The Cadiz Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1854-1864, 1863-07-22
A ID D r E s 5
oP HON. O. L.
VALLAIDIGHAM
TO THE
DEMOCRACY OF OHIO.
he Accepts the Nomination for
Governor and Defines his
Position.
NIAGARA FALLS, CANADA WEST }
I,,ix, 1Etk 1000

I
hazard OF being tired upon by ships flying
the flag Of my own country, found myself
irst q freeman when on British soil. And
to day under protection of the British flag,
J am here to enjoy and in part to exercise
the privileges and rights which usurpers in
| soi.ntly deny me at home. The shallow
contrivaHce Of the weak despo:s at Wash
ingtop, and their advisers, has been defeated.
Nay, it has been turned against them; and |.
who for two years was maligned as IN secret
league with the Confederates. having refused
when in their midst, under circumstances
the most favorable, either to indentiy my>
self with their cause or even so much as to
remain, pre!ering rather exile in foreign
land, return now with allegiance to my own
State and Cover nment, unbroken in word,
thought or deed, and with every declaration
and pledge to you while at home, and before
/ was stolen away, made good in spirit and
to the very letter.
Six weeks ago, when just going into ban
ishment because an audacious but most COW.
ardly despotIsm caused it, | addressed YOU
as fellow-cltizens. To-day, and from the
very place then selected by me, but after
w0ariseme and most perilous journeyings for
thcre than iour thousand miles by land and
upon the sea; still in exile though almost in
sight Of my native State, l greet you as your
Representative. Grateful certainly | am,
for the confidence in my integrity and pat
riotism, implied by the unanimous nomina,
ton as candidate for Governor of Ohio
which you gave me while | was yet in the
Confederate States. 1t was not misplaced
it shall never be abused. But this is the
leastof all considerations in times like these
| ask no personal sympathy for the persona
wrong. No: it is the cause Of constitutional
liberty and private right cruelty outraged
betond example in free country, by the
President and his servants, which gives
public signifcancy to the action OF your
Convention. Yours was, indeed, an act of
justice to citizen who for his devotion to
the rights of the States and the liberties OF
the people, had been marked for destruction
by the hand of arbitrary powrr. But it was
much more. 1t was an example OF courage
worthy OF the heroic ages Of the world; and
it was spectacle and rebuke to the usurp-
ing tyrants who having broken up the Union
wou Id now strike down the Constitution,
subvert your present Government and estab
llsh formal, and proclaim despotsm in its
stead. You are the REsToRERs AND De.
TENDERS OF CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY, and
by that proud title history will salute you.
congratulate you upon your nominations.
They whom you have placed upon the tick
ct with me, are gentlemen Of character, abil-
ity integrity and tried fidelity to the Con.
stltutioD, the Union, and to Liberty. Their
moral and political courage-a quality all
pl tbn e.,
lie vrtues-is beyond question. Every way
all these were nominations fit to be made
And even jealousy, am sure, will now be
hushed, if l especially rejoice with you in
the nomination OF Mr.. Pugh as your candi.
date for Lieutenant. Governor and President
of the Senate. A scholar and e ntleman,
a soldier in foreign war, and always a pat
riot; eminent as lawyer, and distinguished
as an orator and statesman, | hail his &C.
ceptance as an omen Of the return of the
better and more virtuous days Of the Repub>
lie.
indorse your roble platform--elegant in
style ; admirable in sentiment. You repre-.
tent the true issue, and commit yourselves
to the great mission just now of the Demo.
cratic party-to restore and make sure FIRST
the rights and liberties declared yours by
your constitutions. 1t is in vain to invite
the States and people OF the South to return
to Union without Constitution, and dis
honored and polluted by repeated and most
aggravated exactions Of tyrannic power. 1t
is base in yourselves, and reasonable to your
posterity, to surrender these liberties and
rights to the creatures whom your own
breath created and can destroy. Shall there
be free speech, free press, peaceable assem-
blages Of the people and free ballot any
longer in Ohio? Shall the people hereafter,
as hitherto, have the right to discuss and
condemn the principles and policy Of the
party--the ministry--the men who, for the
time, conduct the Goyernment--to demand
OF their public servants reckoning of their
stewardship, and to place other men and an
other party in power at their supreme will
and pleasure? Shall Order Thirty. E ght or
| the Constitution be the supreme law of the
land? And shall the citizen any more be
arrested by an armed sodiery at midnight,
dragged from wife and child and home, to a
military prison thence to mock military
trial thence condemned and then banished
as felon for the exercise of his rights?-
This is the issue, and nobly you have met it.
1t is the very question of free, popular gov
ernment ITSELF 1t is the only question:: upon
the one side, liberty on the other despotism
The President as the recogn ized head of his
party, accepts the issue. Whatever he wills,
that is law. Constitutions, State and FEEDER.
al, are nothing acts of legislation nothing ;
the Judiciary less than nothing. In time Of
war, there is but one will supreme--his will;
but one law-mllitary necessity, and he the
sole Judge. Military orders superseds the
Constitutions, and military commissions
usurp the place Of the ordinary courts oI
Justice in the land. Nor are these mere idle
claims. For two years and more, by arms,
they have been enforced. 1t was the mission
of the weak and presumptuous Burnsde-a
name infamous forever in the ears OF all
lovers of constitutional liberty--to try the
experiment in Ohio--aided by a Judge whom
name not, because he has brought foul dis
honor upon the judiciary Of my country. In
your hands now, men of Ohio, is the final
issue of the experiment. The party OF the
Administration have accepted it. BY pledg.
ing support to the President, they have JUS
titled his outrages upon liberty and the Con-
stitution; and who ever gives mis- vote to the
candidates of that party, commits himself 10
every act Of violence and wrong ON the part
| of the Administration which he upholds /;
( and thus, by the law of retaliation which is
the law OF might, would forfeit his own right
to liberty, personal and political, whensoeYer
other men and another party shall hold the
power. Much more do the candidates them.
selves. Suffer them not, entreat you, to
evade the issue; and by the judgment of the
people we will abide.
And now, finally, let me ask, what is the
pretext for all the monstrous acts and claims
Of Arbitrary power which you have SO nobly
denounced? military necessity" But if