Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-06-17
MORNING LEADER
FRTpAE afaRNTNG, JUNE u, Isl4
THE EXILE RETURNED.
y0IIauc:sh1m'sspe,ch IN Hamilton.

EnfNmmEs m - = DEEEH NAuIldAAEMa
TIE following is more complete re-
port of the speech of Va:lsadighsm than
that furnished by telegraph:
ePEEcH OF VALLANDl0HAM.
MEN or 0HIo To day [ am again In
your midst, and upon the soil Of my native
State. To day am once more within the
District which for ten years extended to
me the highest confidence, and three times
honoIed me rs its Representative in the
Congress Of the United States. ] was ac-
eused Of no caime against the Constitution
or Laws, and guilty of none. But Whsnev-
er and wherever thus charged upon undue
process OF lay, I amnoW here heady to an
swer, before any civil court Of competent
Jurisdiction, to jury Of my countrymen !;
and meantime, to give bail In any sum
which any judge or court, State or Feder-
al, may afhx and you, the hundred and
eiahty.six thousand Democrats Of Ohio, l
offer as my sursties. Never for one hour
have remained in exile because I recog-
nfEsd any obligation Of obedience TO the
unconstitutional and arbitrary ediet.
Eeitr er did personal fear ever restrain me.
And ts-dsy return Of my own act and
pleasure, because it is my constitutional
and legal right to return. Only
by an eKertion Of arbitrary pow
or, itself against Constitution and
Law and consummated by military force,
I WAS abducted from my home, snd forced
in, > bsnishment. The assertion OF insin-
uatio,7 Of the President, that WAS arrest
ed abeA euse lsbOring with some eject to
nravent IN, = raising Of troops and TO en-
courace dese, 'tions from the army, and was
reanoSsihle for numerous acts Of resist
anee 10 the draft and to the arrest Of dc
seriers, causing sast tsaeinstion, manning
and murder :" or that O. any time In any
way, had disobeyed or faiicd n counsel
obedience to lawful authority, CT even 70
the semblano9 Of law, is Absolutely false.
! appeal for the proof to every speech
ever made upon these questions, and to
The very record Of the mock Military Com
missi,>1, by the trial and sentence Of which
I was on ntrsged. No; the sole otfense then
laid 70 my charge, vas words Of criticism
OF the public Pelicy Of the Administration,
addressed 20 an open and public political
meeting of my fellow citizens # Ohio, law
fully and peaceSb bly, assembled. And to-
day, my only uorima" is that, in the way
which they call treason, worship I the
Constitution Of my fathers. But, for now,
mole than one year, no pnSlic man has
been arrested, and no newspaper
suppressed within the State, ad.
herring still to the Unien, for
the expression Of political opinion while
\ undreds, in public assembly and through
tbs press, have, with q license and vic.
Ience in which never INDUCED, criticised
and condemned the acts and policies Of
The Admin istrstion, and denounced the
war. maintaining even the propriety and
necessity Of tho recognition of Southern
iudepenaencc. I-dorsed BY nearly two
buudred thousand freemen Of the Demo-
cratic party Of my nstive State, at the
late election, and still with the sympathy
and support Of millions more, do not
mean any longer, to be the only man Of
that partv, who Is to Be the victim Of ar
bitrsTv power, If Abraham Lincoln seeks
nv life. let nim so declare; but he shall
not sgain restrain ne Of my personal lib
erty, except upon "due process
Of law" The unconstitutionanl and
monstrous HOrder Thirty Eight" under
which, alone, was arrested thir-
teen months sgo, was defined snd
spit upon at your State Convention Of 1858
by the gallant gentleman who bore the
standard as your candidate FOR Lieutenant
Governor, and By every Democratic press
snd public speaker ever since. It lie dead
From the first it was against the Consti.
tuition and laws, and without validity