Daily national Democrat., 1861-08-28
From the Columbus (oho) State Journal, Aug Z
Speech by John J. Crittenden.

The arrival yesterday of the venerable and
distinguished John j. Ctiitenden having he en-
lnnounced. a large cQHcuurse of citiztns
waited on him at his hotel. and at their ui-
gent reqzest he kindly consented to address
them in the evening Accordingly, directly
liter sunset, large asscmhlage conveutrd at
thu State ilonee and Mr. Crttruden was it,
duced He was looking careworn and ia
ugued by travel, aud at first his remarks were
not very audible He spoke of the great
contest before us the suddennpss with hlch
it was precipitnted upon us But few short
months ago, said Mr.. Crittenden, such a ca
lamity as is now shroudng our country in
gloom was unthought of among the people
But now we are involved in it we must meet
it like men. 1t is not a war that is to be
prusccutrd for the sake of var, and ought to
be conducted with none of the common bar
barltles of war 1t must, nevertheless tie
prosecuted 10y no half way measures My
friends, we must gather the utmost strength
of the country, and gird up the energies of
our minds to this most momentous contest.
And let it be prosecuted only fo" the purpose
that it ought to be carried on, and concluded
for the restoration of our Government and
the Union. In any event it is war that
cannot last long. 1t will prove itself too op-
pressive upon all classes of our people to per-
NIT of its being long continued
1t becomes, therefore duty to maintain
this great Government and thi. magnifceu.
land from the terrible calamity of disunion.
This | would aim hy all the powers of my
life to prevent Hence it is that | have Just
come fnom voting millions of money and
hundreds of thousands of men; and III order
that the issue may be decided more speedily,
| nh lr, LIS. 10 ,,.l
more For. fellow citizens, | believe we shall
be- reunited. And | have confidence in Il e
belief that, instead OF destroying or ev,n
weakening MS, this war will make our Uni, n
stronger than ever before One thing is GER
tain that this war will make the people beI-
! ter ae@uaiated with each other. And each
section will be convinced that it would tie a
| great deal Better to have each other for
friends than enemies; for they will find that
| while they can he the best Of friends to each
other, they would, in case of seperation, lie
the worst possible enemies. They will nat =
urally see that neither is destitute OF courage
that all are bold brave men. as our coun-
trymen have always Been. A Noice-"which
is nghtT Pau-ing momeuT, Crittrnden
continued, as if in reply-AIl are in some
hings to blame.
cause AL the wrongs of which they 6oula
The South has, as | believe most needless
ly forced this war upon us needes>ly be-
complain could better hive been renedied in
| the Union and under the Constitution than
| 10y any act of war And yet others are not
without blame; for, only a year ago last
winter, they could have adopted measures of
peace which were trndtred by resolutions A;
the power of securing peace WAS then in their
hands, but their party pride prevented both
from accepting the plan proposed. One in
sisted upon this. and the other upon that, till
between the this and that of parties the pre-
sent unhappy quarrel has been forced upon
US 1t is wise for us all to purify our own
hearts, and see wherein we, too have been in
the wrong. We cannot expect to carry our.
selves along 10y vaunting either our courage
or our cause The burden of the contest is
too serious for that and it will rest with the
people themselves to end it in manner satis-
factory to themselves. | have the strongest
confidence in the general Intelligence and
virtue of our people but | think the world
has never seen such degradation of politi-
cal intelligence as prevailed among partisan
leaders when this war began. To such a
| degree had this come to pass that our spces-
sion friends had concluded that there was
| no power ia the Government; and that they
had only TO put forth their hand and, sin
| gle shove overturn the wh~e structure But
the Government thus assailrd, though power
less itself, turned to the peolle, and behold !!
it was found to be the strongest Government
on earth, Even the great Napoleon, in the
| fulInrss of his power could not have raised
from all the legons of France such an army
as MIR. Lincoln has rallied for the brief space
of but ninety days. for the defense of the Co
vernmrnt That Government has not been
a. d cannot lie overturned Ny friends, my
{ ling voice warns me to he hrief But let
me add that the world are spectators Of this
unexpected strife Aud we must consider
that we are now holding in our hands not
only the material interests of the present. but
also the poitic,l interest of the futuriry In
this light look upon the present contest as
the most momentous that history has record
Ell for IA thousand years past. Let then he
wise and he watchful in guarding such
mighty intereste.
After gracefully thanking his attentive
audience, Mr.. CritLended retired amid pro-
longed appluse.