The Cadiz Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1854-1864, 1858-09-22
REMARKS OF
HON. THOMAS MEANS.


Sept. 10, 1858.
Mr.. PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF THE CoSvEN,
TIoN:
For the Honor which you have conferred up
on me by choosing me as your standard bearer
] in the coming canvass allow me to express my
sincere aud hearty thanks. | shall go into the
canvass with all the energy and zeal | can com-
mand. believe that there never was a time
more important than now, for every man who
looks to the interests ofthe country, to stand by
the old and honored flag of Democracy We
have stood by it in the dark hour Of overthrow
"a defeat so overwhelming and disastrous, that
no other political organization party that ever
existed in the country, could have survived
And now when
"Remrning justice lifts uloft her scule,'
now when the light ofsuccess is dawning upon
us in reward for our endurance and constancy, it
becomes the more our duty to bear in mind our
our obligations ...-.
The Democratic party had its origin in the
origin of the government. Its growth has has
has been the growth of the country and its
strength has been our strength. 1t was tie
great apostle of our creed, who acquired that
magnificent domain which stretches through
nearly twenty degrees of latitude from the wa
ter of the Red River Of the North, to those ot
the Gulf OF Mexico, and from the Mississippi to
the Mountains. 1t was Democratic admins
tration that in rescntng the wrong done to us, in
the "spilling of American blood upon American
soil'' secured to us the immense wealth that
lies in the valleys of the Sierra Nevada; and it
will be to Democratic men and Democratic pro-
gress that in the destined hour, when like RI
pcncd pear it falls from the dying stcm-we
will be indebted lSr the acquisition of Cuba
For take it to be the fixed resolve Of the Dem
ocratic mind this country, that when Spain
in her decrepitude, ceases to be able to retain
possession of that lovely island--the garden spot
of all this earth--as the Spanish yoyager denom-
mated tit shall pass into the possession ofno
other power And when that hour does come
our eagle must advance.
1t is because the Democratic party has been
American and National in its character, that it
has lived and achieved so much. The Demo
cratic party has a creed, one which will bear
heat and cold-scorching freezing. 1t can be
tread by the Altamaha and the Sabine, as well
as by the Aristook or Lake Erie. The lumber
man by the light of his pine knots, reads it on
the shores Of the Mooschead--and the trappcr
in the passes Of the Rocky Mountains, and the
herdsman on the plains Of Texas-Aeyerywhere
all over the Union wherever the American flag
unlolds its stripes and stars above the freeman s
heal, it can be read, and is read, and will be
read and read approvingly, till the latest period
of time.
Can thai be said Of the abolition party now
opposing us by a regular organization in this
Congressional District? At the last presden
tial election, it had no state south Of Mason e
Dixon's line-and had no real organization out
the Northern States. That fact alone ought
to be its condemnation. Surely the spirit of
our fathers has not so utterly forsaken our breth
r,n that the doctrines they derived from our
c,mmon ancestry have become stale, unsavory
and valueless. They certainly are men. They
at least are the sons of such, and the bones Of
their venerated dead-who lost their lives in
the great struggle for freedom,--le upon the
battle fields of the revolution, commingled in
common burial, with those ofthe North. When,
where and how have they lost their claim upon
us, as their brethren? Have they lost their
integrity--have they lost their honor-have
they ceased to be men--and must we say Of
them in the language ofthe poet,
'sOh, reason! hast thou fled to british beasts,
And men have lost their reason1''
not at all. I bel eve as do in my personal
identity that truer men than our southern breth-
rem rever exsted--that as honest patriots, who
would as faithfully administer the government
and whose blood would be as freely shed in de-
fence Of ofour National rights, exist to-day on
the banks of the Arkansas, or the Rio Grande
as on the banks of the Ohio, or the Penobscott
Certainly no more heroic spirits ever lived than
the chivalry of the south in the days ofthe rev.
olution.