The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1863-08-05

L
public signifcancy to the q of your
Convention. Yours wass ed, an act
of Justice to a citizen who for his devotion
to the rights of the States and the liber
ties of the people, had been marked for
destruction by the hand of arbitrary pow
er 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 tethe usurping tyrants who
having broken up the Union would now
strike downthe Constitution, subvert your
present Government and establish for
NAL and proclaimed despotism in its stead.
You are the REsToRERs AND DEFENDERS
OF CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY, and by
that proud title history will salute you.
congratulate you upon your nomini-
tions. They whom you-laEe placed upon
the ticket with me, are gentlemen of char
acter, ability, integrity and tried fidelity
to the Constitution, the Union and to lib
erty. Their moral and political courage
Ia quality always rare, and now the most
valuable of public virtues-is beyond
question. Every way, all these were
nominations fit to be made. And every
jealousy, am sure, will now be hushed,
! if l especially rejoice with you III the
nomination of Mr. Pugh as your candi-
date for Lieutenant Governor and Presi-
dent of the Senate Ascholar aud gen
tleman, a soldier in foreign war, and
always patriot; eminent as lawyer,
and distinguished as an orator and states
man, l hail his acceptance as an omen of
the return Of the better and more tvirtuous
days of the Republic.
endorse your noble satform-elegant
in style; admirable in sentiment. You
present the true issue, ana commit your
selves to the great miss just now of
| the Democratic party restore and
make sure FIRST the ri. and liberties
declared yours by you istitutions. 1t
is in vain to invite the ies and people
of the South to return Il Union without
| a Constitution, and disiionored and pol
luted by repeated and most tyrannic power.
1t is base in yourselves, and reasonable
to your posterity, to surrender these lib
critics and rights to the creatures whom
your own breath created and can destroy.
Shall there be free speech, free press
peaceable assemblages of the people and
ia free ballot any longer in Ohio? Shall
the people hereafter as hitherto, have the
right to discuss and condemn the princi-
Piles and policy of the party-the minis
try-the men who, for the time, conduct
the demand of their pub
lie servants reckoning of their steward
ship, and to place other men and an other
party in power at their supreme will and
pleasure? Shall Order Thirty Eighth
or the Constitution be the supreme law of
the land? And shall the citizen any more,
be arrested by an armed soldiery at mid
night, dragged from wife and child and
home, to a military prison; thence to a
mock military trial; thence condemned
and banished as felon for the exercise
of his rights? This is the issue, and no.
bly, you have met it. It is the very ques-
Ition of free, popular government itself.
It is the only question: upon the one side,
liberty; on the other despotism. The
President as the recognized head of his
party, accepts the issue. Whatever he
wills, that is the law. Constitutions, State
and Federal, are nothing; acts of legisla-
ton nothing; the Judiciary less than moth
ing. In time of war, there is but one will
supremc--his will, but one law-military
necessity, and he the sole Judge. Military
Iorders supersede the Constitution, and
military commissions usurp the place.
Nor are these mere idle claims. For two
years and more, by arms, they have been
enforced. 1t was the mission of the weak
but presumptuous Burnside-a name, in
famous forever in the ears of all lovers Of
unconstitutional liberty-to try the expert
ment in 0hio-aided by. a judge whom |
name not, because he has brought foul
dishonor upon the Judiciary of my coun-
try. In your hands now, men OF Ohio,
is the final issue of the experiment. The
party of the Administration have. accepted