Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1862-09-18

ocr0tic Judicial Convention, as Tie Can.
didate for Common Pleas Judge of Tic
District composed fMe counties Of Fair
feld, Hooking and Perry.
Mr.. PRESIDENT AND ..
GENTLEMEN OF THE CoNvENTroS:
For the very distinguished honor which
You have just conferred upon me, by
my unanimous nomination as the Demo.
cratic candidate for Judge of the Court
of Common Pleas of this subdivision of
the Judicial District, / tender you my
most profound and grateful acknowledge
ments. This hattering testimonial OF
your friendship and regard, is not the
less gratifying; nay, it is for that reason, /,
the most eminently grateful to my feel :
ings, because of its being wholly unsol.
cited on my part. neither expected or
desired any position before the people,
which would take me from that quiet and
repose which is much more congenial to
the present temper of my mind and cir
cumstances, than the turmoil and excite
ment OF political canvass. Indeed, these
are times in which no man need be anxious
to minge in the strifes and bitter feelings
of political campaign; times, too, which
makes eminently true and forcible the
maxim, that "the post of honor is the
private station" And yet there comes to
most men, in some period of their lives. a
time when they must yield their own ir eli
nations, and even their interests, to the
wishes and feelings of others. Iou have
decided that this is a period in which
should yield my own inclinations to
yours. | acknowledge the force of the
obligation; and accept the nomination
promptly, unreservedly, thankfully; with
a full appreciation Of all its responsible
ties, at period and under circumstances
which require something more than m ere
physical courage to be Democrat. |
accept in the spirit with which it has been
rendered; not as a reward for mere par
tizan services; not in any factious spirit
OF party organization; but as an endorse
ment Of an honest independence in stand
ing up for the right amid the whirlwind
of excitement and fanaticism which rules
the hour; and as a reJuke to that spirit of
vindictive hatred an | persecution which
has been showered upon me by nearly the
while mass Of the Republican party here,
tcr no other reason than that have mod
estly but firmly exercised the common
rights Of an American citizen to think
and speak of the acts and doings of the
servants Of tie people. How long you
and | shall be permitted thus to think and
= .,ff fI,n Fl, ,tn1 al
seated in the high places of the govern
ment; how soon the gag upon the freedom
of speech and the freedom of the press,
shall change from a partial to a universal
order OF things, produced by secret mid
night orders from the councils of the ma
tion-thc history of the next few months
must determine for the American people.
If this great right, baptized in blood and
guaranteed to us by the dearest provisions
of the Constitution undc: which we live.
thus to think and to speak of the admin
istration of the government, isl be wrest-
ed from the people, al time and in a
crisis when it is most important and es-
sential that it should exist unimpaired
and unrestricted, why then we have but
the mere shaaow of liberty, a mere cari-
culture of constitutional government; and |
so faras real, genuine, practical freedom is
concerned, you might just MS well live un-
der the despoti>m of Joseph Of llapsburg,
Of Austria, as that of Abraham Lincoln
of the United States of America. Any
manly and Independent structures, either
upon the blnnders or the corruptions of
the administration, are at once distorted
into treason and disloyalty to tie Govern-
ment, by set Of cravan sycophants and
informers, who are always ready, whether
in peace or in war, to
Crook the pregnant hinges of the knee
Where thrift may follow fawning"
A refusal to shout hosannahs to the un-
acts and usurpations of the |
The President, such as no monarch of En-
gland has dared to assume since the iron
reign Of the Tudtrs, is denounced as sim
Odthy aotM rebellion, or branded as aid and
comtor. 10 traitors, and who dares to think |
and act for himself as becomes the loyal
citizen of a free government, is hunted
down with all the rancor Of that fell spirit
of pesecution, which has made the histo-
of other times but similar controversies,
the great land marks end beacon lights
in the struggles of the people for the es-
Adjustment, or maintenance, of civil and !
liberty. The great princi-
pie for which the Democratic party is now
in this government, is no new
thing in the history of mankind. 1t is as
old as the first dawnings OF civilization; it
is the old and oft repeated contest between
popular privilege on the one side, and
executive usurpation on the other-the
rights CT the People against the One Man
Power, when used to crush out the liberty
of the inUidudl citizen. 1t is the same
principle for which Hampden bled and
Sidney suffered and it is in as much dan
ger now, upon the shores of free America,
and in a government of plainly written
as ever it was in the storm
lest days when Charles lcgions and
Cromwell's squadrons met in the deadly |
shock of battle on the devastated plains of
England, two hundred years ago. And
what great question was it which shook
he English throne and brought the head
Of Charles to the block? What was it that
gave up that great bad minister, Stafford
% the justice of violated law, and the ven
5eance of insultcd privilcgs? 1t was the
arrest of private citizens by secret orders
rom the privy council around the throne, a
process unknown to the laws and institu-