The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-10-07
Vallandigham and his Party /?
Great Speech at Rapenna September 11th,
By HON. A. G, RIDDLE
The iParties--sEhe vallandighRmE " Ese-
Democratic Platform
At the Mass Meeting at Ravenna. septem

n y
Democratic Platform,
At the Mass Meeting at Ravenna, Septen-
ber I1th, Mr.. Riddle said
~, IaPoRTANeEs OF THE OCCASION.
= 1 see only grave and earnest faces all
bearing the one solemn impress of the great
task thrust upon us. You anxiously hope
may utter fitting words--that I may not -bo
below the occasof This rebellion strikes its
roots intosal our land. As at the South all
are not rebels, at the North all are not 10y
al. For once the entire American people are
divided into two broadly marked parties-the
loyal and traitor At the South, the rebels
strike with brute force for the destruction of
the Government. bsAt the North they en-
ploy other means, Just as effective fer the
same purpose. The northern portion of the
comnlon struggle devolves wholly upon you.
I You are to wage this battle and you shall be
responsible for it's issue No matter Just
now whether Charleston is consumed with
South Carolina be conquered, but shall the
rebels make conquest of Ohio? Of what
avail to subdue; Virginia if YOU lose Ohio
Why crush the precious caskets and strew
the thankless earth with thousands of price,
| less jewels for an empty conquest of all reb-
eldorn, if you cannot retain your empire in
the now loyal States 2? These are the .ques-
tions for you.s Think of them. Think of
| them, you who have remained in your own
( fields chasing the summer shadows over
them, till you have clasped their harvests in
( the reaper's embrace This contest now calls
upon you. T" You cannot fail p you can.-
| OH the easiest of all things that men do, is
I to fail You may not trust to the goodness
/ of your cause The most melancholy wrecks
along the pathway of time are the fragments
I Of noble enterprises lost by over confidence
| in their merit. Think of the combination
against you ;-al the bad, the unthnking,
unknowing, and uncaring; all those too mean
4 to part with money and too cowardly to part
| with blood; who don't go to the war nofsend
their sons; who fear the rebels, who fear the
! conscription, who fear everything; the natu-
krally bad, who hate and fear all good the
educated in vice, who have long passed the
point of total depravity; those who profit
+ alone by fraud and lies; ignorance stolid stu
I pidity-all of those elements that exist in a
f great State, agglomerated in one mass, and
/ welded with sagacity, must ever be danger
ous.s 81 9esH a ss
+ / know there are many good and wise men
| in this party. But the good are crimina ly
weak, and likewise are crininaly wicked.
! / knowia large share of this mass mean to
+ be honest; mean to be loyal, and strangely
| enough they think they are. They follow Al
party nane-thcy trust party leaders. They
/ don't see the way out it looks to them dark,
/! but they suppose at the right time "twist
/ in the wristD of their leaders will set things
fright. think a twist in the neck of their
leaders would do it.sbI don't understand
these men--I can't argue with them. Their
L e,
impotence can senlighten them; and to Judge
by the way they have been dealt with, there
Els little to hope for them from that quarter
even. don't know as they ought to be
held responsible-T-they may be the victims OF
. great brain plague, or might be, if there
could be any foundation for such distemper
PARTIES.
A man can't shelter himself behind his
party. He is responsible for belonging to it,
as also for what it does. He must know
whittier it leads him, and when allegiance to
it is treason to his country he must abandon
it and not cling to it, and nurse until he
falls off, rotten with crime. There are some
things that all parties hold to in common
certain fundamentals they must agree in
among them that the Government shall be
t perpetuated, and for this purpose, as all met
agree to it, SO all men must unite to accom-.
I pIish it. The Government is in peril-meas.
ures are proposed to sustain it. Now if &
party refuses to support these measures il
must be either because the party does moi
wish the Government to be perpetuated, Oh
upon the ground that the measures are i'm
proper or insufficient. And if it oppose.
them upon the ground that they are improper
or insufficient it is bound itself to propose
measures that are proper and competent fo
that purpose, and if it refuses to propose sucf
measures that party must be taken not to de-
sire shat the government shall be perpetuated
and upon this Irresistible logic, if a mar
wants thing to be done he will help to do it
( if he does not want the thing done he vii
not help to do it. "a s as
Parties are so fixed and rigid that they ar,
incapable of taking TO themselves new idea
no matter how important; and when Goo
lets loose new idea, as He does now anC
/ then, it is obliged to make for itself a new
Eparty, which it; does by pulverizing the ole
and drawing to itself its chosen ones, and thu
scattered fragments remaining invariably unit,
I in opposition to the party of the new idea
Abundance of this we have seen in our time
Parties must le kept apart or one, OF botl
perish. Both can live only by antagonism
The party in power subsists for the time, OF
/ its patronage. But it is the hard condition o
the party out of power, that it must oppos
the measures of the party in power or it mus
perish. If il. permits its followers to sup
port the policy of the party in power it dies
A war breaks out with a foreign power, 0
with rebels at home. Now the party in pow
er must carry on the war otherwise the Gov
ernment might be subjugated, or dishonored
The party in, opposition has the choice--ei
ther to rally its followers in support of tn
war, which it can only do by abandoning it
party organization; or to oppose the war. AM
take the chances of keepingits party alive
If it opposes the war, it must morally tax
sides with the enemy, and become, in effect
their allies, against their country. 1t purcha
ses the chance for, life on this hard necessit
alone-that it becomes, SO long at least at tn
war lasts, the enemies of its own Government
All English and American history show
that the party in opposition when the wa
broke out opposed the war itself And thi
history further shows that every party ths
did SO oppose war Itself persisted By the aoa'
and such q, party ever will so perish.
When this rebellion broke out the Demo
cratic Party was in power. 1t was its grea
task and duty to subdue the revolt, perpetu
ate the government, and for those purpose
employ the necessary means. 1t refused t
! do either. 1t declared that no power existe
to do either. Every mortal rebel was dem
ocrat. The northern Democracy prophesie
= u dissolution of the Union, and the Souther
( Democracy fulfilled it with their assent, an
not man of the party then in power or out
Epower, sought to hinder or delay the reyelr
ton, or uttered aword of freproval or of dissen
: On the contrary, they cheered and honnde
the rebels on. And never on this earth WI
impotence so sublime as that of these san
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