The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-07-22

i despotisnr caused il, I addressed you as q fell
low-citizeD. To day, and from the very place
then selected by me, but after weafis,sne md
most pcrilous journeyings for more than foul
thousand miles by land and upon sea still In
exile though almost in sight of my native
State, l greet you as your representative
t Grateful certainly I am for the confidence ia
my integrity and patriotism, implied by the
unanimous nomination as candidate Tor Gov:
ernor of Ohio, which you gave me while / was
in tho Confederate States. 1t was Los mis-.
placed it shall never be abused. But this is
the last of all considerations in times like these.
/ ask no personal sy sympathy for the personal
wrong. No: it is the cause of Constitutional
l berty and private right cruelty outraged be-
yond example in a free country, by the Presi-
dent and his servants, which gives public .sig-
nlf:aney to the action of your convention.
Yours was, indeed, an act OF justice to a citi-
zen who for his devotion to the rights of the
4 States and the liberties of the people, had
been marked for destruction at the hand of
arbitrary power. But it was much more. 1t
was an example OF courage worthy OF the he
role ages of the world aud it was a spectacle
and u rebuke TO the usurpipg~tyras..> who
having broken up the Union S~afesaow strik e
down the Cons itution, subvert Your present
government and establish a formal. and pro-
claimed dcspotism in its stead. You are the
REsToRERs AND DEFENDERS OF CONsTITU-
TIoNAL LIBERTY, and by that proud title his
tory will salute you.
1 congratulate you upon your nominations
They whom you have placed upon the ticket
with nie, are gentlemen of character, ability,
integrity, tried fidelity to The Constitution, the
U, ion, and to l. berty. Their moral and po-
iitical courag,-a quality always rare, and
n w the most valuable of public virtues-is
beyond question. Every way all these were
nominations fit to be made And even jetl
ousy, i am sure, will now be hushed, if l es-
/ pecially rejoice with you in the nomination of
Mr.. ! ugh as your candidate fo- Lieutenant
Governor and President of the Senate. A
scholar and a gentleman, a SOLDIER in a foreign
war, md u ways a patriot eminent as a law
yer, and Distinguished as an oiafer and a states
ulan, l hail his acceptance as an omen of the
return of the better and more virtuous days of
the Republic.
/ endorse your noble platform-elegant in
style admirable in sentiment. You present
the true Issue, and commit yourselves TO the
great mission just now If the Democratic par
ty-to restore aud make sure FIRST the rights
"A d ill critics declared yours by your constitu-
tons. 1t is vain to invite the States and PEG
lie of the South to return TO u Union without
a Constitution, and dIshoDor d and polluted
by repeated and most aggravated exactions OF
tyrannic powtr 1t is bias. in yourselves. and
fcdsUudbie u YOUR pOSCtTDy, " SURRENDER
these liberties aud rights to the creatures
whom your own breath created and can de-
stroy Sia1i th,re be ire. speech, II free press.
peaceful ~as-enblaYcs OF the people aud Il free
ballot any longer in Ohio?
Shall the people hereafter, as hitherto, have
the right t.. discuss and condem,. the prinei-
pies and ppiicy nj party-the ministry
the men who, for the time, conduct the gov
cinmeut-tc demand of their public servants
a r, ckoni, g of their stewardship, and to place
other men and another party IN DOW r at the r
supreme W ii aud pleasure Shall Ordef Tnirty
Eight a. the Cons, tuition be the supreme law of
tn land ? And shall the citizen any more, be
arrested by an armed soldiery at midnight,
dragged fir, m vile aud child and home to a
military prison thence to a mock military
rial thence condemned aud then biDished as
a ielon for the exercise of his rights This
L. The issue; and aeb4y you have met it It
il the very question OF free, popular govern
ment itself. It is the whole 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.
;hat is law. Constitutions, State and Federal,
are nothing acts OF legislation nothing the
judiciary less than nothing. In time Of war,
here is but one willsupr me-his will; bur
one law-mil tary necessity aud he the sole
Judge. Military orders suprrcede the Consti-
luton, aud military COMMISSIONS usurp the
place of The ordinary ceur,s OF justice in the
land. Nor are these mere ldl,. cl, ms. For
TWO yeaIs and more. by arms, they have been
1t wa,Ithe mission of the weak but
presum ptious Burnside-a MN Infamous for
yer in the ears of al! lovers OF constitutional
| be,ty-to try the experiment III Ohic-ai
dad by a judge whom L name-no5. because he
has brought foul dish"nor upon the judiciary
OF my country. In your hands now. men of
Ohio, is the final issue of the experiment.
The p rty of the Administration have accep
ed It. rECE
BY pledgins support to the President, they
have justified his outrages upon liberty and
he Constituticn ; ana who ever gives his vote
10 the candidates ofthat p rty, commits him
self to every act of violence and wrong on the
part OF the Administration, which he upholds
aud thus, by the la~ of retyliatlon, which is
the law of might, would forfeit his own right
% liberty, personal and political, whatsoever
men and another party shall hold the
power. Much more do the candidates them
selves Suffer them not, [ entreat you, to en-
Vade the issue and by the Judgment Of the
we will abide.
And now, finally, let me ask, what is the
pretext for all the monstrons acts and claims
IF arbitrary power. which you have SD nobly
denounced Military necessity" But If,
ndcel, all these be dersanded by military ne
,essi;y. then. believe M, your liberties are
zone, and tyrany s perpetual. F,r if this
;ivil war is to terminate only by the ~subjuea
ion or submission of he South to fierce and
lrms, the infant of to day will not live TO see
he end of it. No, in another way only can !
t be brought 10 a close. sTraveiling a thou. r
and miles and more, through nearly one half C
# the Confederate Stat 8, and sojourning fer
time at widely different points. 1 met not
NJ G man, woman or child, who was not resol-
led to perish rather THAI yield to The pressure y
II arms even in the most desperate extremity =
And whatever may and must be the varying .
ortane of the war, in all which | recognize
he hand of Providence pointing visibly to the