The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1864-1911, 1864-06-22
8 p r II 9 H
OF
HON. c. |. VALLANDIGHaM
AT THE
DEMGCRATTC CONVENTION
AT
HAMILTON, OHIO,
ON THE
10TH OF JUNE, 1864 !
8 p E Il Q H

lolu VI JuN1J IOO2
Mes OF ONO: To-day | am again il
your midst, and upon the soil of my native
State To-day | am once more within the
District which for ten years extended To Inc
the highest confidence, and three times hon
ored me as its Representative the COngres,
of the United States | was accused of no
crime against the Constitution or laws, and
guilty Of none. But whenever and wher-
ever thus charged upon me by process OF
law, am now here ready to answer before
any court Of competent jurisdiction, to a
jury Of my countrymen; and in the mean
time TO give hail in any sum which any
Judge or court, State or Federal, may ailix
and you, the hundred and eighty-siX thou
sand Democrats of Ohio, [ offer as my sure
ties. Never for one hour have | remained
in exile, because | recognized any obligation
of obedience to the unconstitutional and ar
bitrury edict. Neither did personal fear ever
restrain me. And to-day | return of my
own act and pleasure, because it is my con-
stitutioual and legal right to return. Only
by an cxertion of arbitrary power, itself
against the Constitution and law, and CON
summatcd by military force, ] was abducted
from my home and forced into banishmcnt.
The assertion or insinuation of the PreSi-
dent that I was arrested because laboring
with some effect to prevent the raising OF
troops and to encourage deSertuns from the
army, and was responsible for numerous
acts Of resistance to the draft and 10 the ar
rest of desertcrs, causing Assassination,
manning and murder or that at any time,
in any way. had disobcyed or failed to coun-
sci obedience to the lawful authority, or even
to the sembcnce of law, is absolutely false =
appeal for the proof, to every speech |
ever made upon those questions, and to the
very record of the Mock Military Commits
sion by the trial and sentence of which was
outraged. No; the sole offensc then laid 10
my charge was words of criticism Of the pub
lie policy of the Administration, addressed
to open and public political meetings Of my
follow-citizens of Ohio, lawfully and peacea-
bly, assembled And to-day, my only crime
is, that in the way which they call treason
worship | the Constitution of my fathers -
But for now more than one year, no public
man has been arrested, and no newspaper
suppressed within the States adhering still TO
the Union, for the expression of political
opinion; while hundreds, in public assembly
and through the press, have, with a license
and violence in which / never indulged criti,
ciscd and condemned the acts and policies of
the Administration, and denounced the war,
maintaining even the pr0priety and necessity
of the recognition of Southern independence.
Endorsed by nearly two hundred thousand
treemen of the Democratic party of my ma
tive State, at the late election, and still with
the sympathy and supaort of millions more,
! do not mean any longer to be the only man
Of that party who is to be the victim Of arbi-
trary power If Abraham Lincoln seeks my
lie, let him so declare but he shall not a.
gain restrain me Of my personal liberty, cX-
cept upon ''due process Of law" The un-
constitutional and monstrous Order Thirty
eight under which alone was arrested
thirteen months ago, was defed aud spit
upon at your State Convention of 1868, by
the gallant gentleman who bore the standard
as your candidate for Lieutenant Governor,
and by every Democratic press and public
speaker ever since It's dead. From the
first it was against the Constitution and laws,
and without validity anda proceedings un-
der it were and are utterly null and void and
of no effect The indignant voice of con
demnation long since went forth from the
vast majority of the people and presses of
America, and from all free countries in Eu-
rope with entire unanimity. And more re-
Gently, too, the platform of an earnest,
numerous and most formidable convention of
the sincere Republicans, and still further,
the emphatic letter of acceptance by the
candidate Of that Convention, General John
G. Fremont, the first candidate also of the
Republican party for the Presidency eight
years ago, upon the rallying cry of Free
Speech and Free Press, give renewed hope
that at last the reign Of arbitrary power is
about to be brought to an end in the United
States. 1t is neither just nor fit, therefore,
that the wrongs inflicted under Order
Thirty eight" and the other edicts and acts
of such power, should any longer be endu-
red--cartainy not by me alone. But every
ordinary means of redress has first been eX-
halu ted; yet neither by the direct agency Of
the Administration and its subordinates, or
through its influence or intimidation, or be-
cause of want Of jurisdiction in the civil
courts to meet a case which no American
ever in former times conceived to be possible
here, all have failed. Counsel applied in my
behalf to an unjust judge for the writ of
haleas corpus. Il was denied and now the
privilege of that writ is suspended by act of
Congress and Executive order in every State
The Democratic Convention of Ohio, one
year ago, by resolution formally presented
through committee Of your best and ablest
men, in person at Washington, demanded
of the President, in behalf Of very large
minority of the people, revocation Of the
edict Of banishmcnt. Pretending that the
public safety then required it, he refused
saying mt the same time, that lit would at
ford him pleasure to comply as soon as he
could by any means be made to believe that
the public safety would not suffer by it. -
One year has elapsed, yet this hollow pre-
tense is still tacitly asserted; and to-day |
am hero to prove it untounded i'll fact. |
appealed to the Supreme Court of the Uni
ted States; and because Congress had never
conferred jurisdiction in behalf of D citizen
tried by tribunal unknown for such pur-
pose, to the laws, and expressly forbidden
by the Constitution, it was powerless to re-
dress the wrong The time has, therefore,
arrived, when it becomes me as citizen of
Ohio, and OF the United States, to demand
and, by my own act, to vindicate the rights,
liberties and privileges which | never for
feited, but which for so many months ]
have been deprived. Wherefore, men of
Ohio, ! am again in your midst to-day. |
owe duties to the State, and am here to dis
charge them: | have rights as a citizen.
and am here to assert them: wife and
child at home, and would enjoy all the pleas
ures which are implied in those cherished
words. But ] am here for peace, not tur-
bulence for quiet, not convusions; for or
der and law, not anarchy Let no man of
the Democratic party begin any act of vio-
lcnce Or disorder; but let him not shrink
from any responsibility, however urgent, if
forced upon him. Careful of the rights Of
others, let him see to it that he fully and
fearlessly exacts his own. Subject to right
ful authority in all things, let him submit to
excess or usurpation in nothing. Obedient
to the Constitution and law, let him demand
and have the same measure of protection
which law and Constitution secura to him