Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1863-10-30
DELAWARE, OHIO, OCTOBER 80, 1868.
Speech ofHOn. John Brough at Painesvine, Oct
toher 16.

e Speech OfHOn John BrOugh at Painssville, DC
> tober 16.
; LADIES' and Gentleman:
d Earnestly, cordially, do thank you fl
+ your greeting to-day. l am not certain br
!, l shall illustrate my feelings by an anecdoi
!, heard many years ago. A man who wa
given to the habit of profa1e swearing on a
. occasions. was one day hauling load of pota
toes up bill, when the tail board of the wag
E on getting loose, he found, on looking bac
: that the contents Of his wagon had escapet
and were streWn over the road A frien
meeting him at the moment asked him VIII
, he did not swear over the accident. Well, h
. replied, simply because am not able to d
Justice to the occasion. am beginning t
feel the ebb of this excitement; but it seem:
otherwise with you. Perhaps I owe some
thing to the intensity of my feelingsFand th'
arduous character Of my labors. You MAJ
well rejoice in the great victory you have won
It is an achievement of which you may vel
be proud. 1t is one for which your posterity
will thank and glorify you, even as you rev.
erence and praise your fathers for the strug-
gle that gave you the best government the
world ever knew. This is not a triumph Oi
any man. No man could have won it, and
no man 10 the State ever merited such an
ovation. Neither is it triumph of any par
ty, as we have heretofore classified and under
stood them. Party lines. to a great extent
have been obliterated in this contest. Masses
of both parties have Joined to sweh this great
| triumph, and the line of division has only been
between those who were friends of the Gov
ernment and the country on one side, and the
opponents of these. on the other. And why
should not men of all parties thus become
united Nineteen years ago stood in this
same grove, and followed Governor Corwin
in party discussion. What was our ground
Of contest l conteuded that the principles
of my party were best calculated TO perpet-
uate the Government and promote the pros
perity of our common country. The Cover
nor contended that the principles of his party
were better adapted to the same end. The
purpose was the same. We were like two
parties going to mill, each conteDding that his
was the smoothest and best road By and by
there comes in the head of this rebellion
What more natural than we should say to
each other-here is a new element that seeks
to overturn and destroy this Government
that We are both trying to preserve-that is
threatening to tear down QUE mill-suppose
we lay aside our warfare, and join our forces
to subjugate this common enemy Why my
brother Democrat should we have laltered in
such crisis The place of the old Demo
crat had always been on the side of the coun-
try in its hour of peril, and this was no time
to shrink from that duty. We should in
have sprung, as body, into the
breach.
When the war broke out the Republicans |
held the political power in the State. They
invited US to bury party divisions and join in
q great party to sustain the Government
They offered to divide with us the posts of
duty and responsibility. They gave as our
present excellent Governor, and a glorious
thing it was for the State they did so. They
met Us in a spirit of Gberality, and have acted
in good faith. But the question was nos one
of Office or place-it was one OF principle
and the Democrat who failed to strike hands
upon it, necessarily admitted that there was
more patriotism and love Of country among
bis old political opponents than in the ranks
Of bis own party. This, for one was not will
ing to do. On neither side have we compro-
|
aside our party contests and joined in CON-
non cause to save our common country. By
his Union we have achieved the great victo-
y over which we rejoice to-day.
/ confess myself disappointed in the result of
his contest. made my estimates four
weeks ago, and have the paper in my pocket
,ut am ashamed to show it. I figured the
majority then at thirty-five thousand on the
lome vote; but it has doubled my figures, and
tands to-day at nearly seventy thousand.
vas anxious for a good round majority a.
lome, for was well satisfied il we were beat.
70 on the home vote, the vote of the army
would be rejected. did not want to deprive
'ur brave soldiers of their part in this tri-
Imph, but rather to save them from being
asst out. wanted the people at home TO dig
he grave of treason and bury it, and the boys I
n the field to fire the funeral volley over
t.
But this is not your victory only-it is the {
-ictory of the whole nation, for 10 Ohio we {
ave fought the battle of the whole Union@
f Ohio had been taken from the loyal, and s
laced among the disloyal States-if her great '
ivil and military power had been placed in
he hands of a sympathiser with traitors-your
ause was lost. With New York controlled
y Seymour, Pennsylvania in the hands of |
Y Woodward, and Ohio given over to the can t
idate now so badly defeated, there would h
ave been nothing left US but the triumph of y
he rebellion, and the dismembermeut of our :
Union. Thank God that dark cloud has pass t
d away-that bitter cup has not been pressed il
o our lips. We have rescued our own homes t
nd fresides from civil war, even within our 1
wn borders. In addition to this we have n
iven strength to the arm OF the Government,
nd at the same time effectually crushed out 81
bat spirit of factious opposition, which by ST
the war, has cost US year of II
ime, aud sacrificed not less than seventy-fve n
bousand of our brave men. Had we been an
nited people at the North this rebellion
Tould to-day have been at an end. Many
onest and well meaning men have been de- h
lded into opposition to the means necessary d
D crush it. For these there should be time "
nd opportunity for repentance. But for the b
eaders who have sinned against light and h
Dowledge, and sought to PROSTATE the inter- O
SITS of the nation for mere partisan purposes, a
here can be but little prayer for forgiveness c,
heir purpose has been nuholy, and their q,
ands are red with the blood Of men, sacrificed d
trough their conduct, on many a battlefield b
ct them remain among US as visible monu- ir
tents of treason; as marks for "scorn to point o,
S slow unmoviDg finger at" They have +
arped at and criticised to the public ear the ii
leasures of the Government to crush the re- n,
elion. and yet, more than other means, their
Dposition to the Government has forced upon II,
the very measures they condemn. 1 have n