Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1864-09-09
RATIFICATION RE ECH
CLEMENT l.. VALLANDIGHAM,
AT DAYTON.
SEPTEMBER 9th, 1864.
Correspondence Cincinnati oommeroinl.I
BY

| NiillfNFs hWnOub luriner Cere
mony, propose to address you briefly on Oh,
subject TO consider which you have assembled
here tonight. 1t s suggested that | SHOULD
| reply 10 the harangue made the other nigh
here by Robert G. Schenck beg leave mos
respectfully to decline. Those questions il
which you are all so deeply interested, in com
mon with the whole country, are Of too grea
magnitude TO justify me in consuming your
time in the discussion Of anything which fel
from his lips As 10 his personalities, would
vt no time take occasion to reply to them. He
belongs to that class Of men who with the end
o this war will be consigned to oblivion, on
live only in memory as the hero OF Vienna
and the petty tyrant of Baltimore. Like the
toad, ugly aud venomous, but without a pre.
oious jewel in his head, his speeches are
consistent with the character of his mind
You will pardon me, therefore, il | decline Ia
review that which he uttered here, which |
find correctly reported, no doubt, in the cot.
umn' OF te Cincinnati papers 0uy let me
say that he, OF all men, ought to be the last Ia
denounce others as revolutionists, beginning
public life twenty two years ago, with the most
glaring act OF revolution ever committed in
Ohio, breaking up the Legislature aud striv-
lug to array in bloody collision the party to
which he belonged against the law.making
power OF the State. | come here for other
purposes; you are assembled with q different
motive,
AS your representative in part at the Chi
| cngo Convention, ! am here TO night to render
briefly an nccOun. OF my Stewardship there.
or the Importance Of that Convention need
say nothing. Only let me say that in num-
bers, in character, in dignity and in ability, it
was fully adequate to the purpose for which
1t assembled do not exaggerate-nay,
scarce even do justice to that body of men,
when say it was the grandest Convention
assembled on this continent since 1881 He
must be an able man who would undertake.
singly and alone, 10 criticise the action of
that Convention, especially If he professes To
belong to the party which il represented
The Convention was emphhically not only
a peaceable but peace convention IAN
plause 1t assembled and sat in harmony.
ana declared the present public sentiment el
the United States, and, unequivocal ia its
language, it has explicitly declared it. De.
nouncing the war as an experiment and n fail.
nre, and charging to its account all the on,
pressions, wrongs and Outrages committed by
the Administration for the past four yearH.
as well as the injury TO the material prosper.
ity OF the country which has followed, il de.
mands, as the sentm ent Of the people ortbese
| United States that immediate efforts he moda
for the cessBtion Of hoslilitiss, to the end that
there may be convention of the States 10
restore peace to the land on the basis of A
Federal Union OF the States This is it's proc.
lamation. 1t was Union Convention, and il
declared unswerving fidelity to that union :
II was peace convention, aud speaking in the
name OF more than twenty millions of free.
men, 1t demanded peace, after failure of the
experiment of war, whereby TO restore the
| Union Next after ths--but first, before |
proceed, let me say that no man among the
earnest advocates of peace from the begin
ming of this war to this hour, has in any for.
NAL public declaration demanded more than
that convention has declared II ought 10 be
satisfactory TO every man in the land. GCries
! OF 1t is IL meant peace, aud It said so
Applause. IL meant, aud it means now.
that there shall be no more civil war in this
land, no increase Of taxation, no Augmenta-
| ton OF the public debt, no more conseription.
no more enlistments, no more bounties, no
more shedding OF blood, no more violations
oil the Constitution, no more arbitrary arrests,
no more suppressIons OF newspapers, no more
putting down OF freedom OF speech, but n re-
turn OF the days Of peace and prosperity to
the country. lApplause. This is the en-
iertalnmentt TO which we, aud all Of you are in.
vited, We bring yon back again to the time
Of your iath0rs--the limes which your own
eyes saw, whereby your own hearts we're glad
dened. This is what il promises, lust the an
tagonism OF that which is held out TO YOU nv
the supporters Of Abraham lincoln They
would serve up to you war They would fail
down and worship before Moloch. They de-
mand your first born as IA sacrifice, aud war
NO longer pretended TO be for the restoralinn
OF the Union, efies Of That's so."1 hut only
TO compel ten millions OF people to abandon n
social aud domestic institution which has ex.
lsled from the beginning OF these States
Without distinction OF party, the Convention
held at Chicago hold out 10 you, one aud all.
the promise OF a return OF the good old days
OF the RePublic-such days as you saw IN The
olden time, That is iis declaration. Next
for It deals only with living issues, it warns
this Administration that should the expert.
ment ofinterterence by force aud Arms with
the election in the border States, adhering
siill TO the Union, OF In any Of the States, bs
attempted by this Administration, the Demo-
crate party, and the men who act with il, will
resist II with all the meaas IA their power -
Seeking poaeesbly, at the end OF tour years,
TO thrust out Of power AN Administration
which has abused il, it demands that by peace
able means aud unobs,ructed, it shall be per,
mitted to work out that good deliveFanee. 1t
speaks It with the voice Of nearly two million
votes, representing twelve millions Of men,
women and children OF the country. Ii
meant, sud means, precisely the full signif-
e'nce Of the words in which the declaration is
made. All else, the platform deals only with
that which is OF immediate concern 70 d a