Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-09-21
SPEECH OF
Hon. Henry 3. Payne,
AT THE
Mcclellan Ratification Meeting, i'm
Cleveland, ON Saturday Evening, Sep
tember nth, 1864.
[Plain Dealers Report ]

[Plain Dealers Report.l
The Hon. FL. d. Payne was then intro
duced by Judge Ranney, and while three
mighty cheers were given for the speaker
cheers that spoke the feelings of the heart
feelings that find expression in no Other
way-expressions of joy because all that is
good, pure and holy, has not yetpeen pros
tituted-that all that is lovely and patriotic
has not yet been drawn into the damnablt
vortex of political corruption-the speaker
rose and said
1t is charged by the Republican press,
and by many of their speakers, that Demo-
Gratis are copperheads, butternuts, dislOyal-
lists and secessionists, and in favor Of stop
ping the war by making dishonorable
peace with the rebels. 1t is not often that
we meet so many of these cOpperhedds at one
assemblage; and | want therefore to take a
test vote. l want to know if in all this
vast concourse, there is one man whose
heart does not beat in unison with the great
pulse of the Union-who does not love his
country and his country's flag next to his
God. If l am not mistaken, there is not
one whose sympathy is not with the soldier,
whose heart is not with the Union, and
whose hand is not with the loyal of the
people. If it is so, want to hear from you
one of those good, ,old-fashioned Democratic
cheers we used to have in days gone by
[Then arose such cheer as Cleveland knew
not of before. 1t was such shout as came
from the desert shore of the old Red Sea,
when IsraePs host stood free on Canaan's
side. 1t was the united shout of twenty
thousand freemen. 1t arose above the trees
and housetops of the Forest City and rever-
berated over the silent lake, and about the
statue of him who is its hero. 1t was the
Of and
Democrat. Then all grew still as Silence
prophetic of the peace which shall follow
the terrible disuord OF the rule of Abraham
Lincoln.
Go to the polls next November and re-
echo that shout, that Old Abe, in his private
library, counting the gains of his shOddy
contracts and the price ofthe blood of 5O0,-
600 of his Subjects and his minions in the
North and the South, the East and the
West, may hear and tremble at. Let them
put the test into their pipes and smoke it.
cuss is, the impossiblity Of a cenaentdtton Of
the Union, and q restoration Of peace, ander
the policy of abraham Lincoln.
1t is my own conviction that if the coun-
try is ever preserved from ruin-the old
flag in its starry glory ever permitted to
float in undimn med lustre DER the prairies
of the far West, from the hilltops of New
England, from the homes in the sunny
South, and here-it can only be accomplish
ed by an abandonment of the present i'm
beetle, fanatic and lunatic Administration.
Renewed cheers.] At what cost of blood
of fathers and brothers-at what cost Of
tears of widows and mothers-at what
cost of wailing and misery of orphans
has this war been carried on for three years
and half! ..-..
Had Lincoln thrown his influence, at the
time of his inauguration, on the side Of
peace and Union, it would have spared us
this intestine and bloody war; but, looking
to his self-interest and self-aggrandiZemen
herefused to do it, and there was no peace,
no Union. The war commenced by the
rebels firing on Sumter. The whole North
was incensed-both Democrats and Repub-
licans-and united as one to put down the
rebellion. Lincoln had said in his iDaugu-
raj, that he had no right and no disposition
to meddle with the domestic institutions of
any State; that the war was to put down
insurrection and not to subjugate the South,
and that the war should cease when the OBJ
ject for which it was begun had been ac-
complished. Nay, more! he had sworn to
protect and be guided by the Constitution
OF the United States! How has he kept his
oath? l charge him with having, in direct
violation of the Constitution and that
oath, wickedly broken faith with the SOL
dier, with your brother and my brother,
with your kin and my kin, with your neigh
Dor and with my neighbor. rememberin
1862, how, with my friend Mr.. Backus,
known to most of you, | went over the
country urging the people to rise and de-
fend the honor of the flag. was particu-
larly urged to go to those localities which
are most Democratic, and l went, and L
urged them. L gave them the pledges which
were given to me, that the object of the
war should not be perverted. They went,
but the pledges have been broken. can
refer to two regiments raised in those
towns which visited, every man of which
was a Democrat who went to put down in
surrection and not to interfere with State
institutions. They sleep in Southern graves,
for the pledges were broken.
There is not child ten years of age but
could see that our true policy would have
been to cement the North and divide the
South, and up to two years ago it was so,
until Sept. lst 1862, when was issued that
Infamous proclamation conceived of the
Devil and born in Hell, which jeff. Davis
alone, in the moments of the most tiendish
vividness of his imagination, could have
planned to sunder the North and unite the
South. am not speaking of a man over
stocked with political knowledge, but even
Lincoln ought TO nave known Detter. Is
there doubt that if he had kept his faith
with the people, and his oath to the Consti-
tuition, the war would have been at an end
long agop A majority of the Southern peo-
pie, with the exception of three or four of
the Cult States, were in favor of a return to
the Union until after that cursed proclama-
tiona North Carolina wanted only few
more in numbers--the same with Arkansas
and Louisiana-and was ready and willing,
nay, eager to return to the parental fold.
Why was not an opportunity given This
is tile course referred to by Gen. Mcclellan
in that admirable and glorious letter-Ito
disarm the disunionists and then invite
them to return to their allegiance to the
Constitution and the Union as equals, and
not as subjects. But that hope died out when
the emancipation proclamation was issued
BY that long, lean, lanky, third-rate lawyer
from Illinois, ID. le..t,.i4 ,leo .Sii.. @
Nothing but omnipotent power can put
understanding into the head of man, and
THAT power never put any into the Uranium
of Abraham Lincoln. just think Of the
sublime folly, or, if you likeit better, ofthe
wonderful wisdom displayed in that inge-
NOUS document, the proclamation of eman-
cipation to half million negroes in the
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