evsky Wednesday by
COOPER, .9 A K DEBS ON * CO,
H. G Smith,
A. Morton,
TERMS—^iwo Dollars per annum, payable
all cases In advance.
OFFICE —Southwest corner of Centre
Square.
a3-A.ll letters on business should be ad
dressed to Cooper, Sanderson <fc Co.
Dftfefcltottflrojs.
The President and the Convention—The
Final Proclamation or Peace.
The President’s proclamation declar
ing “the re-establishment of civil au
thority throughout the country, and
the restoration of the entire South to
all Its rights and privileges under the
Constitution,” is a fitting sequel to
the proceedings of the Convention.
Itcompletes the case upon which the
North wiJl be required to pass judg
ment in the pending campaign. For
the duty of the Executive is to deter
mine the fact of peace, and by officially
proclaiming it as a fact now actually
accomplished, he removes the last
hindrance to the logical force aud con
stitutional completeness of the argu
ment presented at Philadelphia. The
insurrection being declared at an end,
all excuse for dealing with the Southern
States in any other light than as States
enjoying full relationship to the Federal
(Government vanishes. The plea of
Congress has been that the Southern
States still maintain the attitude of in
surrection, because but partially pos
sessed of their original civil rights. Tiie
muiuteuance of military authority in
Texas lias imparted color to the allega
tion, since the South could not be said
to be completely restored, so long as a
single Stute remained subject to pro
visional authority. But the objection
is no longer plausible. The Executive
recognizes the supremacy of civil au
thority, working ilirougli duly organ
ized local chunnels; tiie interposition
of Federal authority in concerns which
the Constitution assigns to the States,
is declared to be terminated ; and the
whole South is now duly recognized as
in possession of its rightful constitu
tional Government.
By this step the lms nar
rowed the issue between Congress and
tlieSouthern.States toasinglepoint, and
that point one upon which the people
are least prone to error. The country is
at peace. The last vestige of the insur
rection has disappeared. The Southern
Slates again wield the full measure of
sovereign authority, to the extent of
which the national Executive takes cog
nizance. If Co tigress chooses to con tin ue
the exclusion olThe Southern members,
it will do so on the hypothesis which
the lawful power of the President has
swept aside, if the South is still to he
treated by Congress as in a state of in
surrection, it will be in defiance of the
fact, authoritatively announced, that
the insurrection has been quashed and
constitutional government restored.
The people see only peace, yet'Congress
acts as though war were in progress.
The people discern a restored Union—a
Union with all it parts as truly republi
can in its local forms as before the war
—yet Congress, by its leading spirits,
still asserts a right to proceed as though
rebellions were in blast. Neither the
motive nor the tendency of tliia policy
on the part of the Congressional majority
can he mistaken. Their object is not a
restored Union, but a Union ho changed
in its essence that the Republic estab
lished by the fathers will not be distin
guishable. And the obvious tendency
of their measures is to destroy the
principle of the equality of thejStates,
which lies at the foundation of the
National (Government, atid toussertthe
right of some of the States to dispone of
other States as subjugated provinces.
We do not believe that any party is
strong enough iu the North to perpetu
ate a policy which implies a gross usur
pation of authority on the part of Con
gress, ami a disunited country as the
inevitable consequence. Time will tell.
The- final and decisive proclamation
issued yesterday leaves no escape from
the issue which the Radicals have invi
ted, and it remains to be seen whether
they will venture to persist in a course
which will, by-uml-by, Lie equivalent
to revolution. The country is at peace.
Will the Radicals in Congress assume the
responsibility of creating and continuing
war ?
i The President’s position in view of
this possible contingency cannot be mis
understood. His speech in reply to the
delegation from the Philadelphia Con
vention semis forth no uncertain sound.
FI is words on the occasion were not the
words of haste or passion. They indi
cate a deliberate examination of the
ground upon which he and the Conven
tion unitedly stand, and an unalterable
purpose to maintain it at' all hazards,
The absence of everything like precipi
tancy in all that tiie President lias
hitherto done—the forbearance which
has marked tiie exercise of the power
vested in him—tiie consistent adherence
to the principles upoti which he aud
Mr. Lincoln were jointly elected, anil to
the policy which Air. Lincoln deliber
ately inaugurated—are so many pledges
of the earnestness with which lie will
now co-operate with the National Union
movement.
In that movement we have the con
servatism of the country battliug with
the tyrannical and revolutionary ele
ments which threaten its unity aud im
peril its peace. It is a movement to up
hold the constitution, to prevent usur
pation, ami to secure the fruits of victory.
Itqis a movement to give effect to the
principles for which the Union Party, as
organized at Baltimore, contended suc
cessfully. The result'of its triumph will
be to perpetuate a restored Union, with
the increased guaranteesforitslmrniony,
of which the late Convention Luis fur
nished glorious evidence. The Presi
dent has intimated his position in the
contest. And as between
Union and Radical disunion, the people
of the North are not likely long to hesi
tate.—New York Times.
A Severe out Just Criticism.
The following from the pen of the
brave, gallant, fearless ami maimed
Colonel Davis, editor of the Doylestown
Democrat , is one of the most severe but
just criticisms on the bombastic “Hero
of tfuiekersville” that we have yet
read :
GKN. lIKAUV AND TIIE SOI.DIEKS,
We h'.ivo never yet written a line in
criticism or derogation of the military
career of Ueneral lieary, the disunion
candidate for Governor of this State
■We have known him for years, and our
personal relations have ever been of the
most pleasant kind. We served ton-ether
in the Mexican war, and were both offi
cers in the late war, which were addi
tional reasons why we have never as
■saih-'d his military record. We have
opposed his election solely on the ground
of want of capacity as a statesman, ami
because of the radical disunion platform
on which he stands. It appears, how
ever, Unit he has no regard for the
military reputation of gentlemen who
dili’er from him in politics, whom he
assails regardless of truth or common
decency. At a speech which he made
at York on the bill instant, in speaking
of the late Soldiers’ Convention at
Harrisburg, he made use of the follow
ing paragraph:
“When I look around Huh assemblage
and feel that around me are fellow soldiers
who have borne arms with me, from the
iirst battle of Hull Hun, not one or two of
them from a regiment as wus the ease at
llurrisburg, a few days ago,—shysters and
cowards, skulkers and hospital bummers.
I know such is the fact, for I have driven
them from the army myself.”
When General Geary made ÜBeof the
above expression he knew that he was
telling a LIE, but this knowledge did
not restrain him from committing an
act that disgraces him in the eyes of uil
honorable men. Kuch a known and
wilful falsehood will render him infa
mous. The cloak of charity, that has
covered him in the past, will no longer
shield him from the merited castigation
his shortcomings in military and civil
life Invite. For ourself, and the thir
teen other delegates who attended the
Convention from this county, we pro
nouuce the oharge of General Geary to
be false in every particular, and that In
making It he has proved himself an uu
ihitlgated liar.
On the Oth instant, the village of
Monroe, Ohio, was nearly destroyed by
a hurricane. Some lives were loßt and
several persons Injured. The storm is
said to have passed over a narrow belt
of country, destroying ■ buildings and
fences, and uprooting trees in its way.
j. M. Cooper,
Alfred Sanderson
VOLUME 67.
The profound impression which the
Philadelphia Conventon has produced
upon the country is best attested by the
comments it has elicited from the press.
The violence of the Radical journalists
is born of fear. Whom they dread they
abuse, and that of which they are most
afraid they assail with slander aud false
hood. The failure of their prophecies
has irritated them beyond measure; and
in the cordial alliance of Conservative
Republicans with natioual Democrats
and representative Southerners they
see the development of a power which
bids fair to be irresistible in the coming
canvass. Upon the tone of the ex
tremist newspapers, then, it is not ne
cessary now to dwell. Rage has so
overpowered sense, that they lie reck
lessly and vituperate blindly, as men
might be supposed to do who find their
choicest calculations upset, and their
cherished plans predestined to destruc
tion.
More moderate journals, like the
Hpringfield Republican aud the Phila
delphia North American, acknowledge
the influence exercised by the Conven
tion, without identifying themselves
with tiie movement to which it gave
rise. Our Springfield cotemporary has
not been slow to appreciate the impor
tance of the gain realized in the unre
served adoption by the Southern dele
gates of the constitutional principles
enunciated in the resolutions. To have
called forth afl explicit affirmation of
the supremacy and perpetuity of the
Union, and a repudiation as explicit of
the doctrine of secession, is, as the Re
publican admits, an advance toward
harmony which ought not to-be under
estimated. And inasmuch as the plat
form adopted at Philadelphia is sub
stantially identical with that which was
adopted by the Union party at Balti
more in 18(34, it is difficult to see how
any member of the party not irrevoca
bly committed to the revolutionary
crotchets of radicalism can honestly
disapprove of the proceedings of the
Convention.
The North American , indeed, in an
article entitled “ Republican Principles
Accepted, adopts the conclusion demon
strated two days ago in the Times, and
concedes that the principles upon which
Abraham ..Lincoln and Andrew John
son were elected in 1864 were in the as
cendancy last week at Philadelphia.
By what process of reasoning the North
American justifies its continued ad
hesion to the Disunion Party in Con
gress in preference to the Union move
ment out of doors, is not apparent. For
if the delegates at Philadelphia ac
cepted the principles on which the Re
publican Party fought its last fight at
the polls, the inference is inevitable
that tiie Congressional majority have
departed from the standard of the party
they pretend to represent. And our
Philadelphia cotemporary, iu opposing
the National Union movement, based,
as it confessedly is, upon the platform
which carried Mr. Lincoln a second
time into the Presidency, really aban
dons the cause of which it claims to be
an advocate. From this dilemma there
is no escape, except by a repudiation of
the Disunion Radicals on one hand, or
the Baltimore Union platform on the
other.
The tone of the Northern Democratic
press is, with scarcely an exception, all
that the friends of the movement could
desire. There is little or no fault-find
ing, and absolutely no opposition either
to tiie action of tiie Convention or the
policy it indicates for the Fall elections.
The conciliation, the moderation, the
patriotic anxiety forharmony as against
the common foe, vhicli characterized
the course of the Democratic delegates,
alike in the Committees and in the
Convention, are visible in the com
ments of the journals belonging to the
same party. The controversies of the
past are forgotten in the effort to
provide for the exigencies of the present
and the salvation of the future. The
declaration of principles is indorsed as
sound and wise, hud the address is
hailed as a just and constitutional state
ment of the ease to be submitted to the
people.
In the same category may be placed
the 110-party journals of the cities—
journals whose influence is indisputable,
and whose prompt aud unreserved ap
proval of the Convention and its results
betoken the direction of the current of
feeling outside of the organized parties.
The no-party class —and they are'a host
in themselves--are heart and soul with
the movement.
Taking into account, then, the Con
servative Kepublicans who are in the
foremost ranks, the less ultra Republi
cans who begin to discern the source
and soundness of the principles con
tended for, the overwhelming majority
of the Democrats, and the “indepen
dents" who are not politicians—the
amuzing strength of the movement be
comes apparent. Against these com
bined forces, what can the Radical Dis
uniouists accomplish? What in New.
York, for example? or in Pennsylva
nia? or in Indiana or Illinois? or in
any one of the States whose citizens
will, in a few weeks, be required to pro
nounce for the Union or against it —for
the constitutional policy of the Admin
istracion, or the unconstitutional policy
of Congress? Toensurea sweepingsue
ees/3, it is only necessary to repeat in the
Sino-es the forbearance, the unselfish
patriotism, and the sagacious adjust
ment at persons and positions which
triumphed so signally at Philadelphia.
Rut Hie Southern press—what is its
verdict in the premises? We have al
ready laid before our readers the utter
ances of the journals which have reached
us from the South since the close of the
Convention. The prevailing feeling is
discriminating and—from the Southern
stand-point—notunreasonableor unjust.
Hol e and there is a paper which reviews
the proceedings with a good heart.
Rut tlie greater number accept the
resolutions with many protestations
against the principles they affirm
and the conclusions to which, they
point. As a mutter of argument they
object to the unqualified assertion of the
principles of national supremacy, with,
tlie consequent extinction of the old
doctrine of State rights as implied in
secession. And they demur to the ac
curacy and taste of other points, both
in the resolves and the address. In the
main,however they accept the posi
tion as the best one possible in existing
circumstances; rejecting certain ab
stract assertions, but nevertheless de
claring their appreciation of the temper
and purposes of tlie Convention, and
then- reliance upon the movement as
the only efficient means of restoring the
bnion. More,'perhaps, our Southern
cotemporaries could not he expected to
concede without doing violence to their
self-respect.—A'cic York Times.
The Philadelphia Convention and Our
Securities in Europe.
The report of the harmonious pro
ceedings of our grand National Union
Convention was circulated over the
whole of Europe on Saturday last and
read on every Exohange from London
to Naples. What is the result? Last
night's news from London by the cable
reports our Five Twenties as high as
70j at noon yesterday. When the pro
ceedings of tlie Convention are once re
ported in full ou the other side of the
Atlantic, there will be a further rise,
which will drive the Radical disunion
ists madder—if that were possible—than
they are to-day. They are frothing at
the mouth now. This late financial re
port from Europe will aggravate them
beyond ali power of endurance. The
cable, like all other commercial and in
dustrialapplianceßor thetime, 1b against
the Radical taction. They ought to cut
it.—iV. Y, Times.
At Mobile, Ala., an insane woman on
Saturday last threw her Infant into the
red hot furnace of a rolling mill where
the Iron was fusing.
Some curious genius has discovered
that, out of ourthirty mlUlongof people,
two millions of them write their names
with an “ Hon.” before them.
Lancaster lintcUuu'iiai:
The Press on the Convention,
SOLDIERS’ UNI UK CONTENTION.
A CALL FOR A MEETING AT CLEV ELAND
IN SEPTEMBER.
An Address to their Brethren in Arms,
They are Faithful to the Constitutional
Principles for Which they Fought.
JUSTICE AND MAGNANIMITY.
Devastation of tiie South a Sufficient
Punishment for their Offences.
Washington, August 21.
THE SOLDIERS’ CONVENTION
The following is the call for the Conven
tion of. Soldiers, which will be held at Cleve
land, Ohio, September 17, instead of Chicago
as heretofore announced:
'i 0 the Soldiers and Sailors who served in the A rmy
during the late Rebellion:
In pursuance of a resolution of a meeting
of th e soldiers now or lately in the Union
army, held in this city last evening, we in
vite those of you who approve the restora
tion policy of the President, and the prin
ciples announced by the National Union
Convention at Philadelphia, to assemble at
Cleveland, on the 17th day of September
next, for consultation on the
issues now convulsing our country. We
need not wrgue to you at length the impor
tance of these issues, nor your duty to take
part iu their settlement. After five years
of fierce and destructive war, in which our
arms wore gloriously triumphant, the
Union for which we fought is still practi
cally unrestored. Why is this? We strug
gled 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 field throughout the war that the Union
was indissoluble, and its power, as e<
pounded 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 maintain
the Union, and its rights to take part in
tkegovernmont, 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, decimated,
impoverished, and subdued, have for more
than a year past abandoned the rebellion,
and now only ask that the Uniou lor which
we fought may be recognized as existing,
and that they may be dealt with asthe Con
stitution and laws prescribe. For their anx
iety to restore the Union, and bring harmony
to its couucils, they have gone beyond a
mere silentsubmission toils laws. Through
their delegates to the National Union Con
vention, they solemnly denounced the doc
trines of nullification and secession, from
which the war urose; repudiated the rebel
debt, and declared of sacred obligation the
national debt; proclaimed the faith of the
nation pledged to ihe continuance of the
bounties ami pensions to loyal soldiers
and sailors, and their families; declared
slavery forever abolished, and the freed
mon entitled to equal protection of the laws
in person and property with their former
masters. Their platform is not ouly one of
emphatic loyalty, but it is, moreover, most
liberal in spirit on all the great issues grow
ing out of the war. The character of the
men who represented the Southern States
in that Covention precludes us from believ
ing their enunciation of principles to bo in
sincere. They sent to it their prominent
statesmen—men who, like Rives, Graham,
Orr, Parsons, Sharkey, Houston, Brockeu
brougb, Hunt, Manuing and Stephens,
were known throughout the land before
the war as menofthehighestchuracterand
influence. Among the five hundred dele
gates from the South, there was not a
voice or a vote dissenting from the resolu
tions adopted by the Convention. If the
best of the Southern people are over to be
believed, we must accept their solemn dec
larations as sincere. We do accept them as
conclusive evidence that a great majority of
the Southern people, sick of wur and
anarchy, und longing for a restoration of the
free Government, are ready to bear true al
legiance to the Constitution and laws of the
Uniou.
We aro, therefore, unwilling to see the
Southern people held longer in vassalage.
They are our countrymen, citizens of the
United States, who have incurred penalties
but who have rights. Those who wilfully
participated in the rebellion, and are un
pardoned, are subject to the penalties pre
scribed for treason. But though individuals
may be tried, convicted and punished, com
munities cannot, nor can the States and
their people, without a plain violation ofthe
Constitution, be denied the right ot repre
sentation through men personally qualified
in the councils of the nation. The intention
of Congress seems to bo to deprive them of
representation just so long as it suits the
purposes of the Kadical party. Many us
sort that it will concede the right whenever
the constitutional amendment shall have
been adopted, and each proscribed State
shall have ratified it. But it is quite cer
tain that the amendment will not be rati
fied by three-fourths of the States, and
therefore, that it will not be adopted.
Some, perhaps many, of the Northern
Stutes will reject it, and wo cannot expect
its legal ratification by any of the lately
insurrectionary States. If there were no
other reasons why the Southern States will
reject it, it is enough that it proposes to
disfranchise nearly all-the men iu the
South who have influence over tho
masses of tho people. If none were to
be disfranchised except officers of the rebel
army, we still could not expect the South
to adopt it; for a large majority of the men
in the lately insurrectionary States, through
compulsions or choico, served in the rebel
armies, and their votes would overwhelm
ingly defeat it. Would Union soldiers to
recover political privileges, disfranchise
their leudurs whom they love and revere ior
their heroic virtues ? How then cau we ex
pect Southern soldiers to disfranchise and
degrade their old commanders? As there is
no probability'that the amendment will be
ratified by three-fourths of the States, the
plan of restoration which Congress appears
to have determined ou is at best impracti
cable. That proposed by the President and
approved by the National Union Conven
tion, is Jeasible, and we believe safe. We
have no fear that the South can ever over
throw tho Federal Govermneutoreven dis-
turb its career of power and glory. They
will be the last of the States to rebel, and
if they shall again rise in insurreo
rection the loyal people can and will subdue
and, if need be, destroy them. The
government has asserted its power for self
preservation, and the devastation and mis
ery of the South proclaim to this generation
at least tlie cmnu and the terrible penalties
of treason. Beholding their woes, and con
trasting their weakness and our strength,
we coiml alford to show the confidence and
courage of magnanimity. We might well
let our vanquished opponents arise, and,
like James Fitz James at Coritangle ford,
staunch their wounds and forgive their
treason. But we are not asked to be mag
nanimous, butouly cousistent and just. This
we cannot refuse to be without a violution
of the Constitution of our country, and a wish
of its utter overthrow. We seek and will
have no association in political action
with men North, or South,' who are
not avowedly, in our opinion, sincerely
faithful to the constitutional principles for
which we fought. But if men who have
taught or practiced treason now openly re
nounce their errors and maintain with us
tho true principles of our government, we
shall not reject their co-operation, when the
restoration of the Union and the preserva
tion of our form of government are in issue.
However much we regret to sever cherished
political associations and to co-operate with
former enemies, we must prefer to act with
those who have been wrong and are now
right, rather than with those who were right
aDd now are wrong. Believing that our
government is again in peril, we appeal to
you who have iought to save it ana who
hold it dearer and more sacred than ai
purty ties, to come to the rescue. Let the
soldiers and sailors agreeing with Us in
sentiment, but who cannot in person at*
tend, send delegates through the action of
their societies, or of local conventions. Let
us meet in force at Cleveland on the 17th of
September, the anniversary of the day
when the Constitution was proclaimed by
our forefathers, and let us aia in restoring
the Union it created and the liberties it was
ordained to secure,
G. A. Custer, Major*General U. S. A.;
A. 1). MoCoou, Mttfor-GeneralU. S. A.;
Jj* H. Kousseau. IVlajor-Goneral,
G. W. Cook, Major-General,
W- Meredith, Brevet Major-General,
•t* Ewing, Jr., Brevet Major-General,
Committee on Address.
„ Washington, Au » ust 19 »W60.
n rt n*?i»nt o » rd nly approve the cail for the
Convention, and recommend the holding
movßment° nvoMlona °°- O P<-' rate in the
u A;' Generali James B.
Steadman, do.; !■, p, m a i r . h w
Sloonm, do. i Daniel E. Slokfes, do. i Gor
doll Granger, do.} John A. iioOlernand,
do. ; D.N. Couch, do.; \y. \V. AveriU, do.
H. E. Davies, Jr., do. j Orlando B. Wilcox,
do,; A. S. Wll lama, do,: Gershom Mott,
do.; Hugh Irving, do. i Theo. Runvon do :
Thomas Kelby Smith, do. j Wm. BTFrinkl
lln. do.; Thomas L. Crittenden, do. i M R
Patrick, do.; Alvain C. GiUem, do! • J G*
Bartlett, do.; G. K. Warren, do.; Jefferson
LANCASTER, PA., WEDNESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 29, 1866.
C. Davis, do.; Joseph F. Knipe, do.; A,
H. Markland, Superintendent United States
Mail; Martin S. McMahon, Brevet Major
General; H. H. Heath, do.; John M. Ol
iver, do.; William G. Wardjdo.; Henry A.
Morrow, do.; Geo. P. Este, Brigadier-Gen
eral . G. C. Maxwell, Anson G. Mc-
Cook, do.: George Spalding, do.; J. B.
Sweitzer, do.; W. W. H. Davis, do.; Walter
C. Whittaker, do.; John L. Cnxton, do.;
We McCandless, do.; .A, B. McCalmont,
do.; Sami. Bealty, do.; Wm. Harizhorn,
do.; J. S. Fullerton, do.; G. Winters, doq
E« B, Brown, do.; J. G. Parkhurst, do.; G.
H. Hall, do.; R. A. Vaughn, do.; James
Craig, do.; Morgan L. Smith, do.; James
McFerren, do.; Joseph W. Frizell, do.;
Ferd. Van Derveer, do.; Lewis C. Hunt,
do., James H. Ford, do.; Thomas Curley,
do.; E. T. Bragg, do.; Charles G. Halpine,
Brevet Brigadier-General: Henry S. Com
raager, do.; H. C. Hobart, do.; H. C. Dun
lap, do.; C. O. Loomis, do.; Cassius Fair
child, do.; Henry Bertrand, do.; Charles
W. Blair, do.; James K. Mills, do.; Charles
Black, do.; Durbin Ward, do.; John
Lawrence, do.; Colonel Quinn Morton,
do.: David Murphy, do.; John M.
Richardson, do.; Marcus Boyd, do.;
James O. Brodhead, do.; W. B. Rogers, do.;
Jas. Peckam, do.; T. T. Crittenden, do.;
Samuel R. Mott, do.; H. F. Baker, do.; P.
H. Alback, do.; James Mann, do.; Henry
Barnes, do.; Richard McAllister, do.; D,
W. Bless, Surgeon U. S. V., do.; John At
kinson, do.; Colonel Graham, do.; M. H.
Fitch, do.; Henry Starr, do.; W. W. D.
Lewis, do.; O. F. Merre, do.; Levi A. Har
ris, do.; George Gray, do.; W. H. Ent, do. ;
John H. Linton, do.; James George, do.;
John Heucock, do.; John H. Ward, do.;
William R. McCreery, do.; H. M. Bulk
ley, do.; C. D. Penuipacker, do.; Joseph
C. McKibbon, do.; Johu F. Phillips, do.;
Miles K. Green, do.; John M. Glover, do.;
John E. Phelps, do.; M. Flesh, do.; Col.
Byrne, and fifty other officers.
The change from Chicago to Cleveland,
as the place of holding the Convention, was
made at the solicitation of gentlemeu in the
seaboard States, who consider the latter a
more desirable and central locution.
CUSTER ON FORNEY
A Scathing Letter to the Secretary of the
forney’s Hftruugue to the Mob.
Coster’s Testimony In llegard to theC'on-
ditlon of Texus.
The National L'nJon Convention.
Pence, Prosperity and Preservation of
the Country its Only Aim.
The Declaration of Principle*.
L'nion, Concession ninl Harmony-
Everything tor theCnu.se, Noth
ing for Men.”
| From the National Intelligencer, August 21.
Washington, Aug. 20, 18GG.
J. IK Forney, Esq., Secretary of the V. S.
»S 'c/iatr:
Departing from what I have ever consid
ered a judicious custom, I deem it not only
appropriate, but incumbent upon me, to
correct the false impressions regarding my
past and present position which at this time
are being so assiduously disseminated
throughout the country by a subsidized, un
scrupulous and fanatical press. It is to be
expected, in times like the present .when a
new political era is being inaugurated—an
era which is dostmed to remodel aud devel
op the character of our political structure
—that the views and sentiments enter-
tained by men, themselves the victims of
passion aud prejudice, will embrace a wide
and unlimited scope, and that, blinded by
resentment, their judgment be clouded
and impelled by malignant, unworthy, and
most wicked ambition, noua who endeavor
to interpose an obstacle in their path, or
who differ from them in opinion, can hope
to escape their villification and misrepresen
tation. A few of the most extreme Radical
journals have pretended to discover an in
consistency between the views embraced
in my testimony before the Congressional
Committee on Reconstruction in March
last, and in my present action as a delegate
to the Philadelphia Convention, and a sup
porter of the principles enunciated in the
resolutions and platform proclaimed and
adopted by that illustrious national and
patriotic assembly, composed of representa
tives from every State and Territory iu the
Union, and therefore the first truly national
convention which has assembled iu our
country during the past six years. Promi
nent in this misrepresentation and wilful
perversion of truth is the organ controlled
and edited by yourself, and, were it not
for the official position which you hold,
I would not deem myself justified in
referring to you or anything oin
auuting from you. I will not refer
to the seditious und inflammatory epithets
you applied to that Convention, of
which I am proud to have been a member,
but will only class them with your insidi
ous and wicked harangues pronounced in
the City of Philadelphia during the sitting
of the Convention, in which 3 f ou endeavored
to stir the passions of what you supposed a
mob to deeds of violeneo and blood.
Neither will I occupy time in exposing
your baseness in characterizing those gal
lant soldiers of the Union who took part in
the Convention as being influenced by any
but the highest, noblet and most patriotic
impulses which govern the human will.
Much less were they, as you insinuate,
tinctured with disloyalty. Such unwar
ranted, unjust, and unprovoked assertions
come from you with baa grace when directed
against those who, during the entire war,
have freely and unselfishly perilled their
lives to restore, defend, and perpetuate the
principles of a constitutional government,
which you are laboring to destroy. What
have you done or accomplished to justify
you iu maligning aud traducing those whose
patriotism has undergone the test of battle
and is beyond impeachment?
My sole object in addressing you now is
to correct the misrepresentations which
have been made by you and other Radical
journals, regarding my testimony concern
ing the condition of one, and a portion of
another, of the Southern States. In the first
place, you would have your readers believe
that I hud submitted testimony in regard
to the Southern States as a body, whereas
I testified with reference to Texas and West
ern Louisiana alone, and particularly with
reference to the former. Furthermore, be
fore giving iny evidence, 1 remarked to
Senator Williams, of Oregon, who conduct
ed the examination, that Texas had always
been, more or less, regarded as a State in
certain parts of which the local or domestic
laws had little or no power; where citizens
as a class were lawless, ungovernable, and
uncontrolled by any other law than the one
that “ might makes right.” Consequently
the condition of aflairs as represented by
me at that time (seven months ago) could
not justly and wholly be considered as a
result of the war, inasmuch as the same con
dition, to a certain extent, existed before the
war. And to that class of population who
wore responsible for this condition of affairs
did I refer when I stated that they ‘‘ac
cepted the situation” from “motives en-
tirely selfish.” That a large number of the
citizens of Texas, embracing the most in
telligent'and prominent men of the State—
men, too, who had been prominently en
gaged in the rebellion—accepted the situa
tion in good faith, I know to be true. That
the condition of the loyal men in that State
would have been endangered by the com
plete withdrawal of the United States troops
I do not entertain a doubt, but the danger
would be shared by all classes. It is
universally known and conceded that
the animosity existing between the parti
sans on the frontier of the Southern
States was more bitter and unrelenting
than that existing between the masses
of the people North and South. Owing
to the lawless character of a considerable
portion of the population of Texas, I
regarded it at that time as beyond the
power of the civil government, unaided and
unsupported by military authority, to pre
serve perfect peace anci order within the
limits of the State. I therefore, iu my
testimony, which was given with reference
to “that portion of the Southern country in
which I have been ,” viz.: Texas and West
ern Louisiana—gave it as my deliberate
opinion, that the people of that section of
country were not at that time “ in a proper
condition, 1 ' and had not manifested “ a pro
per state of feeling, to be restored to their
former rights and privileges under the gen
eral government,” and that the national
control over those States should be exer
cised,by the government "until satisfied that
they may , without detriment , be entrusted
with their former rights and privileges.” I
huve herein briefly referred to those points
of my testimony in reference to which
through wilful perversion, the public were
liable to be deceived. And, now, notwith
standing the prominence you gave to my
testimony, as reproduced in the Chronicle
of the 18tn Instant, under the captious head
ing of "Custer vs. Custer,” <fcc., <fec <&«
thereby conveying the idea that the views
entertained by me then differed widely
from those I now entertain, I desire, not
withstanding the fact that "there are
none so blind as they who refuse to see,” to
assure you that there exists a strict accord
ance between the opinion and sentiments
then expressed and now advocated by me.
And to prove that my suggestions set forth
in the testimony referred to were in har
mony with the course since maintained by
the Administration, it wiR only be necessary
to refer to the fact that the authority of the
general government has been continued in
force in Texas in the form of a provisional
government, until within a verybriefperiod
and that Texas, of all the Southern States’
has been the last to elect State officers. and
to attempt to inaugurate a State govern
ment. As to the propriety of my coarse in
attending the National Union Convention,
I recogmze neither in you, nor in those you
represent, the right to question my motives
If I satisfy mv God, my country, and my
conscience, I achieve my highest aim.
That my course has received the approvai
of the first, and will ultimately, if not now
: receive that of the second, 19 evidenced
by the hearty approval of the third
As was so feelingly expressed by the dis
tinguished statesman ana patriot who pre
sided over the deliberations of the conven
tion, “ peace hath her victories none the less
renowned than war;” and along with the
many victories achieved upon many a
hardly-contested field by the courage, fideli
ty ana perseverance of our noble and patri
otic armies, und which I am proud to have
been an humble participant, I place as a
crowning victory the harmonious assem
bling or that convention, composed as it
was of representatives from every State and
Territory, men who for years past have
been opposed in principle aDd policy but
who, casting aside all prejudice and per
sonal feeling, assembled intent upon one
purpose, and that purpose to secure the
peace, prosperity and preservation of the
country. To achieve this grand purpose, it
seemed as if oue and all were inspired by
the sentiment, “ Union, concession and
harmony—every thing for the cause, nothin g
for men.” And as a result of their deliber-
ations, the platform and principles adopted
by that convention may be expressed in
six words—National integrity, constitu
tional-liberty, individual rights. Upon this
platform all who desire to promote peace,
harmony und justice throughout the length
and breadth of our land may stand.
Those who desire to perpetuate strife,
discord and disunion will reject it. Duty, as
well as interest, demaud that this govern
ment should be national; this cannot be so
long as twenty-four States legislate for
thirty-six States, and ten millions of our
citizens are unrepresented. The constitution
makes each house of Congress the sole
judge of the qualifications of its own mem
bers.
It is not required by that instrument, nor
is it demanded by any consideration of
right or justice, that the two houses of Con
gress should conjointly pass upon the qual
ifications and claims of members of either
branch, and by no law or principle of free
government can one or both houses de
prive an entire State of that fair re
presentation to which, under the constitu
tion, it is entitled, uuless by the exercise of
an ussuined power. You can testify with
whut earnestness I engaged in the late
struggle—with what earnestness I fought
until that struggle was declared ended, the
victory won. With that same earnestness
I still desire peace—that peace for which
our armies contended. And now that the
national authorityis every where recognized,
the doctrine of secession forever settled, the
public debt acknowledged, the rebel debt
repudiated, and peace, order and harmony
proclaimed in every State, it only remains
for Congress “to receive to seats therein
loyal representative from every Suite in
allegiance to the United States, subject to
the constitutional right of each house to
judge of the election returns and qualifica
tions of its own members.”
If a further vindication of my course was
necessary, I might refer you to the procla
mation of peace this day issued by the
President of the United States. In lhat
welcome document the President distinctly
states, that by proclamation of April 2,1866,
issued subsequent to the date of my testi
mony, “ there no longer existed any armed
resistance of misguided citizens to the au
thority of the United States in any or all of
the States, excepting ouly the State of Tex
as.” Did not my evidence, which applied
to Texus alone, accord with this view?
And further, does not the President in his
proclamation of to-day assert, that “ subse
quently to the said second day of April, 1866,
the insui'rcction in the State of Texas
has been completely and everywhere
suppressed and ended, and the author
ity of the United States has been suc
cessfully and completely established in the
State of Texas, and now remains therein un
resisted and undisputed, and such of the
proper United Slates officers us have
been duly commissioned within the lim
its of the said Stute are now in the un
disturbed exercise of their official func
tions?” This proves—First. That if you
will compare the condition of affairs exist
ing in Texas in March last, and as testified
to by me, with the condition declared to
exist by the proclamation of the President
of one month later date, you will dis
cover no discrepancy of opiuiou between
the two. Second. If you desire to know by
what principle of action lam now guided,
I refer you to those parts of the President’s
proclamation already quoted, and to the
final clausein which he,the highest authority
we recognize on earth, proclaims “ that the
insurrection is at an end, and that peace,
order, tranquility, and civil authority now
exist in and throughout the whole of the
United States of America.”
G. A. Custer.
Address to the Fenian Brotherhood.
New York, August 20.—The follow
ing is the address of General Sweeney
to the Fenian Brotherhood concerning
political complications:
To the Fenian Brotherhood :—
The old and tried members of the Fenian
Brotherhood regret 10 find thut' somo po
litical papers are endeavoring to mnke it
appear that our organization is about to be
used for party purposes in the upproaching
political campaign, and I cannot allow such
an impression to go abroad without a pro
test on my part. The Fenian Brotherhood
was established for the liberation of Ireland
from a state of foreign misrule aud subju
gation which, for the continuation and in
tensity of its persecution, hus no parallel in
history.
While solely devoted to the grand object
of their mission, the members of the Fenian
Brotherhood sympathize with every strug
gling nationality and are ardeut lovers of
freedom for all men in every land. Two of
the fundamental rules of the organization
are that tho religious and political questions
should be entirely excluded from their
councils, and it is owing chiefly to those
wise provisions that the Fenian Brother
hood, without the aid of a single dollar from
any political party in the country and j n the
face of the most fierce opposition, has S p r ead
its branches into every land and has beco me
the great power in America which qj S to
day. While overy oilizeu in his in
dividual capacity has a right to vote
us his judgment dictates, I upp re hend
that disruption, disaster and the utte r
blighting of all our hopes would be the re
sult of turning the Fenian Brotherhood
into a political organization atthisjuncture.
Although the attempt may be made By
some ambitious men, who must necessarily
exercise influence in so wide spread a com
bination, still I am sure the great majority
of the Fenian Brotherhood are too devoted
to the grand cause to which their lives are
pledged to allow that cause to be swallowed
up in the vortex ol American politics, or to
permit themselves to be diverted for a sin
gle moment from the direct faith which must
eventually lead them to success. The Pitts
burg Congress held in February, 1866, was
very explicit in reference to this matter. In
the sixth day’s session, tho.following resolu
tion was unanimously adopted:
Resolved, That this Congress, in the name
of the Fenian brotherhood, in the most
solemn and emphatic manner, disclaim any
intention, desire or inclination, to use the
power of this organization for the purpose
of influencing, in any form, party politics
in America, such policy being entirely for
eign to our aims and repugnant to our pa
triotism, and those who would attempt to
traffic in the sacred impulses of Irish hearts,
deserve, and should receive, the scorn and
detestation of all brave men.
Whoever attempts to violate, abrogate or
evade that resolution, will incur a serious
responsibility which I am not prepared to
sanction or to share in my official connec
tion with the Fenian Brotherhood.
Exhorting all the members of the organi
zation to persevere in the safe and success
ful course which they have hitherto pur
sued, 1 am theirs, fraternally,
Signed T. W. Sweeney,
Secretary of War, F. B.
Geary’s Platform.
“When I lookaroundthisassemblageand
feel that around me are fellow soldiers,
who have borne arms with me from the first
battle of Bull Run. not one or two from a
regiment, as was tne case at Harrisburg, a
few days ago, shysters and cowards,
SKULKERSand HOSPITAL BUMMERS— I know
such 1b the fact, for I have driven them from
the army myself. They say they are going
to elect Hlester Clymer.”— Geary’s York
Speech.
“When the question of negro suffrag 6
comes up as it will probably in three or fou r
years, T SHALL BE READY 70 MEE7
XT. AND I WILL SAY lAM NOT PRE
PARED TO DEMY THAT RIGHT OF
VOTING TO THE COLORED MAN.—
Geary's Speech at Lochiel Iron Works.
A melon rind upon the sidewalk
caused the death of a lady in Norfolk,
hENATOB COWAN
His Great Speech at Greensburg.
He Defines His Position, and Gives th*
Radicals a Raking Fore and Aft.
From the Pittsburg Post, Aug. 2j.
On Tuesday evening,Senator Cowan wua
announced to speak at the Court House, and
the announcement drew tp Greensburg a
large crowd of strangers. A delegation
went out from this city on the 3 P, M,
train, headed by the Great Western band]
On arriving at Greensburg the visitors
formed in procession, and marched to the
residence of the Senator. Hearty cheers
were given in his honor, and in obedience
to loud calls, he made his appearance and
briefly addressed the crowd, expressing his
personal gratification at this evidence that
his public course had met the approval
his immediate constituency. It was suffi
cient recompense he observed for the abuse
which had been so liberally showered upon
him by the Radicals aud Disunionists.
THE MEETING TUESDAY EVENING.
In the evening, the Court House was
densely crowded to hear Senator Cowan ai
length, on the public questions of the day.
Great curiosity was manifested by men of
all parties to hear this speech, as it was the
first occasion he had spoken in the State in
his own vindication, for several years. The
composition of the meeting itself, was a
flattering compliment to Mr. Cowan. The
substantial men of Westmoreland aud ad
joining counties were present in large num
bers, und his words of counsel and admoni
tion fell upon an intelligent and apprecia
tive audience. It was easy to see from the
general tone of the mooting that Edgu
Cowan has a host of attached personal
friends and admirers of whom any public
inau may well bo proud. The enthusiasm
on his behalf runs at flood height in West
moreland county. Ilis name was universal
ly coupled with that of President Johnsou,
in the cheers at the meeting, and it was
difficult to tell from the demonstrations,
who stood highest with the people, the
President or Senator.
When the Court House had boon so com
pletely paclftd, that it was not possible for
another person to obtain admission, the
meeting was called to order by the election
of Hon. Joseph F. Kuhns, President, and
the usual number of Vice Presidents and
Secretaries. General Kuhns in a brief in
troductory speech, tersely referred to the
organization of parties during the war ; to
the reconstruction policy as first enunciated
by President Lincoln, and subsequently
adopted by President Johnson. Upon this
question the Republican party was now
divided, and it became all good citizens to
calmly investigate the differences between
the President and Congress and assume
their position. In warm terms of admira
tion, the President then referred to Senator
Cowau, and introduced him to the audi
ence, stating that it was fitting that in this
temple of Justice, -.which had been the
cradle of his genius and fluent, he should
be heard in his own defence.
SENATOR COWAN’S SPEECH,
Senator Cowan on making his appearance
on the platform was greeted with most up
roarious cheering. The Senator was in good
voice and spirits, and spoke with decided
animation and confidence. We never wit
nessed a political speech listened to with
closer attention. The arguments appeared
to sink deep in the hearts pf the audience.
The speech was devoid of clap-trap or ap
peals to passion, but was calm, dignified
and argumentative. At some points made
by the Senator, the applause wus very de
cided, but on the whole the audience seemed
00 powerfully impressed by the solemnity
and force of the argument to indulge iu
much cheering. They listened, however,
with all their might and main.
AN APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE.
Senator Cowan expressed his gratification
at seeing men of both political parties pres
ent. He had never doubted that his public
conduct would be justified and sustained
by his constituents und by the American
people. He had never spoken or written a
lino in his defence, hoping that the tit time
for an appeal to the reason ot the people
would come. It has come. An appeal has
been made to the reason of the citizens of
thirty-six States, and that appeal will be
sustained and the Government of our fathers
as it was transmitted to us, will bo handed
down in all its purity to those who are to
come after us. The speaker then referred
in glowing terms to the power of this Gov
ernment; it was powerful beyond all an
cient or modern republics and empires, und
would remain so if we were a united people,
and at home preserved peace and tranquil
lity. To do this it was necessary we all
should yield up something of our pre-con
ceived opinions on the altur of the country,
that the wounds of the nation may be
healed.
PARTIES AND THE WAR.
Mr. Co wail then went into au examination
of the history of the parties in connection
with the war. In the hands of ambitions
men, bo declared the Union party had be
come a Disunion party. He was elected to
the Senate as the candidate of the People’s
party, and not as an Abolitionist. At that
time the Republican party was not an Ab
olition party, but simply opposed the ex
tension of slavery into free territory. He
found when he entered the Senate, two sets
of men iu the Republican party who differed
as widely as Democrats and Republicans.
One set was composed of Abolitionists, who
had no party among the people, but whose
constant cry was that the people must be
educated up to their radical views. The
other was composed of moderate men. In
the excitement of the war, the little knot of
reckless agitators managed to push them
selves to the pout, and then we parted com
pany.
Mr. Cowan next defended his vote against
the expulsion of Jesse D. Bright from the
Senate, and showed that the Senate could
just as properly expel a Pennsylvania
Senator for entertaining views differing
from the majority of the body, us expel Mr.
Bright.
THE WAR POLICY HE ADVOCATED.
When the country became involved in
war, lie was in favor of making it a war of
the whole people. He recollected the Demo
cratic party constituted half thenution.und
he would do nothing to alienate them from
the great end in view of restoring the Union.
The Democrats had to help fight and they
would have to help pay the great debt. He
would never do anything to divide the
country, but the Abolitionists bad done all
in their power, by bringing forward radical
measures, to force the Democrats into a po
sition of opposition. They had got up mea
sures for this express purpose. They pur
sued a policy calculated to divide us at the
North, and injure us at the South among
the people, for when the war broke out the
majority of the Southern people were for
the Union. The negro was the last question
that ought tojhave'.been thrown into politics.
Thousands of good Union'men Southlook
ed at slavery from a different point from
what we at the North did. The radicals
pursued the very policy to strengthen Jeff.
Davis—and he nad no doubt the main
strength of the rebellion lay in the effect
of radical policy at the South. Andrew
Johnson said to him in the Senate, in refer
ring to the radicals, that they were taking
the very words out of the mouths of the
Union men at the South, when they de
fended the people of the North. The radi
cals demonstrated to the South that Jeff.
Davis was correct in his statement of the
abolition purposes of the Northern people.
When negroes were captured In the war,
he was in favor of treating them as other
people who might be captured; bnt Con
gress had passed laws effecting their status;
laws intended to go into operation where
our armies, 200,000 strong, could not pene
trate.
LINCOLN AND JOHNSON.
Mr. Cowan then referred to tho position of
President Lincoln, and showed how he had
resisted the radicals from the beginning, and
that ho had been as bitterly opposed by
Stevens, Sumner, Wade, Winter Davis and
others as Mr. Johnson now Ib. They
managed to drive Mr, Lincolnfrompointto
point, and if be had further resisted them
tho radicals were prepared to sacrifice the
government itself. Only three days before
e issued his emancipation proclamation, ho
declared it to be as absurd as the Pope’s
bull against tho comet. The speaker tnen
l n S? an examination of tho doo
trine of State suloide. He compared it in
absurdity to tho doctrine of bank suicide or
lu B <S lcldo of a turnpike company. If all
the officers of Pennsylvania died to-day the
Sif* 8 still exist. The State cannot
, ,5 G ordinances of secession did not
effect them. He then took up the recon
struction policy initiated by Mr. Lincoln,
and carried out by Andrew Johnson, Hi
showed that the position ofthese two states
men was identical. He explained at length
NUMBER 34.
the action of Presidents Lincoln and John
son in regard to Louisiana, and traced the
origin of the New Orleans riot to the machi
nations of the radicals. The President had
no more to do with them than any of'ttie
i audience. Mr.Lincolninventedtbepresent
method of reconstruction. Be it good or
bad, Mr. Johnson had no more responsibility
for it than an executor for the debts c fan
, ©state he is called upon to settle. On this
point, he challenged discussion at all times
an 7 P® l-8011 * He cared not to meet
■ the riff-raff, but bring on vourSumnersand
Wades and Stevenses. He defied any one
that .^ r * had doDe any-
H« 0p f >08ition to the policy set forth by
Mr. Lincoln. H e had no objections to tb'e
‘i Wuy from their Principles,
but they must not call him apostate.
THE SOUTH AND SOUTHERN PEOPLE.
. _Vr 1 ’ next referred in graphic terms
to the sufferings of the Southern people.
The only thing that could create a actional
party in this country was slavery, and
slavery beiug abolished, we could all now
stand together in promoting the power of
the nation. He showed that the fundamen
tal error of the radicals was their feur of
trusting the people. They do nottaketheui
into account at all. When it was perceived
that the Union could be restored—that the
States were coming back, these radicals
iound they had caught a tartar. They did
not want a restored Union, for they were
fearful the Southern people would ally
themselves with the Democrats, and take
charge of the government. Well, what if
they did ? The Democrats would not de
stroy the government. We were all equally
interested in preserving it. He believed
the best and purest plan would be for par
ties to go in and out, turn about, ns they
did in old Whig and Democratic times.
Mr. Cowan then reviewed the theory of
Senator Fesseuden in his report from the
famous Committee of Fifteen, that the peo
ple of the South wore not fit to be restored
to their former relations to the government.
If that was true, then ind(M)d was the Union
gone. He characterized the clap-trap cry
abont admitting bloody handed rebel’s
back to their old position under the gov
ernment. us silly balderdash. What was
the war for but to bring them back? The
war was never made for conquest. So
Congress declared in 18(51. Was not that
enough ? What good would a war for con
quest do you?- A governmontof the people 1
never makes conquests; and especially con- '
quests of men of the same race and religion '
—of your own kindred, your brothers and
cousins. Kings and emperors may wage 1
war for conquest to increase their revenue,
but the people can gain nothing by such a '
war. Why then should you enslave the
people of the South ? Thank God you can- '
not do it if so disposed. God has placed a 1
barrier to such an outrage in the very char- I
acter of our people. If you could enslave <
them, they would not be fit to live with '
you under the same form of government. 1
WHY THE REHEL3 ARE NOT TRIED.
The South had been punished sufficient
already. When that section invoked war it
suffered all its horrors. The speaker hero
pictured the condition of the Southern peo
ple—their poverty, and the universal
mourning iu every household. Yet Con
gress proposed to punish them further, by
depriving them of all their civil rights in
the government. Why were not the leaders
punished then? it was asked. The speaker
then showed whose fault it was that Mr.
Davis had not been tried, lie hod been au
thorized to say on the lloor of the Senate, to
the radicals, that they could have as many
rebels punished as they desired—no mutter
whether it was five or ten thousand—but
they must be tried and punished according
to law. The President was not the person
to try them. This duty belongs to the hum
blest individual as well as to the highest.
If you wish Davis punished, try him ac
cording to law. Indict him by a grand
jury, and then try him before a petit jury.
If you convict him or other rebels, then
comes in the province of the President, as
an executive officer, in the exercise of the
power of clemency if ho thinks proper to
use it. The reason Davis had not been tried
was well known. Judge Chase, the very
leader of the radical fanatics, hud refused
to do so, when asked by the President, al
though the indictment was laid in his
(Chase’s) district. Judge Underwood had
offered to try him. He would be well tried
by that man. if the attempt was made. If
Underwood lived in Greensburg, he might
possibly bo considered competent for u
petty magistrate, but ho would have to take
good care of himself. Judge Chase don’t
want the question of the legality of seces
sion and the extent of State rights to come
up for settlement before him, and the reason
is well understood. The question is sur
rouuded by difficulties the people do not
understand, and the Radicals do not intend
they shall. All the Radicals advocated se
cession before the war. What was the posi
tion of the men who declared “the Union
a league with hell and a covenant with
death?" Were they not secessionists ? At
this late day to hang a man for acting out
their doctrine would be too much for even a
Radical stomach. That is the reason J udge
Chase does not want to try Jeff. Davis. The
Radicals are fearful of their own records on
this question.
REPUBLICANS STAND BY THE PRESIDENT.
Mr, Cowan urged upon tho Republican
party to stand by the President. He was a
good man—a wise and honest man. Hois
a safe man, too. and will do nothing rashly.
If we do not follow his guidance what lea
ders shall we follow? Shall we submit to
the leadership of Stevens and Sumner ?
Are they safe mon? Why, Judge Scott,
at tho Republican meeting yesterday, hud
repudiated them as leaders. Thaddeus
Stevens was and always had been a dan
gerous politician. Do you remember that
buck-shot war ho got up and engineered?
It was precisely similar to the war now
waged by the radicals upon the rights of tho
South to representation. In the buck-shot
war the attempt was made to exclude rep
resentatives from our Legislature, who had
been duly elected, until Stevens was chosen
to the United States Senate. But tho at
tempt had been thw’arted by the determi
nation of tho people, precisely as this at
tempt will bo frustrated. The radicals hope,
if the South is kept out, they will maintain
their position in control of the government,
and that is the secret of their opposition to
representation. He was personally friendly
to Messrs. Stevens and Sumner, and with
all the members of Congress, but he would
not for millions follow the lead of such
men. They believe in negro equality, and
the speaker could not believe with them.
THE FUTURE OF THE NEGRO.
The speaker next entered into an' exam
ination of the condition of the negro race of
the South. He believed the advocates of so
cial and political equality for the negro
were tho worst enemies the negro had.
They could compete with tho white race!
Since the war commenced, it was estimated
that one million of negroes had perished
because thrown out on tho world, without
the guidance of a master, they were as chil
dren and could not face tho battle of life.
The poor man North, has a severe struggle
himself, at every stage of his life to layup
sufficient for sickness and old age. But the
negro, naturally indolent and improvident,
would waste in one day the accumulated
earnings of a life-time, fie never looked to
the future. He has but 81 inches of brain to
92 inches in tho white race. His fate when
brought into competition with thedomineer-
ing, enterprising, rapacious active white
man, will be the same as that of a weak
plant alongside one of strong and healthy
growth. One-fourth of the negroes in this
country before the war, are now gone, and
before one hundred years they will all be
gone. There is nothing horrible in tho
thought, for in thirty years, probably none
of us will be living. But we will propogate
ourselves, and live again in our children.
With the negro it Is different. Unac-
customed to care for themselves or their
children, now that they are deprived of
the protection of tho white man whose
interest it wus that they should live and
thrive, the race will in time become extinct.
The abolition of slavery/ is the extinction of
the negro race on this Continent. He no
longer has the protection and guardianship
of the master. He can not get that now,
but must fight out his own way in the
world, and struggle in competition with a
race that buys everything as low and sells
everything as high as possible. Throw the
negro into politics and what chance would
he stand with you, or any other white man?
u e^ arno 1 &W l^at sweepsawnytholndiun,
the Bushman, and the Australian will gov
ern the negro, and drive him before he all-
powerful white race, into mere oblivion.
The speaker here referred to the mental and
physiological peculiarities of the negro.
Whatever horrors may have existed under
Alrican slavery, at tho South, were eclipsed
a million of times, In Africa, by tho slavery
that exists there to-day among the negroes.
When left to themselves they enslaved each
othor, and what could bo more terrible tbuu
being a slave to slaves? Yet that was tin ir
condition In their own land. Mr. Cowan
referred to the fact that the shrewd and in-
telligent among the negroes themselves
were opposed to the attempt to thrust thorn
forward into politics. He said that when
he moved to amend the bill regulating
suffrage In the District of Columbia by con
fining iy» exorcise to white mon, delegations
of Influential and prominent negroes waited
on him, and thanked him for his motion.
They did not want to vote, for they appre
ciated the Inevitable effoctof being brought
into political contests with the dominant
race.
WHO SUPPORT THE PRESIDENT.
Mr, Cowan urged the Union men tostand
by their trusted and tried leaders, in this
emergency, and not wander off after such
strange radical goods as Stevens and Som-
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■ SSJK&X
■ 'n Europe,
■ had displayed In building up ou?nWto b!
• the wonder oi world, stood by tho pSdent
ibo did Secretary McCullough, one oftho firet
1 financiers oftho aoe, who wus now struggling
,o .K°* out of the tinaucial difficultly mS
which Chaso had involved the country
Stanton stands.by tho President too, and eh
dorsos everything ho does. And where la
the hrst military man of tho world—where
does General Grantstand on these questions
of reconstruction ? With the President.
.The last we hear of General Grant Is his
receiving, In company with tho President
the congratulations oftho Committee oftho
great Philadelphia Convention. You will
recollect how ho wns assailed by the radi
cals, when ho went South and reported upon
the condition of tho Southern Suites, Liou
tenant General Sherman wns with the Presl
dont heart and soul. This ho knew moro
decidedly than ho knew of General Grant's
position, through Mr. Kwing, of Ohio,
Sherman S laffior-iii-iaw, one of tho most
Pri,°!i UU e lnfl “ on hM supporters of tho
President s policy ui the Union. Sher
man was with tho President with nl
his great ami characteristic earnestness
of purpose. So was Orff; Sheridan. Han
cock and in fact every General wlio had
ncquitted himself as a thorough soldier
One of your own Generals—ono of the
bravest of the brave—who hud boon shot
through and through, and round and round
—General Richard Coulter stood firmly by
the President in his great work of reconcili
ation. But what military men were with
the radicals? Why every sham General
that served in the army—overy polo with a
cocked hat stuck on it—all tho Butlers and
Schurzs. Every fellow who blew his own
trumpet, and carried a newspaper corres
pondent with him to write his bloodless
battles up—every General who made stump
speeches—all these fellows us a mutter of
course aro with the Radicals and very free
in denouncing tho President, (It was gen
erally understood by tho audience, that
Senator Cowan in his description of tho
sham Generals who train with tho radicals,
hud Geury especially in his mind’s oyo, and
tho cheering and laughter of tho nudieneo
grew uproarious as he oponed his batteries
of ridicule and denunciation on tho hero
of Suickursville.J
Tlroso who adhero to tho President in
his policy of peace and restoration, lmvo
with them tho patriotism and intelligence
ol tho whole country, North and South.
W u have appealed to the people, mid tho
speaker believed tho appeal would bo tri
umphantly sustained. But, if wo cannot
get tho victory—if this radical rule is to
contiuue to afflict the land—there is some
thing in waiting for us, worso—far worse
than all the horrors of the late war.
THE HEMKDY
Mr. Cowan next proceeded to discuss tho
remedy for tho disorganized condition of
tho country, and tho certain preventive of
the greater evils impending in tho near fu
ture. This remedy was very simple, and
lay in a laithful adherence to the plain pro
visions of the Constitution. EachSUito has
the undoubted right of representation; not
only that, but it was tho duty of every
State to send ropresntatives to Congress.
Tho States lately in rebellion wore entitled
by the law of IHtiU—a law voted for by ono
of the gentlomon who addressed tho meet
ing yesterday—they were entitled under
this law to lifty-eighL representatives in
Congress. Obey the law by admitting tho
representatives already elected to seats, and
that ends the whole trouble, and gives peace
to tho country. But Congress says the peo
ple of these Slutes uro not entitled to repre
sentation. They musl submit to tho bur
thens of taxation, without bcingropreseuted.
Oftho throo co-ordinate departments of tho
government, two of them, tho Executive
and Judicial, have decided that tho South
ern Slates have been restored to their prac
tical relations to liiu rest oftho Union. Tho
President lias recognized them as Stales
in and of the Union. Tho Supremo
Court has done the same thing, and In that
august tribunal the Status lately in rebel
lion aro regularly culled, and cases arising
in them heard tho same us causes from other
Status. But Congress reluses to rocognizo
these Suites, and admit them to representa
tion, on the broad, ilul ground that tho
States and the people of the States aro not
entitled to representation! That doctrine
is the doctrine of dissolution—of disunion—
ot unurchy. If wo keep tlieso people out
ol tho Union we throw tho country into a
state of anarchy. Jt is your right, oqual
with their own, that they should I>o repre
sented. When I address thoSenateto dny,
on behalf of tho people of Pennsylvania, I
have a right to have—it is your right—that
there should bo twenty more Senators thero.
If they hud been there, tho wise and mod
erate in Congress would have had the loud
in shapiug legislation, instead of tho noisy
and funulieul demagogues who now rulo
tho legislation of tho country.
Mr. Cowan concluded by expressing tho
hopo that we may be able to restore tho
Union of our fathers. That achievement
wHI bo glory enough for this generation.
The report wo huvo given in no respect
does justice If) Mr. Cowan’s eloquent effort.
We huvo been able to do little moro than
present tho leading points of an argument
elaborated by him in a Hpoech of twohour’H
(Juration, jfo concluded amid hearty out
bursts of applause. “Three cheers for
Cowan” wore given with a will, and so en
grossed had the audience become with tho
matter and manner of tho speech, that they
demanded he should go on. Every ono
seemed astounded when informed that Mr.
Cowan had spoken two hours. No one
seemed to think ho had occupied half the
time, and this, we take it, is about as great
a compliment as a public speaker can well
receive.
OTHER SPEAKERS.
Ex-Governor Johuston followed Mr. Cow-
an in a forcible speech, on tho general sub
jects reconstruction. Col. James K. Kerr,
of the Fourth Pennsylvania cavalry, and
J. R. Rutterfield, also mude brief addresses.
Tho meeting adjourned with-rousing cheers
for the President and Senator Cowan.
We must not omit to state quite a largo
number of ladies graced the meeting by
their presence, and that tho good order
maintained was somethingunapproachnble
in our city gatherings.
AFTER THE
MEETING,
The enthusiasm of tho crowd at tho moot
ing was not allowed to abate at ilsudjourn
ment. A series of serenades was impro
vised and carried out iu good spirit. A pro
cession was formed, und, headed by tho
band, marched to tho residence of Hon.
Henry D. Foster. He was called, out and
spoke brieily.aud well. Next, a call on Gen.
Richard Couiter was declared to be in order,
and to tho residence of the gallant Gen
eral Dick the crowd wended its way.
He made a soldierly speech—a modol of
frankness and genial humor. Next, the
procession willed on E. J. Keenan, Esq.,
und cheered him into a brief speech. K.
L. Johnston, Esq., Democratic candidate
for Congress in the Cambria district, also
spoke from Mr. Keenan’s office. Tho pro
cession then formed into lino again, und
called on .Senator Cowan. Tho band treat
ed the Senator to its most melodious sounds,
and the crowd stretched their lungs to the
utmost, but failed to again bring out the
hero of the day. “Mr. Cowan had retired,”
wus the announcement. By this time it
was pretty near train time, and the Pitts
burg delegation inarched to the depot, took
the one o'clock train, and arrived at home,
in a remurkably upright condition, about
three o’clock yesterday morning.
Radicalism Exploding.
We call attention to the infuriated
resolutions adopted by the Pennsyl
vania Radicals in their convention at
Reading, yesterday. “The manmade
President by J. Wilkesßooth,” isHbeir
decorous designation of the President
of the United States, and they speak of
the Democratic party in language
equally dignified anu tasteful. This
brutal ferocity is excited because the
President adheres to tho policy pro
claimed to the world by both Houses of
Congress the firstyearof the war, found
ed on the explicit language of tne Con
stitution of the United States, and cor
dially indorsed by the most respected
statesmen of the country and the most
brilliant soldiers of the war. It is the
policy of General Grant, os well as of
President Johnson, which calls forth
this torrent of indecent virulence and
vituperation. It has been publicly
sanctioned by eminent Jurists like
Judge Curtis, who pronounced the ad
mired dissenting opinion in the Dred
Scott case, and Thomas Ewing, the
ablest surviving contemporary of Web
ster and Clay, to whose school of politics
he belonged; by accomplished scholars
and statesmen, like Mr. Winthrop and
William C. Rives ; by eminent citizens
remarkablo for their moderation, good
Judgment, and great stake In the publlo
tranquility, like Hamilton Fish and
William 13. Astor; and, though last
not least, by the distinguished generals
who have signed the call to the great
Soldiers’ Convention,
- And itis men likethese f who, together
with the President, are aspersed In such :
blackguard language by suoh fellows as.
John W. Forney and his malignant
Radical confederates.—iV. Y. World,