we will look in vain for the South to
vote to degrade 10000 of their oldest men,
or to surrender one-fourth of their represen-
tatives as a penalty for refusing suffrage to
the negroes. The Louisiana convention in
tended to make rulers of the negroes and
slaves of the whites, and when it re-assem-
bles will probably do it. II so the army with
which Grant split the Confederacy in two
would not be able to preserve order. An
archy would ensue, and probably another civ
il war, whose ashes would cover the fOunda-
ton of the Government.


Gen. Ewing eabOrately argued the various
Observation-Disclosures at length, being greet
ed with great applause, and at the close with
loud cheers and the thanks of the ConVen-
ton, which resolved to publish the speech IN
their proceedings.


Speaking for this evening by various speak
ers was announced, when the Convention
pursuant to the resolution offered
by Gen. Custar.