THE NATIONAL UNION CONVENTION.

Southland Times, Issue 577, 12 October 1866, Page 3

THE NATIONAL UNION CONVENTION.

The National Union Convention to uphold the policy of President Johnson for the speedy restoration of all the States to the Union, was held in the city of Philadelphia on the 14th inst., and it was by all odds the largest political gathering that ever assembled on this continent. Every State Territory was represented by large Delegations. The Wigwam, which was especially built for the use of the Convention, was an immense one, and it was crowded to its utmost capacity by the delegates and spectators. General Dix was the Temporary chairman, and Senator Doolittle the permanent President. Both made splendid Union speeches, which were received with the | greatest enthusiam and delight. Gen. i Dix said that the object for which those who supported the President were contending was "-to bring back the Eepublic, purified and strengthened by the 1 fiery ordeal through which it has passed, to its ancient prosperity and power ; to present to the world an example worthy of imitation — no utopain vision of good government, but the grand old reality of the better times, bringing up the memorial, of our fathers and recollections of the past, with the past and the I future inseparably entwined — one country, i one flag, one Union of equal States." Senator Doolittle said, " among the | great events of our own day. this Convention, in my opinion, will prove to be one ;of the greatest, for ' peace hath her victories no less renowned than war' — ! and this Convention is one of her victories — may I not say her crowning victory ! For the first time in six years a National Convention representing all I the States now assembles. Six long | weory years ! As we look back, oh ! i what a time of blood and agony and

tears ! During that period we have been engaged in the most gigantic struggle the world has ever seen — w£ sting our resources — drenching a thousand battlefields in fraternal blood, and carrying to premature graves our fathers, our sons, and our brothers by hundreds of thousands; But, thanks be to Almighty God, the war is over. Peace, blessed peace, has come, and the assurance which we here witness tells us that peace has come, and come to stay.' " The proceedings of the Convention were opened with the announcement that the Delegates from Massachusetts and South Carolina would march arm in arm into the Wiawam. In an instant the whole body of Delegates and the vast audience of spectatoas sprang to their feet and made the Wigwam ring with their cheers, as they beheld the Delegations from the Old" Bay State and the Palmetto State march in. The cheering continued for a long while, when the band struck up " The Flag of our Union." Then far back in the Wigwam was heard the stentorian voice of General Dick Taylor, of Louisiana, calling for " three cheers for the Union." It is needless to say they were given with a will. Major- General Couch, of Massachusetts, and Governor Orr, of South Carolina, headed the Delegations. It was a happy scene, and gives good augury of the future. President Johnson sent a despatch to the Delegates, saying " The finger of Providence is unerring, and will guide you safely through. The people must be trusted, and the country will be restored. My faith is unshaken as to ultimate success.". This was received with three rounds of cheers. A declaration of principles and an address to the people of the country were then unanimously adopted. The Declaration of Principles recognizes the return of peace, the right of Southern States to be represented in Congress, the constitution as the supreme law of the land, the abolition and eternal prohibition of slavery, inviolability of the national debt, the services of the soldiers and sailors, and the President as one worthy of the confidence of the nation. The address reviews at great length the purposes and results of the late war, and the present political status of the lately rival sections. It declares that the constitution is now just as it was before the war, and the republican Congress are acting in antagonism to the supreme law of the land in withholding full representation to all the States. It recognises the devoted loyalty of the Southern people, and says that a people i treated as they are now being treated i cannot long remain loyal. Hon. Heverdy Johnson called for a second reading of the paragraph in relation to the present treatment of the people of the Southern States, and it wag again read and greeted with enthsiastic cheers. It is as follows •* — " No people has ever yet existed whose loyalty and faith such treatment long continued would not alienate and impair, and the ten millions of Americans who live in the South would be unworthy citizens of a free country, degenerate sons of a heroic ancestry, unfit ever to | become the guardians of the rights and ! liberties bequeathed to us by the fathers and founders of the republic, if they ' could accept with uncomplaining submissiveness the humiliation thus sought to be imposed upon them." A resolution was then adopted to present an oflicial copy of the proceedings to President. Johnson, when with cheers for the Union and Constitution, the Convention adjourned. In accordance with the foregoing resolution, a large number of the delegates waited upon the President, and Hon. Reverdy Johnson, on behalf of the Convention, presented him with a copy of its proceedings. The President then, after kindly thanking the delegates for calling upon him, retired arm-in-arm with General Grant, and both were greeted with a perfect storm of cheers.