Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-04-07

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a legislative committee was appointed to |
expose the outrages committed and protect |
the people from further encroachments,
that committee wilfully neglected to dis
charge its sacred trust, perverted the truth,
and suppressed evidence. Its report is q
plea for the exercise of tyrannical power
and aims blow at our constitutional lib
critics.
When vallandigham availed himself of
the freedom of speech, you responded by
blows and exiled him to Canada. N.F
When Lieutenant Edgerly exercised the
freemaRs privilege to cast his ballot for the
ticket of his choice, you struck a blow at
him and the elective franchise by dismiss
ing him from military service.
When the brave Col. Wolford, q few
weeks ago, with Roman-like frankness, ar
raigned the Administration for Its i'll doings
at the bar Of the people, the answer was
blow at free speech, the speaker was ar
rested and dismissed from services, pa
When the highest judicial tribunal of In
diana, in legal decision, exposed the hol-
lowness of Lincoln's claim for unlimited
war power and allowed writs of hdbeds cor
pus to be issued to protect the people from
the further assumption of usurped power,
your Provost Marshals threatenedto punish
the Judges. unless they would agree to per-
jure themselves and advocate the cause of
| Despotism. ~
When Imyself, during the last Legislative
session, In this very same Hall, In the shape
of a series of Democratic resolutions, ex-
pressed my own true sentiments, which
still fully entertain, and the sentiments of
my constituents, Twas assailed by an inso-
| lent majority on this floor, threatened
with expulsion-which would have been
| the highest honor ever conferred upon me
and finally censured as a promoter of
sedition and disunion, giving aid and COM
fort to the enemies of the United States.
| When the gentleman from Butler, few
| days ago, In the legitimate discharge of his
duties as q Representative, freely discussed,
on the floor of this House, the resolutions
then under consideration, he was brutally
assaulted and stricken down by ruffianly
force.
And you, sirs, stand by, idle, silent, with
folded arms, not even lifting finger to pun
isli tile offender. Your duty clearly was,
to expel him at once. But with sardOnc
smile you look on, chuckling over the dis
| graceful occurrence, which should have
tinged your cheeks with crimson shame,
which should have been rebuked on the
spur of the moment with your darkest
frown and sternest Indignation. You wait
until an apology is offered, which adds but
insult to the insult. but which you deem
amply sufficient for all purposes. We, on
this side of the House, have delayed action
| for more than reasonable time. You seen
fit not to take cognizance at all of the Of
fence against your own dignity and the dig
nifty of the people whom you claim to rep
resent! And now after weeks delay, you
| force us, the minority, to move in the mat
ter, to remind you of your duty, to compel
| you to do right or confess before the people
that you persist in doing wrong.
What then? A substitute for the original
resolution is gravely offered by the Judi
ciary Committee, palliating and white
washing the offense, declaring the>assailed
to be equally guilty with the assailant.
crucifying Christ alongside of the sinner,
| arraigning the gentleman from Butler
| And for what? For disorderly words or
conduct? For an offense against the order,
saIety and dignity of this body? (And to
| that extent, and that extent only, are you
authorized by the Constitution to exercise
| judicial jurisdiction over members of this
| House.) No, mol For what then do you
arraign him? Because he has used language
| distasteful to the majority, because he has,
forsooth, uttered "disloyap' sentiments!
Sirs, have heard that hypocritical, fash
ionable phrase of disloyalty so often, that
am heartily sick of 1t. Heretofore always
deemedi it beneath my dignity even to notice
IL, llOW letl Cdiicu upOu W CtsfI IiiC Ncn
| from the shrine of your devotion, and to
expose to the eyes Of the people the hid
eous features of your idol and the sycopan-
| cy of its worshippers. ,...
Sirs, j hold In my hand the photograph OF
your party, taken in the camera of truth by
the hands of skillful artist. Let me ex-
hibit It to you! Here 1t Is! The dominant
party sets up claim to monopoly in the
nation, No other party has Alright to exist.
Counter organizations are reasonable, and
not counter organizations merely, but c0un-
ter opinions, thoughts, words--every form
of dissent to its acts, designs, professions.
policy3to that which It has done,to that
which it Is doing, to that which 1t proposes
or may propose to do. A man may become
a traitor by. doubling the propriety of that
which the Administration has not yet re-
solved upon. In short, the Administration
--its acts and possible acts, Its policy and
possible policy and its pretenses-are sought
| to be made the standard Of popular opin-
| ion, with the charge of treason hanging
over all who may have the courage to dis
sent, prooided hoioever, that the dissenters are
| Democrats.
For anti-Democrats, members, of the
dominant party, may go as far as Democrats
policy and acts of the Administration,
without, losing the halo of sham loyalty
now surrounding their rsanctimonious couii-
tenances. When Wendell Phillips boasts
that he has labored nineteen years to break
up the Union, and that success has crowned
his labors since the Inauguration of Lin
coin, when he utters sentiments that should
make him Paria, an outcast from human
society, that should forever brand the Gains
mark of treason to his forehead, do you
stigmatize him as traitor? Do you ostra-
cize him as disloyalman |? No, mol Your
President embraces him, your Vice Presil
dent bows down and worships him, your
Senators and Representatives court him as
the very embodiment of Loyalty. ,Fg
And now listen to the language of the
adherents of Chase and Fremont: ~, II.
First permit me to quote the following
passage from the Chase CIRCULAR: All
the promises Of the Administration, time
and again, for the speedy overthrow Of the
rebellion, have been falsified. The truth Is,
that there is no man, who does not wear the
livery OF. Office, or Is not in the pay of the
general government, who does not feel NOR
titled and humbled, that our nation, with
its twenty millions of loyal people at the
North, with four millions of auxiliariesin
the South, to say nothing of the hosS of I'm
ion men there, has not succeeded yet in
overthrowing the insolent slave oligarchy,
which does not number five millions, all
toldl It is impossiblcto to prevent the Amer
lean people from making humiliating COM
parsons between the rebel chief and the