Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1863-08-20
'G3be Obio 6tatesnran

2v ~ SPEECH OBJ
HON. GEORGE E. PUGH,
Deliys,sd before The Great Democratic Mssling q
ST. Msry', Ohio. on tho 18th Of August, 1868.
| I'D Reported for the Cincinnati Gazstts.1
Mr. PUaH, on rising, was received with cor
dial cheering He said: '.
tellow-D Democrats former times, when
4 has been my pleasure to address you, | invite,
4 you 10 maintain the Constitution as It then was
and the Union as Il then existed In IT'S pristin,
Integrity. ! come before you to.diy to exhor
You to maintain the Constitution itlll, and b,
maintainibg It, to restore the Uaion, which un
happily at present 10 broken. No man can deny
| az least no honest man, that we have fallen upoE
evil and unhappy times. II we look to merely
material questions; If we consider tho fact tn q
We have TO, struggle under burden Of taxa
ton 80 heavy as to pass our comprehension il
former times, aud that go far from there being
| any prospect Of alleYlation-so far from any
hope OF reduction, every day, and almost every
hour, briggs new tax and a new tax gatherer.
If Verse to higher considerations, We see that
not only thousands, bu. tens and hundreds OF
the best and biavest of our fellow. citizens have
been given TO death on the field of battle, or re-
turned to rs disabled for life. We are now. upon
the eve OF another call, an unwilling call, which
shall take tens and hundreds of thousands more
Of us to be sacrificed upon the bloody fields OF
contToyersy and strife. ALI l have to say to
any honest man, In the possession OF his senses,
is this: is 1t not, my friend, worth our while to
| pause for few moments and consider whether
there DO not some better way out Of the diff
culties which now surround us. In order TO find
the way out, my fellow -citzens, it ls frat reuui-
slte we should fld the way We got into them
for until We look back upon our own faults. Till
| te repent Of our own Gins, there is no hone OF
amelioratIon. ] know thatthe preachers OF the
Abolition faction are in the habit of telling
their congregations not to repent of their own,
but to repent of the sins of the shareholders. A
llApgh.] But, my fellow-cit zsns, that will mel.
theF restore the Union nor make good Chris
tlans. Let us know what we have done on our
own side, and If we are Satisfied by the lights OF
experience that u is wrong, let US amend it, and
amend 1t 90 quick as possible, for until We amend
what We have done amiss, we cannot hope that
others will amend. ..' ......
Z EllM . eKCTToNAL PRECEDENT.
Now 10 the eventful year Of 1860, It was
my duty, by the appointment of the State
Central Committee, to visit mapy OF the
counties of the State, In order TO exhort the
people not TO elect Mr. Lincoln TO be President
Of the United Slater; not that l had anything
against him personally, but because believed
that the party he represented was purely OF q
sectional character, and that the predomiuapce
Of snoh o party would give rise to disunion and
civil war And, fellow-citizens, we were fore
warned OF this BY the Father of bis Country In
bis Farewell Address to the people, whose lib.
ertles he 60 largely contributed to establish: he
gave us this admonidon: I" In contemplation OF
the causes which may disturb our Union, Il oc-
ours % o matter Of serious concern that any
ground should have been furnished for charac-
tsriziDg parties BY geographical discriminat atlous
TNorthern and Southern, Atlantic and West.
efn, sincs designing men may endeavor to excite
q belief that there is real difference of local
opinions and views, One of the expsdisnts of
parry 70 acquire power and influence in psrtIcu-
lar districts, Ia to mlsrepresent the opinion and
aims OF The districts. You cannot shield your
selves too much against the differences and
heart tburninga that spring from these misrepre
sentations; taey tend to the alienation Of those
who ought to be bound by fraternal affection !"
And yet from the year 1854 continually, until
the year lS6O, and thence until this time, We
have had party In the non-saVsholding States
whose very existence, Hhose very organization,
whose plane OF action were directly In conflict
With the advice thus delivered by the Father of
bis Country to the people of the United States;
party who was not only confined to the non.
slavsholdlng States, but party whose whole
capital In politics and trade consisted In misrep.
resenting the opinions and views of the slave
holding Statea; whose whole object was to ex-
cite animosity, Jealousy, and III blood between
the people OF the slave and the non.slavehold.
ing States who told us day after day that the
people Of the Southern States sought to invade
our rights, sought TO degrade us in the popular
estimation We should hold In the Union, and
sought to intrude upon our domestic rights aud
domestic liberties.
The natural consequence OF q party like that
vas TO provoke the formation OF party of the
same charscter 1l the slsveholdlug States. As
the more violent Of the Northern people
preached enmity against the South, Il was nat
ural that party should arise In the South
preaching -anlmosity and enmity against the
North. And 60, my fellow. citizens, even If
George Washington had never said 1t, or AN
drew Jackson never repeated It as he did; II
HenIy Clay and Daniel Webs or had never en- /.
phaaiEed IL hundred times, II would be obvious
70 the meanest comprehension. Let there be
any tNo toWnships In this county who shall elect
their toHnship officers on that doctrine Tfus.
tees, Treasurer, Assessors, etc---upon the idea
that one township ls to hate the other--that the
Communicates TO ofioe shall be hatred 10 the
men OF epnext township, and how long will
you have peace 10 the osunsy Of Auglaise7--
win you NOS have constant, DALI, eyss,fscur7
ring di@cnltiea9 VIII ron not have fights, dls-
putes, aud in;G little while bloodshedf : Every
man, Bays who has ordinary ycomprehension,
knows that 1t will be go. And bow can party
offer itself In the United States Of America,
tith ell the State divereities, institutions and
lntereits; how can msn propose party based
upon the doctiine that every member 10 to hate
4 large portion of the States--hoW can he hope
for anything buli disunion2 The organization and
the progress Of the Abolition, or self-atyled Re-
publican party in the North, would begst dis.
union party inothe South, % the effect follows
caase, J, as day follows night, and night follows
d6y again, IL was an Inevitable thing that the or
ganiEstiono Of the self lied Republican party in
the year 1854, would lead to disunion and civil
var. Nevertheless, In spite ofitbe advice given
BY tho Father Of his Country, and repeated by
lhe valiant leaders Of the Democfatic party,
and BY oil the great leaders Of the Wing party;
nevertheless, In spite Of that advice, the
snti slavery party at the North pressed for
yard into q compact organization, and obtained
noIltioal powar nv m merelv numerical eupremaav