The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1865-08-31
THE FIRSF d:UN.
SPEECH or ,'' ~, ..''. +.
MAJOR GEN. J.. D. COX,
UNION CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR,
Ar WARREN, TRgpIBULL CO.,
ON TUESDAY, a0GUsTilS, 1865. 20
eBEETING OLD FRIENDS.

GBEETING OLD FRIENDS. .aa.i
FelloW-sttfsens and Netshbors:9 dii' o.
Nearly four years and half ago,~t
parted from you at the country's call,
to become soldier of the Union in
The terrible conflict which was to de-
termine whether American Republi.
canism was a success or d failure on
this continents whether the Federal
Government had the power Of self,
preservation and the Fight to defend
It's existence, or was d loose Compact to
bo bfelien whenever niihorities might
seek ina secession a remedy for de-
feat at hgpolls. My last civil duty
was itoIdeny,r as yoar representative,
the rightyof rebels 10 dissolve the Un-
ion, and to urge upon the Ohio Legis-
laturej the duty ofupholding the Gov,
ernment by arms. ioh' '"'''...'
To-day we resume in some degree
our civil relations, by comforting to-
gether upon the present condition Of
the country, and discussing some Of
the questions Of Importance pressing
upon as for settlement.
When We parted, it was in the great
agony Of our first realization that civ
il war was upon as, rearing its horrid
front here in our own land, where we
had believed that our republican insti-
tutions gave us perpetual. immunity
from the convulsions, which from time
TO time, have shaken the communities
of the old world. We meet again in
triumph; the foes Of the Union have
been vanquished; tho rights of the
Government have been 1indicated; and
the banner of rebellion, which. was
lately Haunting in our faces on hun
dred battleRelds, is now seen only
where it hangs in our national halls as
a trophy of victory. li.. :, az
Between that parting and this meet.
ing there is an awful interval, full Of
mingled hope and gloom, rejoicing and
mourning, for those who were athome
through faith in the ultimate triumph
of the right, Gin this case emphatically
"the evidence Of things not seen, y
kept the hearts of the loyal people
from sinking while for those who
were in the field it was full of excite
ments, tolls and strifes, that made the
burden Of the contest lighter after al
than for those who watched and wait
2itG FOUR YEARS AGO.
Let us review the position which We
then occupied politically. We were
warning against the extension of sla.
very. The Republican party had for
years been opposing that SYSTEM
First, because it was a crime agains
human nature and a dreadful wrong
against another race. 1t was con
demned by the judgment of the who'll
civilized world. Humanity and phi
lanthropy both demanded of us, rs We
believed, that we should by OverJ
tneansin our power, free the Govern
itient and our country from every re
sponsibilty for such a wrong Sec
und, because 1t was dragging dowr
the poor non .slaveholding white al
the South I'd a condition little better
than that of the slaves themselves
We proved from the assertions made
by the Southern statesmen and thu
testimony of witnesses whose state
nients could not be controverted, thai
Virtue was broken down, intelligence
reduced almost to nothing, thrift
vanishing, and every thing which
goes to make laboring population
ether honest, industrious, or pat
riotlc, Vas disappearing before thu
influence of this system upon thosC
whites who were too poor to owl
slaves, aud were forced to rely upor
theft own labor and their own thrift
ttr their advancement. We opposeC
1t also, in the third place, because
wherever the system existed, all thu
material interests of the country wer,
sacrificed to it; manufactures and com
merce became of little worth, and in
stead of that progress in wealth ant
civilization which had been so marked
o feature of our Northern States, W,
beheld simply an agricultural aristoc
racy, using Tor their own l(tSdry th'
producrof slave labor and becoming
apparently, incapable of understand
ing even the advantages Of that spiri
of progress which We had regarded a
the peculiar pride of our race. w
saw, in short, that slavery was an fr
reconcilable antagonism to all free in
Btitutions; that It's tendency was to
wards barbarism, and that the Repub
lican Government our fathers hat
founded could only be preserved By
Its overthrow. The irrepressible con
flict became yearly more engrossing
and in spite Of all our efforts to avoit
it, we were obliged to make the issu
whether otir country should ultimate
ly be all slave territory or all free ter
ritort. So long, however, as th
shareholders kept the peace, and re
frain from violent opposition to th
Government, we recognized thei
right, under the Constitution, I,
freedom from any interference on tn
part of the Federal Government in tn,
concerns of the States themselves, o.
intheir domestic institutions there
We recognized the fact that our pow
or could reach the system only in tn,
common territories belonging to th,
nation, and that by preventing tn,
extension only could we properly op
pose it We believed that, in the enc
this girdling of the tree would destroy
its life--that the progress of EopinioI
and fha nar trook ~, rnnYaaritxy hat,uaay