Department, district, and post commanders in the States lately in rebellion are hereby directed to arrest all persons who have been or may hereafter be charged with the commission of crimes and offences against officers, agents, citizens, and inhabitants of the United States, irrespective of color, in cases where the civil authorities have failed, neglected, or are unable to arrest and bring such parties to trial, and to detain them in military confinement until such time as a proper judicial tribunal may be ready and willing to try them.

A strict and prompt enforcement of this order is required. By command of Lieutenant General Grant:

E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant General.

Unconditional Union Convention of Maryland,

June 6, 1866.

Resolved, That the registered loyal voters of Maryland will listen to no propositions to repeal or modify the registry law, which was enacted in conformity with the provisions of the constitution, and must remain in full force until such time as the registered voters of the State shall decree that the organic law shall be changed.

2. That the loyal people of the State are "the legitimate guardians and depositaries of its power," and that the disloyal have no just right to complain of the hardships of a law which they have themselves deliberately provoked." 3. That it is the opinion of this convention, that if disloyal persons should be registered, it will be the duty of judges of election to administer the oath prescribed by the constitution to all whose loyalty may be challenged, and, in the language of the constitution, to "carefully exclude from roting" all that are disqualified.

4. That we cordially endorse the reconstruction policy of Congress, which excludes the leaders of the rebellion from all offices of profit or trust under the National Government, and places the basis of representation on the only just and honest principle, and that a white man in Virginia or South Carolina should have just as much representative power, and no more, than a white man in Pennsylvania or Ohio.

5. That the question of negro suffrage is not an issue in the State of Maryland, but is raised by the enemies of the Union party for the purpose of dividing and distracting it, and by this means to ultimately enable rebels to vote.

6. That we are pledged to the maintenance of the present constitution of Maryland, which expressly and emphatically prohibits both rebel suffrage and negro suffrage, and we are equally determined to uphold the registry law, which disfranchises rebels and excludes negroes from voting, and have no desire or intention of rescinding or abolishing either the constitution or the registry law.

7. That we warn the Union men of Maryland "that no Union man, high or low, should court the favor of traitors, as they can never win it-from the first they have held him as their enemy, and to the last they will be his; and that they should eschew petty rivalries, frivolous jealousies, and self-seeking cabals; so shall they save themselves falling one by one, an unpitied sacrifice, in a contemptible struggle."

The vote upon the adoption of each resolution was unanimous, with the exception of the sixth resolution, upon which a division was called, and the result showed 54 yeas to 14 nays.

The resolutions were then read as a whole, and adopted unanimously as the utterance of the Convention,

Convention of Southern Unionists.

TO THE LOYAL UNIONISTS OF THE SOUTH:

The great issue is upon us! The majority in Congress, and its supporters, firmly declare that "the rights of the citizen enumerated in the Constitution, and established by the supreme law, must be maintained inviolate."

Rebels and rebel sympathizers assert that "the rights of

regulations as the respective States choose voluntarily to prescribe."

We have seen this doctrine of State sovereignty carried out in its practical results until all authority in Congress was denied, the Union temporarily destroyed, the constitutional rights of the citizen of the South nearly annihilated, and the land desolated by civil war.

The time has come when the restructure of Southern State government must be laid on constitutional principles, or the despotism, grown up under an atrocious leadership, be permitted to remain. We know of no other plan than that Congress, under its constitutional powers, shall now exercise its authority to establish the principle whereby protection is made coextensive with citizenship.

We maintain that no State, either by its organic law or legislation can make transgression on the rights of the citizen legitimate. We demand and ask you to concur in demanding protection to every citizen of the great Republic on the basis of equality before the law; and further, that no State government should be recognized as legitimate under the Constitution in so far as it does not by its organic law make impartial protection full and complete.

Under the doctrine of "State sovereignty," with rebels in the foreground, controlling Southern legislatures, and embittered by disappointment in their schemes to destroy the Union, there will be no safety for the loyal element of the South. Our reliance for protection is now on Congress, and the great Union party that has stood and is standing by our nationality, by the constitutional rights of the citizen, and by the beneficent principles of the government. For the purpose of bringing the loyal Unionists of the South into conjunctive action with the true friends of republican government in the North, we invite you to send delegates in goodly numbers from all the Southern States, including Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, to meet at Independence Hall, in the city of Philadelphia, on the first Monday of September next. It is proposed that we should meet at that time to recommend measures for the establishment of such government in the South as accords with and protects the rights of all citizens. We trust this call will be responded to by numerous delegations of such as represent the true loyalty of the Sonth. That kind of government which gives full protection to all rights of the citizen, such as our fathers intended, we claim as our birthright. Either the lovers of constitutional liberty must rule the nation or rebels and their sympathizers be permitted to misrule it. Shall loyalty or disloyalty have the keeping of the destinies of the nation? Let the responses to this call which is now in circulation for signatures, and is being numerously signed, answer. Notice is given that gentlemen at a distance can have their names attached to it by sending a request by letter directed to D. W. Bingham, Esq., of Washington, D. C.

XIII-Interesting Figures chiefly from the Census of 1860, bearing on Representation.

Iowa...........

Tennessee..
Texas........
Virginia*.

Nevada admitted since, with one Representative-making whole number, at present. 242 Including Asiatics. I Estimated.

West Virginia created since, with three Representatives-leaving Virginia 8, instead of 11 allowed in 1860

On receiving the Proceedings of the Philadelphia 14th of August Convention.

1866, August 18-A committee of the Convention presented the proceedings through their Chairman, Hon. Reverdy Johnson, who made some remarks in so doing.

President JOHNSON replied:

MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN OF THE COMMITTEE: Language is inadequate to express the emotions and feelings produced by this occasion. Perhaps could express more by permitting silence to speak and you to infer what I ought to say. I confess that, notwithstanding the experience I have had in public life and the audiences I have addressed, this occasion and this assemblage are calculated to, and do, overwhelm me. As I have said, I have not language to convey adequately my present feelings and emo

tions.

In listening to the address which your eloquent and distinguished chairman has just delivered, the proceedings of the Convention, as they transpired, recurred to my mind. Seemingly, I partook of the inspiration that prevailed in the Convention when I received a dispatch, sent by two of its distinguished members, conveying in terms the scene which has just been described, of South Carolina and Massachusetts, arm in arm, marching into that vast assemblage, and thus giving evidence that the two extremes had come together again, and that for the future they were united, as they had been in the past, for the preservation of the Union. When I was thus informed that in that vast body of men, distinguished for intellect and wisdom, every eye was suffused with tears on beholding the scene, I could not finish reading the dispatch to one associated with me in the office, for my own feelings overcame me. [Applause.] I think we may justly conclude that we are acting under a proper inspiration, and that we need not be mistaken that the finger of an overruling and unerring Providence is in this great movement.

The nation is in peril. We have just passed through a mighty, a bloody, a momentous ordeal; and yet do not find ourselves free from the difficulties and dangers that at first surrounded us. While our brave soldiers, both officers and men, [turning to General Grant, who stood at his right,] have by their heroism won laurels imperishable, there are still greater and more important duties to perform; and while we have had their co-operation in the field, now that

We

they have returned to civil pursuits, we need their support in our efforts to restore the Government and perpetuate peace. [Applause.] So far as the executive department of the Government is concerned, the effort has been made to restore the Union, to heal the breach, to pour oil into the wounds which were consequent upon the struggle, and (to speak in common phrase) to prepare, as the learned and wise physician would, a plaster healing in character and coextensive with the wound. [Applause.] thought, and we think, that we had partially succeeded; but as the work progresses, as reconciliation seemed to be taking place, and the country was becoming reunited, we found a disturbing and marring element opposing us. In alluding to that element I shall go no further than your Convention and the distinguished gentleman who has delivered to me the report of its proceedings. I shall make no reference to it that I do not believe the time and the occasion justify.

We have witnessed in one department of the Government every endeavor to prevent the restoration of peace, harmony, and Union. We have seen hanging upon the verge of the Government, as it were, a body called, or which assumes to be, the Congress of the United States, while in fact it is a Congress of only a part of the States. We have seen this Congress pretend to be for the Union, when its every step and act tended to perpetuate disunion and make a disruption of the States inevitable. Instead of promoting reconciliation and harmony, its legislation has partaken of the character of penalties, retaliation, and revenge. This has been the course and the policy of one portion of your Government.

The humble individual who is now addressing you stands the representative of another department of the Government. The manner in which he was called upon to occupy that position I shall not allude to on this occasion. Suffice it to say that he is here under the Constitution of the country, and being here by virtue of its provisions, he takes his stand upon that charter of our liberties as the great rampart of civil and religious liberty. [Prolonged cheering.] Having been taught in my early life to hold it sacred, and having done so during my whole public career, I shall ever continue to reverence the Constitution of my fathers, and to make it my guide. [Hearty applause.]

So far as charges of this kind are concerned, they are simply intended to delude the public mind into the belief that it is not the designing men who make such accusations, but some one else in power, who is usurping and trampling upon the rights and perverting the principles of the Constitution. It is done by them for the purpose of covering their own acts. ["That's so," and applause.] And I have felt it my duty, in vindication of principle, to call the attention of my countrymen to their proceedings. When we come to examine who has been playing the part of the tyrant, by whom do we find despotism exercised? As to myself, the elements of my nature, the pursuits of my life, have not made me, either in my feelings or in my practice, aggressive. My nature, on the contrary, is rather defensive in its character. But having taken my stand upon the broad principles of liberty and the Constitution, there is not power enough on earth to drive me from it. Loud and prolonged applause.] Having placed myself upon that broad platform, I have not been awed or dismayed or intimidated by either threats or encroachments, but have stood there, in conjunction with patriotic spirits, sounding the tocsin of alarm when I deemed the citadel of liberty in danger. [Great applause.]

I said on a previous occasion, and repeat now, that all that was necessary in this great contest against tyranny and despotism was that the struggle should be sufficiently audible for the American people to hear and properly understand the issues it involved. They did hear, and looking on and seeing who the contestants were, and what the struggle was about, determined that they would settle this question on the side of the Constitution and of principle. [Cries of "That's so," and applause.] I proclaim here today, as I have on previous occasions, that my faith is in the great mass of the people. In the darkest moment of this struggle, when the clouds seemed to be most lowering, my faith, instead of giving way, loomed up through their gloom; for, beyond, I saw that all would be well in the end. My countrymen, we all know that, in the language of Thomas Jefferson, tyranny and despotism can be exercised and exerted more effectually by the many than the one. We have seen Congress gradually encroach step by step upon constitutional rights, and violate, day after day and month after month, fundamental principles of the Government. [Cries of "That's so," and applause.] We have seen a Congress that seemed to forget that there was a limit to the sphere and scope of legislation. We have seen a Congress in

potism or monarchy itself. [Enthusiastic applause.] This is truth; and because others, as well as myself, have seen proper to appeal to the patriotism and republican feeling of the country, we have been denounced in the severest terms. Slander upon slander, vituperation upon vituperation, of the most virulent character, has made its way through the press. What, gentlemen, has been your and my e Vhat has been the cause of our offending? I will tell you. Daring to stand by the Constitution of our fathers.

Mr. Chairman, I consider the proceedings of this Convention equal to, if not more important than, those of any convention that ever assembled in the United States. [Great applause.] When I look upon that collection of citizens coming together voluntarily, and sitting in council, with ideas, with principles and views commensurate with all the States, and co-extensive with the whole people, and contrast it with a Congress whose policy, if persisted in, wiil destroy the country, I regard it as more important than any convention that has sat-at least since 1787. [Renewed applause.] I think I may also say that the declarations that were there made are equal to those contained in the Declaration of Independence itself, and I here to-day pronounce them a second Declaration of Independ ence. [Cries of "Glorious!" and most enthusi astic and prolonged applause.] Your address and declarations are nothing more nor less than a reaffirmation of the Constitution of the United States. [Cries of "Good!" and applause.]

Yes, I will go further, and say that the declarations you have made, that the principles you have enunciated in your address, are a second proclamation of emancipation to the people of the United States. [Renewed applause.] For in proclaiming and reproclaiming these great truths you have laid down a constitutional platform on which all, without reference to party, can make common cause, engage in a common effort to break the tyranny which the dominant party in Congress has so unrelentingly exercised, and stand united together for the restoration of the States and the preservation of the Government. The question only is the salvation of the country; for our country rises above all party consideration or influences. [Cries of "Good!" and applause.] How many are there in the United States that now require to be free? They have the shackles upon their limbs and are bound as rigidly by the behests of party leaders in the National Congress as though they were in fact in slavery. I repeat, then, that your declaration is the second proclamation of emancipation to the people of the United States, and offers a common ground upon which all patriots can stand. [Applause.]

In this connection, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, let me ask what have I to gain more than the advancement of the public welfare? I am as much opposed to the indulgence of egotism as any one; but here, in a conversational manner, while formally receiving the proceedings of this Convention, I may be permitted again to inquire, what have I to gain, consulting human ambi