The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1864-06-29
,,o71 soet1sq SPEECH 30 '.o1'a
III tase 10 fao OF THE ne 80 s5ia= sfs,
Hon. C. i. Vallandigham
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DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION,
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HARGILToN, OHIO,
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SPEECH.
18th of Jane. 1ss4..

18th of Jane, 1s6A.
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MEN OF OHIO: To-day / ann again in
your midst, and upon the soil of my ma
tive State To-day am once more with
in the District which for ten years exten.
dcd to me the highest confidence, and
three times honored me as its Represen-
tative in the Congress of the United
States j was accused of no crime against
the Constitution or laws, and guilty of
none. But whenever and wherever thus
charged upon me by due proscss of law, l
am now here ready to answer before any
civil court of competent jurisdiction, to \
jury ofmy countrymen; and in the mean
time, to give bail in any sum which any
Judge or court, State or Federal, may af-
fz; and you, the hundred and eighty six
thousand Democrats of Ohio I-offer as my
sureties. Never for a one hour have / re.
manned in exile, because I recognized
any obligation of obedience to the uncon-
stitutional and arbitrary edict. Neither
did personal fear ever restrain me. And
to. day Iircturn of my own act and pleas
:ure,7 because il is nay constitutional and
legal right to return. Only by an exer-
tion of arbitrary power, itself against the
Constitution and law, and consummated
by military force, i was abducted from
my home and forced into banishment.
The assertion or insinuation of the Presi-
dent that I was arrested "because labor
ing with some effect TO prevent the rais-
ing of TROOPS and to encourage desertions
from the army" and was responsible for
numerous acts of resistance TO the draft
and to the arrest of deserters, causing
assassination, manning and MURDER" or
that at any time, in any way, had dis
obeyed or fuiled to counsel obedience to
the lawful authority, or even to the sem
blance of law, is absolutely false. l ap-
peal for the proof, to every speech l ever
made upou those questions. and to the
very record of the Mock Military Com
mission. by the trial ana sentence of
which was outraged. No; the sole Of
fense then laid to my charge was words
of c-iticiFm of the public policy of the
Administration, addressed to open and
public political mt etings of my fellow
citizens OF Ohio, lawfully and peacefully
assembled. q And to. day my only "crime"
is, that in the way which they call trea-
SOD, I worship the Constitution of my
fathers. But row for more than one
year, no public man has been arrested, ],
and no newspaper suppressed within the
States adheri1g still to the Union, for the
depression Of political opinion; while hun
dreds, in public assembly and through
the press, have, with license and vio-
lence in which never INDUCED, critici-
sed and condemned the acts and politics
of the Administrations, and denounced
the war, maintaining even the propriety
and necessity cf recognition, of South
em independence. Endorsed by nearly
two hundred thousand freemen of the
Democratic party of my native State, nt
the late election, and still NTH the sym
pathy and support of millions more, do
not mean any longer to he the only man
of that party who is to be the victim OF
arbitrary power. IF Abraham Lincoln
seeks my life, let him SO declare; bnt be
shall not again restrain me of my person
al liberty, except upon "due process OF
law" The unconstitutional and mon
/ strous "Ordsr Thirty eight" under which
alone was arrested spit upon at your
State Convent of 1868, by the gallant
gentleman who bore the standard as your
candidate for Lieutenant Governor, and
by every Democratic press and public
sneaker ever since. 1t is dead. From
1.-THE first it was against the Constitution
and laws, and without validity; and all
proceedings under it were and are utterly
null andsvoid and of no effect. The in
! dignant voice of condemnation long since
/ went forth from the vast majority of the
people and presses of America, and from
all free countries in Europe with entire
iunanimity.o And more recently, too, the
"platforrn" Of IN earnest, numerous and
most formidable convention of the sincere
Repnblicans, and still further, the en-
phatic letter of acceptance by the candi
date of that Convention, Gen. John C
Fremont, the first candidate also of the
Republican party for the Presidency
eight years ago, upon the rallying cry Of
Free Speech and a Free Press, give re
newed hope that at last the reign of arbi
trary power is about to abe brought to ar
end in the United States. It isneithel
lust nor fit, therefore, that the wrongs
inflicted under si0rder Taifty-eight," ant
1.-The other edicts and acts of such power
SHOULD any longer be enduredAcertainly
mot by me alone, But every ordinary
fmeans of redress has Rrst been exhausted
lyet either by the direct agency of th'
Administrations and Its subordinates, O
Through its influence or intimidation, %
| because Of want of Jurisdiction in the
civil courts to. meet case which NJ
American ever in former times conceived
to be possible here, all have failed. Coun
sci applied i'm my behslf to an unjus
Judge for the writ of habeas corpus Il
4 Twas denied; and nowotheo privilege of ltha
writ is suspended byiact of Congressan'
i Executive order lin every State. Th
'tDemocratic Convention of Ohio, one yea
tago,, BY q resolution formally presente
through . committee of your best an
| ablest men. in person at Washington, d