Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-09-03
tl, SPEECH OF
Hon. William Allen
|Hb, BEFORE THE
CHICAGO CONVENTION.

After the nomination of General Nc
CLELLAN by the Chicago Convention, and
after Governor HoRATIo SEYMouR, Hon. G.
L. VALLANDIGHAM, Mr.. McKEoN, Hon. L.
w. POWELL, and Mr.. SALISBURY, had
Spoken, the President rose aad said:
Gentlemen of the Convention, we are hon
ored with the presence here to-day OF one
whose reputation has ever stood high with
the American people, and whose reputation
is the more endeared to us from its connec-
tion with the memory of Andrew Jackson.
TLoud cheers / call upon Senator Allen,
of Ohio, to address the Convention.
Mr.. Allen, who was received with enthu-
siastic applause, spoke as follows:
SPEECH OF HON. WILLIAM ALLEN, OF OHIO.
GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION: Men of
America, during thelast fouryears ourrulers
have been so unfortunate as 10 make political
and military mistakes, which have exposed
this nation to the complicated dangers of
disintegraticn, despotism and anarchy
[Cheers. The people of the nation at large,
irrespective of party badges and distinc-
tons, have become appalled, at the dangers
which threaten 1t in the near future, and
have looked around to find ON earth some
power capable of rescuing them from these
dangers to which they are exposed, and by
which they are environed. They have
found but one power, and that Is the old
Democracy OF the United States. Great
cheering. In obedience to the call of this
endangered country, you have come for
ward here and rendered your services to
aid the balance of your countrymen in tire
salvation of your country. [Cries of ''good"
and cheers.l Your deliberations are
about to+be brought to conclusion; and,
fully aware that it was the unhappy split
in our ranks four years ago which open
ed the way for the ingress of this de-
structive power, you are now bound by
your own allegiance to the Constitution OF
| your country to close up your ranks and act
unitedly, as the only means OF saving it.
ICheers.] Hence it is that, Notwithstanding
the necessity and unavoidable diversity of
sentiment with regard to unimportant and
= irrelevant issues, and with regard to the in
diyidials named for the great office of Pres
ident, in the end we behold what we are
about to enjoy-the grand consummation
of the union of the Democratic party first,
and then the union of the States. Loud
cheersJ Whilst there is a Democrat in this
/ land whose reason is not obscured by error,
Z and whose heart is undaunted by danger,
/ there need be no despair of the Union or of
the liberties of the people. The people
have done wisely in calling the Democracy
| to make this great effort for the country. l
think they have done wisely, because our
party, the great Democracy, can say-what
no political party on earth can say-that
! before the breaking out of our troubles and
| the commencement of the war it acquired
all the territory of the Union, carried the
country successfully through two foreign
wars, and so administered the government
as to leave the people, at the end OF its
heightened term of office, happy, prosper
GUS ana contented. [Cheers.l The States
were then all in their proper places within
the Union, and under the Constitution, and
that Constitution four years ago remained
as uncontaminated and unbrOken as when
it received the signature of the Father of
his Country. With such record for the
! party in the past, what could the nation do,
than to see for itself that that body has
never betrayed us, and that under its wise
| administration we prospered and were hap
py. Under it we put down Hartford nulli-
fication and South Carolina notification
without drawing drop of blood. ECheers.]
We never drew drop of blood, and we can
say what no government on earth could say
before, that under our administration peace
and harmony prevailed, though the coun-
try extended over thirty -four States, space
well nigh as large as the whole of Europe;
parts of the world, speaking nearly all Ian
guages and entertaining all manner of re-
ligious sentiments, and spread over land
with diversity of climate and having q
variety of local interests.
We maintained happiness and prosperity
as long as the Democratic party had con-
troll of the government. Loud cheers.
We administered the government without
having drawn drop of blood for politi-
cal offense. Renewed cheers.] Our Pres
ident put down two such local difficulties as
that which existed in the South in 1862
without even drawing sword. How many
men, / would like to ask, were murdered,
and how long did the civil war last, in put
ting down the Hartford Convention? Zap
plause.l Mr.. Madison was then in power.
Where are the thousands and hundreds of
thousands who by his order lost their lives
in putting that insurrection down? Why,
sir, he never injured even a. pumpkin.
I Laughter and cheers. How. was it in
South Carolina, that State which threaten
ed to secede from the Union in 1882? An
drew jackson was then in power as iPresi-
dent. Did he murder hundreds of thous-
ands of citizens in order to get rid of that
local difficulty? There was not a word of
it; but on the contrary he appealed in a
great proclamation to the reason and sense
Of the people to maintain the Union and the
country. He'd did what every Democrat
had done before him, and will do after
wards--he assumed the proposition that
mankind was capable of selfgovernment,
and that human reason was sufficient to
maintain it without powder and steel.
Loud and enthusiastic cheering. ]15nlGud 4
The illustrious and eminent gentleman
who presides over the deliberations of this
body, threw out some remarks the other
day, in his inaugural address, which, in nyl
Judgment, were eminently proper to be
considered and acted upon by every Demo-
crat. One of the difficulties which you
will have will be in getting all the votes
you want and the way you can get them
Is by adopting the idea of our illustrious
President in this Convention; and that is to
proclaim that we are not seeking power to
massacre our enemies. Not at all. The
men of the South were never as well
protected as we used to protect them,
and they never will be protected as well
as weiiwil protect them if they OWL
Z come back. States as well as individ-
uals will be regarded, for our administra-
tion, If elected by the Democratic party,
will thereby be placed under the iwhole-
some restraint and direction Of Democratic
4 instincts. [Applause.l That administra-
,tion, instead oflbecoming the enemy and
prosecutor ofany part of our people, will
act like that celebrated woman in modern
history, the first Catharine Of Russia, a