Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-06-17

not turbulence; for quiet, not conyulsions;
for order and law, not anarchy. Let no
man of the Democratic party begin any act
of violence or disorder but let none shrink
from any responsibility, however urgent,
If forced upon him. Careful of the rights
Of Others, let him see to 1t that he fully and
fearlessly exactshis own. Subjectto right
full authority in all things, let him submit
to excess or usurpation in nothing. Obedi-
ent to the Constitution and law, let him de-
hand and have the full measure Of protec-
ton which law and Constitution secure
to him. r 44ss.e ls!f5atE sE4. ggjlJ
MEN OF ONO: You have already vindi-
Gated your right to hear: it is now my duty
to assert my right to sbeak.l Wherefore, rs
to tile sole Offense for which Twas arrested,
imprisoned and banished--free speech In
criticism and condemnation of the Admin
istration; an Administration fifty describ-
ed In recent public paper by one of its
early supporters, "marked at home by dis
regard of constitutional rights, by its vio-
lations of personal liberty and the liberty
of the press, and, as its crowning shawe,tby
its abandonment of the right of asylum. a
right especially dear to all free nations
abroad" / repeat 1t here to-day, and will
again and yet again, 80 long as Hive, or the
Constitution and our present form of gov
ernment shall survive. The words then
spoken and the appeal at that time made,
and now enforced by one year more of tax
alton and debt, and of blood and disaster,
eDtreating the people to change the public
servants and the policy, not by force, but
peaceably, through the ballot, now and
here reiterate in their utmost extent, and
with all their significancy L repeat them,
one and all, in no spirit of challenge or
bravado, but as earnest, sober, solemn truth
and warning to the people,.
Upon another subject allow me here a
word:
A powerful, widely spread and very dam
gerous secret, oath-bound combination
among the friends of the Administration,
known as the 'Loyal Union League" exists
in every State, yet the very men who con-
troll it, charge persistently upon the MEM
bers of the Democratic party, that they
have rganized-especally in the North
west-the "Order of the Knights of the
Golden Circle" or some other secret socie-
ty, treasonable or "disloyal' in its charac-
ter, affiliated with the South, and for the
purpose of armed resistance to the author
tiles of the Federal and State Government.
Whether any such ever existed, | do not
know; but the charge that organizations of
that sort, or having any such pur-
pose, do now exist among members of
that party in Ohio or other non-slave-
holding States, is totally and positive
ly false. That lawful political or
party associations have been established
having, as their object, the organizing and
strengthening of the Democratic party, and
its success in the coming Presidential cleo
| tion, and designed as counter-movement
to the so-called "Union Leagues" and,
therefore, secret in their proceedings, is
very probable, and however Objectionable
hitherto and in ordinary times, recognize,
to the fullest extent, not the lawfulness
only, but the propriety and necessity of
such organiZations-for "when bad men
combine good men must associate" But
they are no conspiracy against the govern
ment, and their members are not conspira-
tors, but patriots; men not leagued togeth-
er for the overthrow of the Constitution or
the laws, and still less, of liberty, but firm
ly united for the preservation and support
of these great objects. There is, indeed,
conspiracy" very powerful, very an
cient, and l trust that before long l may
add, strongly consolidated also, upon sound
principles, and destined yet to be tri-
umphant-a conspiracy known as the Dem
ocratic party, the present object OF which
is the overthrow of the Administration in
November next, not by force but through
THE BALLOT BOX, the election of President
who shall be true to his oath, to Liberty and
the Constitution. This is the sole conspir-
acy of which i know anything; and am
proud to be one of the conspirators. fany
other exist, looking to unlawful armed re-
sistance to the Federal or State authorities
any where, in the exercise of their legal
and constitutional rights, adnionish all
persons concerned, that the act is treason
and the penalty death. But Iwarn also the
men in power, that there is vast multitude,
host whom they can not number, bound
together by the strongest and holiest ties,
to defend by whatever means the eXigen-
cies of the times shall demand, their natur-
al and constitutional rights as freemen, at
all hazards and to the last extremity.
Three years have now passed, Men of
Ohio, and the great issue, Constitutional
Liberty and Free Popular Government, is
still before you. To you again commit it,
confident that in this the time of their
greatest peril, you will be found worthy of
the ancestors who for so many ages in Eng
land and America, on the field, in prison,
and upon thescaffold, defended them against
tyrants and usurpers whetherin councils or
in armc