Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1864-06-16
SPEECH OF
HON. c. l.. VALLANDIGHAM,
At THE
DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION,
AT HAMILTON. OHIO,
On the 18TH OF June, Iss4.
On the 18TH OF June, Iss4.

MEN OF OHtO To-Day AN again ~ your 4
midst, and upon the soil Of my native State 1
To-day am once more within the District
which for ten years extended 10 me the high /
est confidence, and three times honored me as
its Representative in the Congress Of the Uni
ted States | was accused nj 20 crime against
the Constitution or laws and guilty Of none
But whenever and wherever thus charged up
on me by process of law, sm now here ready
to answer before any civil court Of competent
| jurisdiction, 10 q Jury OF my countrymen and
IN the meantime, TO give bail IN any sum which
any Judge or court, State or Federal, may
stix aud you, the hundred and eighty.six
thousand Democrats of Ohio, / offer as my
suretes Never for one hour have | remain
ed in exile because recognized any oblga-
/ tion Of obedience to the unconstitutional and
arbitrary edict Neither did personal fear ever
restrain me And to-day return Of my own
act and pleasure, because it is my consultation.
al and legal right to return. My by an ex
erton OF arbitrary power, itselfagainst the Con
stitu ion aud law, and contaminated by lolila-
ry force, was abducted from my home and
forced into banishment The assertion or in.
siDuation OF the President that was arrested
"because laboring with some effect 10 prevent
the raising Of trooi e, and to encourage deser-
tons from the army and was responsible for
numerous acts OF res distance 10 LnG NFdll ana
to the arrest of deserters, causing 'assassins.
ton, manning and murder" or that at any
time, in any way, had obeyed or failed to
counsel obedience to the lawful authority, or
even to the semblnnce of law, is absolutely
false l appeal for the proof to every speech
ever made upon those questions, and to the
J very record of the Mock Military Commission
by the trial and sentence OF which | was out
ragged No, the sole odense then laid TO my
charge was words of criticism of the public
pol icy of the Administration, addressed to
open and political meetings Of my fellow citi-
zens Of Ohio lawfully and peaceably assem-
bed And to-day, my only "crime" is, that
in the way which they call treason, worship
the Constitution ofmy fathers But for now
/ more than one year, no public man has been
arrested, aud no newspaper suppressed within
, the States adherng still to the Union, for the
expression of political opinion while hun.
dreds, in public assembly and through the
press have, with license and violence in
which | never INDUCED, criticised and con
demned the acts and policies of the Aduinis-
tration, and denounced the war, maintaining
even the propriety and necessity of the recog-
milton OF Southern independence Endorsed
By nearly two hundred thousand freemen OF
= The Democratic party of my native State, AT
tnB lhtt cltCLlbn, anu sun WIN lut sympathy
o and support of millions more, do not mean
any longer to be the only man of that party
y who is TO be the victim Of arbitrary power
J. If Abraham Lincoln seeks my life let him so
II declare but he shall not restrain me of my
p. personal liberty, except upon due process o.
law The unconstitutional and monstrous
Order Thrty-e ght' under which alone wa,
arrested thirteen months ago was dehed anC
H. spit upon at your atelConventon of 1863
by the gallant gentlemen who bore the stan
dard as yonr candidate for Lieutenant Cover
ID nor, and by every Democratic press and pub
oy speaker ever since. 1t is dead. From tn,
= 6rst it was against the Constitution and laws
and without validity and all proceeding
under II we're and are utterly null and vol
and of no effect The indignant voice of cor
demnation long since went forth from tn
vast majority Of the people and presses c
America and from all free countries in EC
ay rope with entire unanimity And more II
a. Gently, too, the platform" OF au earnest nj
merous and most formidable convention of tn
w sincere Republicans, and still fu,her, the en-
DIS phatic letter of acceptance by the caudidst
he Of that Convention, General John G. Fremon
,te the first candidate also Of the Republican par
=. for the Presidency eight years ago upon th
o'- rallyng cry Of Free Sp ech and a Free Pres
'ry give renewed hope that at last the reign
i've arbitrary power is about to be brought to a
nd end in the United States IL is neither IN
nor it, therefore, that the wrongs inhiete
iaS under "0rder Thrty-eight;" and the 9TH
the edicts and acts of such power, should al
the longer be endured-certanly not by me alon
But every ordinary means Of redress has fir
been exhausted; yet either by the dire
'ity agency Of the Administration and its subo
de- dinates or through it's influences or iutmid
on. ton or because of want of jurisdiction in Il
civil courts to meet case which no America
ue ever in former times conceived TO be possib
om- here, all have failed Counsel applied in n
in behalf to an unjust Judge for the writ
M. habeas corpus 1t was denied and now h
privilege of that writ is suspended by act
are Congress and Executive order in every Stat
by The Democratic Convention Of Ohio, one ye
and ago, by a resolution formally present
lalf through committee ,t Of your best aud able
~ the President, in behalf Of very large q
yer nority of the people, q revocation Of the ed
i'm, of banshment Pretending that the pub
o,s safety then required it, he refused; saying,
the same time, that "it would afford him pei
ln' ure to comply as soon as he could by a
or means be made to believe that the puolic safe
pre- would not suffer by It One year has eap3t
o yet this hollow pretenss is stilltaetly assertt
and to-day am here to prove it unfound
in fact | appealed to the Supreme Court
r Of the United States aud because Congress b
Re never conferred jurisdiction in behalf Of
citizen tried by a tribunal unknown for su
I'D purpose to the laws, AMI expressly iorbidd
a. "a