z - ARTES

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wards those.who, during the Revolutionary war,
‘refused to fight for the Independence of tre Col-
ovies. The ‘oriés of that day insisted that their
allegiance and loyalty were due to the King. and

U
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| Government would tolerate no such argument.— |
Determined to create a pure National sentiment,
they madé Toryism odious in every possible way.
‘They admitted none cf them to seats in the Con-
gress of the Nation against which they had warr-
ed.
graves of the Tory dead, nor the ‘use of such pre--
-texts for treasonable speeches of eulogy on their | -
lost cause.

} tions for Pensions and the Public Debt, and Leg-
| islition for all matters of Natioual concern, to

5

onvention, 9th Dist:
Indiana.

C Congressional Cc rict of

: - Wesrvitte, July 10,1866.
|. The convention was called to order at 16 o'-
clock by Geo. B. Roberts, chairman of the Con-
gressional committee, and on’ motion, was per-
maneniy organized by the choles of the follow-
ing officers: :
Gol. T..H. Briaghurst, President.
Vice Presipents—Benton. W. Rollins ; Css,
Dr. Justice ; Fulton, Capt. Calkins; Jasper, E.
Wright; Lake, Hon. D. Turner ; i.aPorte, Dr.
Teegarden; Marshall, I. Mattingly, Miami, H.
C. Chapin; Newton, E. L. Urmston ; Pulaski,
John Barnard ; Porter, Gen. 1. C. B. Suman;
Stark, J, S. Bender; St. Joseph, Maj. J. M.
‘Pierce ; White. Judge C. H: Test.
| ° Corydon E, Fuller. Principal Secretary.
_All the Union Editors of the District—Assist-
}ant Secretaries. i Le eg
-On motion of J.B. Belford, a committee o?
one from each county was appointed to report
Resolutions. Said committee ia as follows :
LaPorte, Charles Catheart ; St. Joseph, James
Davis; Miami, J. Y. Ballou; Jasper, R. S. Drig
gins; Newton, John Aid: Cass, J. T. Bryan;
Starke, Samuel Beattie; Fulton, K. G. Shryock;
Lake, E. €. Fields; Wnhite,C. H. Test , Benton
Wright Rollins ; Marshall, Marcus L. Smith ;
Porter, J. ¥: Heaton; Pulaski, Enoch H. Brewer.
James Davis of St. Joseph county announced |
‘that W. J. Holloway and himself had received a
a létter from Hon. Schuyler Colfax. to be read to
this convention, and on motion, Mr. Davis then
read the following letter: :
Dear Su :

LETTER ¥ROM SPEAKER COLFAX.
House oy Representatives,
Wasuineron, July 2d, i866.

The harmony and success of the Union organi-
zation, welded together. in the. furnace-fire of a
four years war, is of such paramount importance
to all other considerations, that I write you this
letter to be read at the Westville Convention,that
my position may be unmistakably understood by
‘those who have honored mv with their confidence
so cordially and so long.

Last winte:, when my name had been suggest
ed by several papers in various parts of the State
for the Senate, I published a card stating that I
was not,and never had been a candidate for that
distinguished position, having always preferred
eervice in the House. But my name must not be
in the way a single moment, if any considerable
portion of the Convention prefer some other stan-
dard-bearer, even though that portion should be
a minority. In that event, the Delegation from
St. Joseph County are requested to withdraw mv
name, and to pledge my most earnest exertions
to whoever of the many active and faithfal friends
of tbe Union eause the Convention may prefer to
nominate. ae St

The contest before usis of as vital importance
to the truest-and best interests of the Nation as
the exciting contests of 1862 and 1864; and the
issues should be clearly and distinctly defined be-
fore the people. They can be condensed into a

oe:

Ie

Councils of the Nation, Loy:
alty?? It has been well
terse as it is true, that the power to carry on War
National Existence carries with it the power to
prescribe-the terms of Peace. ‘Ihe duty of guar-
ing the lang against the danger of a second Re-
bell!Ja" iS as imperative as its preservation from

e first. And nothing seems clearer than that
the same authority which prevented the eleven
States from destroying the Union, has a right as
indisputable as the right of self defence, to regu-
late the resumption of the relations of these States.
- When the rebel armies surrendered, the Presi-
dent decided, and rightly, that civil Governmezt
had been destroyed in each of the Rebel States,

alty or Disloy=

3 to the Provisional Gevernors thereof—
F ongressional policy starts from the very
same initial point. “Lhe Presidert declared that
essential conditions, involving great changes,must
be complied with by those States before they
could resume their forfeited rights. And so does
Congress. ‘The President required the ratification
of an important Constitutional amendment,which
had been submitted by a Congress representing
the. loyal States. and in which the rebel States
‘had no voice. And Congress- makes a simif-
ar demand to-day. If the President could Tright-
tully require their ratification of one amendment,

troying what they regarded as vested mghts of
property, propcsed in a Congress in which they
were unrepresented, and in conflict, as it was,with
their lifelong prejudices, why cannot the Congress
elected as the law-making power of the country,
by the same voters as himself, require the ratifi-
cation of another amendment, preventing the reb-
e] States from wielding increased power hereafter
because of the war, which, against their desires,
had lifted their slaves into the full stature of free-
men.

That this amendment is in accordance with the
wishes of the loyai millions who won the brilliant
political victory of 1864, is proven by the unanim-
/ity with which it was supported in the House of
We cduracves, Every man, elected asa Union
member, whether from the North or the South,
from the East or the West, gave it his vote ; not
barely the two-thirds required by the Constitu—
tion, but nearly four-fifths. On this amendment,
as a security for the future, the Union party of
the Nation have planted themselves; and I shall
'stand with them most cordially, vindicating its
justice, wisdom and necessity, and willing upon it
to stand or full. i: : i

For o::e, 1 do not doubt the result. Shall reb-
els settle their own terms of coming back to gov-
ern us? Shall they re-ascend to enlarged and ins
creased power, using as steps the graves of the
Union dead? Should not Congiess, whose sal-
emn duty it is to see that the Re; ublic suffers no
evi], pause before the bitter foes of yesterday are
admitted to theinner sanctuary of the Nations
life? Ought they not to guard the Halls of Na-
tional. islation fr ing n by the teet
of those who have been murdering the defenders
tortie Union for fidelity to an allegiance they
themselves repudiated? . =

Every newspaper in the land, North or South,
which eulogized Sefferson Davis and villified Ab-
raham Lincoln, now denounces Congress inthe
severest terms. HKvery unrepentant rebel and un-
scrupulous syrpathiser joins them in their revi!-
ings. But I rejoice that it has been so faithful, so
inflexible, in what it has regarded asthe pathway
of Duty and of Right. And it now remains for
the People, by their endorsement or rejection of
its proposed Constitutional guaranty, to approve
or to condemn those who present it as an indis -
pensible prerequisite to the restoration ef the for-
feited rights and the political power eur enemies
made such hot. haste to resign and _abjure at the
commencement. of the Rebellion.
Nor are these terms oppressive or unjust. Nev-
er has a Nation, whose existence has been imper-
illed, and whose hundreds of thousands of graves
and thousands.of millions of debt, attest its gigan-
tic sacrifices, offered more lenient conditions to
those who conspired for its destruction. Have we
forgetten the insulting ¢efiance with which their
members, sworn like ourselves to the Constitution
and the Union, left their seats here—the persecu-
tions, conscriptions, tyrarny, expulsions and ‘hang-
ings by the rebel antoorities of all who refused to
forswear like themselves, their allegiauce to their

x

country and tkeir flag—the wilful torture and |.

starvation of scores of thousands of our soldiers
“when prisoners in their hands~ their unyieldirg,

persistency in the parricidal conflict till armed re=|—

‘bellion expired, not from change of will but from
poverty of resources and the herossm of the loyal
boys in blue—the continued existence of this hos-
tile feeling as evidenced in their political and so-
cial proscription of every Southerner who fought
for his country, the disloyal utterances of their
press and the pulpit, and the election in every
Rebel State of Governors who had served or
fought for the Rebellion ? Despite all this, Gon-
gress only asks that a re; resentation, North and
South, shall be based on those eligible to partic.’

List preserved inviolate ; the Rebel Debt repu-

o the Nation, could not be trusted in the faith-
ful fulfilment hereafter of another similar obli-
gation. ;

Jand. Such w

| Struction policy of Congress, so mild and forgiv-

| the-result with the deepest anxiety. The magni-

single question: * Which shall govern in the

said in language as!

ed that fact in hss com=-|

changing their whole system of labor and des-

iated ; and exclusion from office of those who,
aving once taken and broken an oath of fidelity

Contrast this with the course ofour Fathers to-

hat they should not be compelled to transfer
hens. But the stern patriots who founded our

They allowed no floral processions to the

They suffered no Tory papers to ex-
ist, and scatter their malignant .treasen over the
as the Reconstruction policy of our’

{
Fathers. _ : 5 al
Strongly in contrast with this, as is the Recon-|..

ing of the bluckes! of crimes, not .for revenge but
for defence, not for punishment but for justice,our
Democratic opponents have arrayed themselves
against it, and the people are to decide the issue.
If you would take on board as a crew to’ work
your ship, those who had just been striying to
scuttle and destroy it, then it might be believed
that the American people would throw open the
doors of their Corgress. and entrust appropria:

those who sought to whelm the Nation in a com-
mon ruin, and who if they had the power to-day, |
would shatter the Republic and rebuild - their
Confederacy. = 3 :
Jn 1864, when the Democratic National Con- |
‘veitlon at Chicago resolved thac the War was a
failure and demanded an immediate cessation of
‘hostilities by our armies, thus waving the white
flag of surrender, Jefferson Davis,. the President
of the Rebel conspiracy, waited and watched for

fieent uprising of the people destroyed his hopes;
‘and, with the resistless blows of our gallant sold-
jers, his wicked cause went down. Now, in 1866.
A. H. Stephens, the Vice President of that trea-
-sonable Organization. proclaims that their hope
is in'the elections of this fall. Again these false
hopes must be destroyed. | The rebel States will
realize, inthe résponse of the loyal miilions to
the issue, that the determination of those who sa-
ved the U ion from their fierce attacks, to have
guarantees against another Rebellion is inflexible.
Yielding .as'they must to these demands, which,
considering their course, are even more generous
ghan just, the Fortieth Congress will witness loy-
al Senators and Representatives in their seats
from every State. And the Union, thus_auspic—|
iously recoustructed, on the enduring corner-
stones of Loyalty, Universal Liberty, the elevation
of the oppressed, and the right of all men, bern
under our flag or naturalized in our Courts, to
the-equal protection of the law, will commence a
new career of progress, prusperity and power.
Truly Yours, ScuuyLer Cocrax.

To Jas. Davis and E 2

W .J. Holloway. *

; Congressional Committee for
2 ss St, Joseph County.
~ Hon. Ezra Wright, of Jasper Co., then
moved that Hon. Schuyler Colfax be nom-
inated by acclamation. Before . putting
this motion inquiry was made by the Pres-
ident whether there were any other can-
didates before thé Convention. None be-
ing named, the motion was unanimously
and enthusiastically adopted. _
After announcement that Gen. Nathan
Kimball was present, and would address
the Convention, when it should re-assem-
ble, a motion to-adjourn until 14 o’clock
was adopted.

1% o’clock P. M.
On motion, Congtessional Committee
of two from each county was appointed as
follows : :

Fulton—K. G. Shryock, (Chairman,) W.
H. Calkins,
St. Joseph—John Gallagher, Geo, Mil-
| burn. : ]
LaPo:
ford. 3
Lake-—D. Pettibone, B. Woods.
Pulaski—b, H. Brewer, Samuel Ward.
Porter—Gen. R. A Cameron, Aaron Gur-
hey.
MarshaH—Marcus L. Smith. I. Matingly.
Stark—Samuel Beattie, Jno. S: Bender.
Cass—Col. T. H. Bringhurst, J. M. Jus-
tice. mete =
Jasper—Ezra Wright, David B. Halstead.
Miami—J. M. Brown, W. S. Benham.
Fewton—Wm. Ross. Silas Johnson.
White—C. H. Test, M.N. Sill, i
Benton—Wright Rollins, John’ A Camp-
bell. ;
Charles W. Cathcart, Chairman of the}
committee on Resolutions made the follow-
ing report, which was unanimously adopt-
ed : E : a
We, the loyal voters of the Ninth Congression -
al District of Indiana, in mass: Convention as-
sembled. do hereby resolve, =~
Ist—Thut next.to Him who. holds the destiny
‘of nations in His hands, our gratitude is due to
our brave and. heroic army and navy for rescuing
| our country from the perils of a gigantie rebell-
ion; and that in part payment of the debt we owe
them, we declare that bounties should be equal-
ized and pensions increased. gs
2d—We hold that the power to carry on a war
for na‘ional existence carries with it the power
to prescribe the terms of peace. The duty of
g tarding the land against a second -ebellion is as
imperative as its preservation from the first, and
nothing seems clearer than that the same author-
ity which prevented eleven States from destroy-
ing the Union, has a right, indisputable as the
right of self-defense, to regulate the: resumption
of the relations of those States to the Union.
3d—The proposed amendment to the constitu-
tion, that representation in Congress shall be
baSed on those eligible to participate in political
power ; that the civil rights of all persons, native
born or naturalized, shall be maintained ; the na-
tional debt and pension list preserved iuviolate ;
tne rebel debt repudiated, and exclusion from of-
fice of those who, having once taken and broken
an oath of fidelity to the nation, could not be
trusted in the faithful - fulfilment herea.ter of a
similar obligation, is a measure just, wese and -ne-
-cessary, and which we cordially approve and en-
dorse. 3 2 Z
4th— Maintaining these principies, with the
patriotic Colfax for our staniard bearer, whose
course as our Representative we approve, we en-
ter the canvass confident in the justice of our
cause, and pledge ourselves at the ensuing elec—
tion to return by a triumphant majority, our gal-
lant champion to the seat he has so long filled | :
with honor to himself and credit to his constitu: |
ents. : >
_5th—The nominations made by the Union State |-
Convention we most heartily approve, and heres
by pledge ourse)ves to use all honorable means
to secure the election of the nominations.
6th—That we heartily endorse and approve |. :
the acts of Gov. Morton in the administration ‘of
‘the affairs of our State, and rejoice to know that
heis regaining his health and former vigor.

On motion, the following resolution was
also adopted : 5. : :

Resolved, That the thanks of this_ convention
are due and are hereby tendered’ ‘to the citizens
of Westville for the genezous hospitality extended
to the members ot this convention during our so-
journ among them.

_ Gen. Nathan Kimball, Union candidate
for State Treasurer, then addressed’ the
convention ina very eloquent and able
speech, which was-received with enthusi-
astic applause. .
Hon. Chas. W. Cathcart, Hon. Jno. B.
Niles, Judge C. H. Test, J. B. Belford,
Aaron Gurney and Gen. R. A. Cameron
being severally called out, entertained the
convention with brief but good speeches.
There being no further business, after
three hearty cheers for the nominee, the
convention adjourned sine die -
T. H. BRINGHURST, Pres’t.

C.K. Futuer, Sec’y.

rte—Geo. B, Roberts, James B, Bel-

EE AS So NS

pation 1u political power; that the Givil Rights
pel persons, native born or naturalized, shull be
aintuined; the National Debt and the Pension |

Weg

ss SS oa wi sree hes