Year: 1866




The following is the call for tne con-
vention of soldiers, which viii be held at
Cleveland, Ohio, September 18th, instead
of Chicago as heretofore announced:


To tie Soldiers and Sailors Oho ssrved IN


the army during the late rebellion
In pursuance Of q resolution of meet
ing of soldiers now or lately in the Union
army, held in this city last evening, we
invite those of you VINO approve the re-
storation policy of the President, and the
principles announced by the National
Union Convention st Philadelphis, to as
semble at Cleveland on the 18th day of
| September next fer consultation on the
momentous issues now convulsing our
country. We need not argue to you at
| length the importance of these issues. nor
your duty to take part in their settlement.
After five years of fierce and destructive
war, in which our arms were gloriously
triumphant, the Union for which we
fought is still practically unrestored.
Why is this? We struggled to maintain
the rightful supremacy Of the General
Government; to conquer all who in arms
disputed its authority, and TO make every
rebellious citizen yield to its laws We
held throughout the war that the Union
was indissoluble and its powers as ex-
p lunded by its courts, supreme; that no
State can Of its own motion withdraw, or
at the will of its sister States be excluded.
and that the duty of each State TO main
tain the . Mon and the right to take part
in the government are alike absolute
Every object of the war ever recognized
by or known to the army and navy has
been thoroughly achieved. The Southern
people, decimsted, impoverished and sub
dued, have for more than year past aban-
doned the rebellion, and now only ask
that the Union for which We fought NAV
be recognized as existing, and that they
may be dealt with as the Constitution and
laws prescribe. In their anxiety to restore
the Union and bring harmony to its coun-
ellis, they have gone beyond mere silent
submission TO its laws. Through their
delegates at the National Union COnven-
ton, they solemnly renounced the doc
trines of notification and secession. from
which the war srose, repudiated the rebel
debt and declared of sacred obligation
the national debt; proclaimed the faith of
the nation pledged to the continuance of
bounties and pensions TO loyal soldiers
and sailors and their families declared
slavery forever abolished and the freed
men entitled to equal protection of the
laws, in person and property, with their
former masters. Their platform is not
only one of emphatic loyalty, but it Is
moreover most liberal in spirit on all the
issues growing out Of the war. The
character of the men who represented the
Southern States in that convention pre-
cludes US from believing this enunciation
of principles TO be insineere. They sent
to il their formost statesmen, men who,
like Rives, Graham, Orr. Parsons. Shark
ey, Houston, Brockenborough, Hunt,
Manning and Stephens, were known
throughout the land before the war as
men of the highest character and in
huence.


Among the five hundred delegates from
the South there was not voice or vote
dissenting from the resolutions adopted
by the convention. If the best of the
Southern people are ever to be believed
we must accept these solemn declarations
as sincere We do accept them as eonclu-
sive evidence that great majority of the
southern people, sick of war and anarchy
and longing for restoration of free gov
eminent are ready 10 bear true allegiance
TO the Constitution and laws Of the
Union.


We are therefore unwilling to see the
Southern people held longer in Yassalage.
They are our countrymen, citizens of the
United States who have incurred penal
ties but who have rights


Those who willfully participated in the
rebellion and are unpardoned are subject
to the penalties prescribed for treason, but
though individuals may be tried, convict
ed and punished, communities cannot, nor