Year: 1866

| ltfom the 'tnctnnNu Comnetciatl


Whatever opinions may be On,
tertained of the action of the Con


vention of Southern loyalists in
Philadelphia, the people will re


member, end the fact ought never
to be forgotten, that its members
are, for the most part, men who,
in the darkest hour of the nations
peril, never turned their backs up
on its flag, or iorcswore their ale
glance to its Constitution and laws.
llarrassed and hunted by the
hounds oftrcason, driven from their
homes to the Wilderness, tracked to
the swamps and mountains where
they had taken refuge from pcrsc.
cution for loyalty's sake, their pro
perty coniiscatcd, their houses
burned, their families exposed to
starvation, to insult and to death
these men never ialtered in their
devotion to the Union, or wavorcd
in their faith that the day would
come when its authority would bo
asserted, its territorial integrity be
re.established, and the power of a
Government made by tho people
for the people, to cope as success
fully with treason rs monarchics
or empires, be vindicated to the
world.


Remembering this fact, the
charge that they do not represent a
majority ofthe people of the States
from which they hail, is rather an
honor than reproach. The ma
iority of that people, whatever were
their individual sentiments before
hostilities commenced, the moment
that the issue was made one of
force, by the precipitate and head
long course of their leaders, turned
upon and tramplcd under foot the
flag OF their country, deiied its
Constitution, its laws, its Govern
mcnt, and did their best to over
throw and forever destroy the Un.
ion of which they were the symbol,
the bond, the will and the execu-
tor. To have been faithful among
the iaithless, truc among the false,
loyal among the disloyal, patriots
among traitors, is distinction that
in q time when it was fashionable
in high places, to take into regard
and favor, those who have become
loyal and obedicnt against their
will and in spite OF their labors,
is not and ought not TO be lost sight
of.


Grant, if You please, that they
are " mean whites" "white trash"
and "niggcr worshipers )" they
were not so mean as to forget their
country and desert its flag, nor
such trash that treason did not So
licit their arms and their service,
nor such worshipers Of the Niger
that they preferred the destruction
of the best Government on which
the sun ever shone," rather than
his bonds should be broken and the
captive go free.


There is not the raggedest Car
olina sand.hiller, the toughest East
Tennessee mountainoer, the rudest
and least educated North Alabam-
ian, that stood unfalteringly by his
country during the war, who should
not be honored as a Prince in Is
rael, for his devotion and fortitude
as compared with the sleek and
pampered aristocrat of the planta-
tion, who, with all the blessings
ofa good Government around him,
deserted its flag that he might dis
honor it, and turned traitor to the
Republic that no might have the
pleasure of destroying it.


If the Southern loyaliSts are not
so ready to become reconciled to
their neighbors, nor so willing to
reinstate them in their political
rights, as VIC of the North, it is be-
cause they know them better, and
can estimate at their true value,
their professions Of loyalty and de-
votion to the Constitution and the
Gov ernment.


The fact is patent to all who
read the Southern newspapers that
they never allude to Southern 10y
alists without a sneer, and pursue
them with the malignant hatred
and malice, from which the Gov
ernment is saved only because it is
powerful and they are weak. These
new and jealous converts to the
Constitution and the Union now
seek how to put under their feet
the feeble and the despised. The
Southern loyalists are conscious
that, however it may fare with the