

755 



tho Natio:: 'i ivcm amended 



.; two 



!'* from among tlio support. TS of I/ni- 



Liid .loin. !, who were in f.i\..r 



of the principles s.'t forth in tho cull, and two 



..mi their opponents. In the South- 



u.lii.g nuinher of (hi. 



slum! ; i I'.v t!io people generally, who 



the principles of the cull. 



nitteo of the organization by which 



'uilii'k'lphu Convention had been called, 



'y loth addressed letters to each member 



int't, requesting a reply if they ap- 



1 the (-ill, and the principles avowed in it 



for the Philadelphia Convention. The Beo- 



. Mr. SL \vurd, on July llth, in 



reply, said: 



Excuse me for expressing surprise that yon nsk mo 

 whether I approve of the cull of a proposed National 

 Union Convention at Philadelphia. 



After more thau five years of dislocation by civil 

 war, I regard a restoration of the unity of the coun- 

 try as its most immediate as well as its most vital 

 !. That restoration will be complete wh<-:i 

 loyal men are admitted as representatives of the loyal 

 people of the eleven States so long unrepresented^ in 

 ( 'on^ress. Nothing but this can complete it. Noth- 

 ing more remains to be done and nothing more is 

 -.iry. Every day's delay is attended by mul- 

 tiplying and increasing inconveniences, embarrass- 

 ments, and dangers, at home and abroad. Congress 

 possesses the power exclusively j Congress, after a 

 session of seven months, still omits to exercise that 

 power. " What can be done to induce Congress to 

 act ? " This is the question of the dav. Whatever is 

 done must be in accordance with the Constitution and 

 laws. It is in perfect accordance with the Constitution 

 and laws that the people of the United States shall 

 assemble, by delegates, in convention, and that when 

 BO assembled they shall address Congress by respect- 

 ful petition and remonstrance, and that the people in 

 their several States, districts, and Territories, shall 

 approve, sanction, and unite in such respectful rep- 

 1 itions to Congress. No one party could do 

 this effectually, or even seems willing to do it, alone ; 

 no local or popular organization could do it eflect- 

 ually. It is the interest of all parties alike ; of all 

 the States, and of all sections a national interest; 

 the interest of the whole people. 



The Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Welles, on tho 

 same day, replied : 



I cordially approve the movement which has been 

 instituted I'D "sustain the Administration in main- 

 taining unbroken the Union of tho States," and I 

 recognize in the call which you have sent me the 

 principles and views by which tho Administration 

 has been governed. 



The attempt made to destroy the national integrity 

 by secession, or the voluntary" withdrawal of a State 

 from the Union, has been defeated. War has for- 

 ever extinguished the heresy of secession. On the 

 suppression of the nchellion, measures were promptly 

 commenced to reOstabli . h those fraternal relations 

 which for four years had been interrnp 1 



The policy initiated by President Lincoln to re- 

 store national unity was adopted and carried for- 

 ward by Pre.-ident Johnson; the States whieh had 

 been in rebellion were, under this benign policy, 

 itog their legitimate functions; the people had 

 laid down their arms, and those who had been in in- 

 surrection were returning to their allegiance: the 

 Constitution had been vindicated, and the Union 

 was supposed to be restored, when a check was put 

 upon the pn^n^^ t > national harmony and pros- 

 1-Tlty thiij dawning upon the country. On tho as- 



sembling of Congress all effort* toward union and 



this mea- 



BTM of reconciliation whi-h ihe ('resident hud, irom 

 tin- time he entered upon hi* dm. I with 



eminent .-.; L-t-.aili-d, mid tlii-ir beneficent 



purposes, to a great extent defeated ; at 



conditions pn-ci'di-iit upon 



before permitting ih.-ni to exercise their constitu- 

 tional rights; loyal Senators and Representatives 

 uhich hud been in rebellion were 



1 admittance into Congress the people were 

 denied rightful constitutional representation and 



, States were and are excluded from all partici- 

 pation in the Government. These proceedings, which 

 contlict with the fundamental princi] les on which 

 our whole government system is Conn led, are gen- 

 crating and consolidating sectional animosity, and, 

 if long persisted in, must eventuate in permanent 

 aliei'ution. I rejoice, therefore, in a movement which 



. its object the union in one bond of love of 

 the people of our common country, and which in- 

 vites to council and to political action the citizens of 

 everv State and Territory, from the Atlantic to tho 

 Pacific, and from the Lakes to the Gulf. The cen- 

 tralizing theory that the loyal and qualified Senators 

 and Representatives from eleven States shall be ex- 

 cluded from Congress, and that those States and the 

 people of those States shall not participate in the 

 Government, is scarcely loss repugnant than that of 

 secession itself. 



The Attorney-General, Mr. James Speed, of 

 Kentucky, replied, on July 14th, approving of 

 many of tho principles set forth in the call, and 

 yet not approving of the call itself. He said : 



I will briefly state my reasons, first premising that 

 I do not recognize the very respectable gentlemen 

 who have made this call as the acknowledged organs 

 of the great Union party of the country. Since the 

 outbreak of the terrific struggle from which tho 

 country has now emerged, we have had a national 

 Union party that has exhibited more devotion, made 

 greater sacrifices, and manifested more unselfish 

 patriotism, than any party ever did previously in tho 

 history of the world. That party is still in being, 

 with its organization intact, and its organs known, 

 and as that party, by its faith, its doctrines, and its 

 exertions, has, in face of the prophecies of half the 

 New, and all the Old World, saved the Government 

 and the republican institutions of our oommon country 

 from demoralization, and, indeed, from utter ruin, by 

 vindicating at all hazard the primordial theory of the 

 eternal and indissoluble union of the States, through 

 which only can a particle of the theory of State 

 rights ever be maintained and carried out, it would 

 appear to me to be still the only, or, at any rate, the 

 most effectual means, as far as party can do it, for 

 finally adjusting all the remaining minor and un- 

 settled matters of reconstruction consistently with 

 the requirements of the theory mentioned. 



This party is the same to-day as it was in the days 

 of its trial : tho same party now as when, but a few 

 short months ago, it elected Lincoln and Johnson, 

 and the majority of the present Congress, and as I 

 acted with it for paramount reasons, my sense of duty 

 demands that I remain and act with it now. 



The pith and marrow of the present call, I should 

 say, tends toward a convention to form a partv for 

 .imr, not the Government entire " as has been 

 the mission of tho Union party " but a department 

 of the Government; and hers I must take the liberty 

 of adding that I can hardly conceive of any sadder 

 spectacle under the crisis of present circums 1 

 than that of tho tried Union party of the country bo- 

 coming disloyal and broken up by divisions, or that 

 of one oranch of government of the country taking 

 n upon questions of deep common 

 interest, and placing itseli in hostile conflict with a 

 coordinate d 



