The Ohio Democrat. [volume] (Canal Dover, Ohio) 1840-1900, 1863-10-02

one, their liberties were about to per.
ish, and that anarchy first and a strong
government afterward-no more State
lines, no more State governments, but
consolidated monarchy, or vast central.
ICED military despotism, must all follow
10 the history of the future, as in the his.
tory Of the past they had centuries be.
fore been written. But that voice found
no echo then, save in the columns and
corridors of the Capitol. To. day it is
lifted mp again. And hereafter let no
maH tell you-least Of all, the sentinels
upon your watchtowerS-.hat there is no
danger, no ground for alarm or appre-
hension. To-day your President is in
form, as for two years and more he has
been in fact Military Dictator. The
most incredulous may see at last that the
issue is, indeed, whether there shall any
longer be Constitution and law in the
United States, other than tn will, un-
known or expressed, of the President,
whether freedom of person, of the press,
of speech, free political assemblages and
free ballot shall any more exist among
US, and whether the people shall hereaf.
ter, as heretofore, choose the Legisla.
lures and Chief Executives Of the State
and Federal Governments. Shall there
be free State elections any longer, or
another Presidential election Of any sort?
Shall popular government or a despot.
ism, unlimited by law and uncontrolled
by Judicial Courts, henceforth prevail
in the United States? This now, men of
Ohio, more than ever, is the issue before
you. The revolutionary purpose Of the
Administration to perpetuate, by intimi-
dation or force, its power in the States
aud in the General Government, stands
now fully revealed.
Next, after this declaration of martial
law, will follow the armed seizure and
occupation Of your State by Federal
tTvops, to iDtimidate or overpower you
at the polls. But this monstrous pur-
pose will not and cannot be executed,
except the people cringe or cover before
the threat or the attempted execution.
The time, therefore, has now arrived for
the renewed, solemn, inexorable declara.
tlon and pledge, by the people to each
other, through the press and in public
assemblages, that they mean to maintain
their liberties at every hazard, and to
have and to hold free elections, peacea.
bly, if they can, forcibly if they must.
RV the Constitution of Ohio no soldier
or marine of the United States can gain
a residence or become citizen or eiec,
tor of the State by being stationed with.
in her limits. BY the law of England,
and by provident statute of Pennsyl.
Vania, all troops are required to be re-
moved q prescribed diStance-not less
than one mile-from the place of hold.
ing an election; and this, too, is the spi-
rit at least Of our own laws. Every
qualified elector Of Ohio has the right
freely, and without molestation of any
Kind, to vote the ticket of his choice;
and II Federal or State troops be present
to molest or intimidate-no matter un.
der what pretext-it is the right of the
citizens aud the duty of the civil officers
and OF the military to disperse or arrest
the offenders, and to use whatever force
may be necessary for that purpose. l
counsel you and all to stand by the
Union, maintain the Constitution, sup.
port the Government, and obey the laws.
But in the name and by the memory of
your fathers, and as you would secure
the blessings of liberty to yourselves and
your children, | invoke you to defend the
right of election and the ballot box by
all the means, which the exigencies of
the case may demand. The hour of
your trial has at last come. Be frm and
be ready. And God grant that the spi.
rit of the patriots and freemen of other
ages and countries, of the heroes of
Greece and Rome, the spirit Of Bruce
and Tell, of Hampden and Sydney, of
Henry, and Washington, and Jackson,
may be found to survive yet in the men
of the present generation in America;
and thus that both the form and the
substance Of constitutional liberty and
free popular government be still pre-.
served and made secure among US.
G. L. VALLANDIGHAM.