Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1865-08-25


pointment of the following
IN STATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:
! ALLEN G., THURMAN, AMOS LAYMAN,
JOHN G. THOMPSON, w. w. WEBB,
\ E!F. BINGHAM,
W w JEFFERSONPALM,
Chairman
Mr.. Vallandlgham being called upon for
a speech, declined, but said that he took
pleasure in announcing that the committee
on Resolutions had agreed unanimously
upon platform which would be acceptable
to every Democrat, and which ought to be
accepted by every patriot in Ohio.
Judge Ranney being absent on the Com
mittee on resolutions, Gen. John McMakin,
of Hamilton, Gen. II. Ii. Dodge, of Cuya-
-hoga, and David A. Houk, ofvMontgomery.
were appointed committee to wait upon
him and inform him ofhis election as Pres
ident of this Convention. The committee
q discharged their duty, and soon appeared
with the Judge, who then made the follow
ing speech: o t, ,ss ,,. E@n s".o, = "'"' y
.cn SPEECH OF HON. II. p. RANNEY. ..5.
GENTLEMEN OF THE CoNvENTIoN:--I re-
= turn to you my sincere and heartfelt thanks
for this undeserved expression OF your con-
fitle ce in me. Bringing to the discharge of
the duties of the chair no experience, un-
der some circumstances | should distrust
my ability to conduct the proceedings of
this Convention, as they onght to be; but,
knowing, as l do, that the gentlemen of
the Convention are here for one single, un-
, divided purpose of accomplishing, decent
a ly and in order, the business for which they
have assembled, l do not anticipate that
any partcular-ability will be required on
the part of the chair. And while return
! my thanks, gentlemen of the Convention,
tor the honor you have conferred upon me,
allow me, for a single moment to congratu-
late you, and, through you, the Democracy
of Ohio, for your present position, perfect
organization, and great strength. (Ap-
plause)
1t is now many years since have been
acquainted with the assemblages Of the De-
mocracy Of this State in Convention. For
the last four years-I need not say to
anybody-through which we have passed,
. what fiery ordeal the Democracy of this
+ State have encountered; and the astonish-
ing fact stands out prominently that, not
withstanding all the prosecutions. and all
the assaults to which the Democracy of this
State have, during that unfortunate period,
{ b, en- subjected, still each returning year
has shown that the body was growing
each returning of the votes, as they came
in, showed that, instead of persecution
running you down, and diminishing your
strength, and decreasing your numbers,
they are all the time elevating them. Why
. is this? No association of men-no party,
gathered togetherfo mere sinister, or tenn
porary, or selfish purpose, could say this.
They would have been broken into atoms
with the amount of persecution and OPP
preston which we have encountered. II is
because, fellow citizens-and we should al
ways bear this in mind-because there lies
right at the foundation Of Democratic faith
the sacred trust of preserving the great
and essential rights of the great mass of the
people. .,t.r...
That is the secret and the whole of It,.
And let me give you this one encouraging
Tt4HkEhat just as long as you are true to
yot31ksses, and true to the great Interests
of the people, you are invincible. (Ap-
plause.) The world, the flesh and the devil
may combme against you, but without eff
feet. (Applausc.) tAnd now, gentlemen,
without undertaking to detain you any
length of time, for am wholly unprepared
to speak to you as | would have done
without undertaking to detain you for any
length of time to 60 over any of the various
topics that now agitate the public mind,
and upon which you are called to act, let
me forasingle moment take a glance at the
past, in order the better to assure ourselves
of our present position and our present du-
ties. % has s5uU 10 s't LIS rs s..rI.. p.
Down to the advent of the present party
in power-a little over four years ago-no
country on the face of the earth presented
such attractions as this beloved and happy
country OF ours. In no country on the face
Of the earth, were all mems rights SO well
and so perfectly respected. From thirteen
small colonies upon the Atlantic seaboard,
we had seen grow up, under the inspiring
influence of Democratic principles, a popu
lationof over thirty millions Of people, and
more than thirty States. Instead of being
hemmed in substantially by the Allegheny
mountains, as we were at the outset, we
had spread from ocean to ocean, until our
flag tioated on both shores of the continent.
That wasfour condition four years ago, ana
it was due, under God and with Gods bless
ing, to those great principles of Democratic
faith that look to the good of the masses
those principles that were formed at an
early period by the great patriots and states
men who were the founders of our organi-
zation. -no' u- .a.Hag Ha. sfa
From this pleasing state of facts, let us
look to what exists at present. But four
years of time have been necessary for the
party who have succeeded inoverthrOwing
the Democratic party, to change wholly the
entire face of the country and its affairs.
Instead of that absolute security of person
and property which we realized before,
hn han i, ;c
period and see what has been done. Instead
of united country extending from ocean
to ocean, the map has been torn asunder
and bathed in blood. Instead of a united
and free people, standing rs the representa-
tives of republican government in the
Western hemisphere TO the rest of the
world, we have presented, In the last four
years, faction and disunion that have torn
us asunder, and rendered US utterly absurd
and disgraced In the eyes of foreign coun-
tries.s Instead of that absolute security we
enjoyed before tina accession, of these men
to power, what have we witnessed? Dur
ing the past four years all our guarantees of
liberty have been broken down. the writ of
habeds corpus, the right to entertain your
own opinions and express, them, and the
freedom OF the press, have all been stricken
down and trampled In the dust. With this
lpok at the past, let us adopt the language
of the immortal Jefferson In his first inau-
gural address:
'FWhen IN moments .oaerror arid alarm.
we have departed from the paths that lead
to happiness and safety, let up retrace our
steps and 60 back TO the consideration of
those great principles upon which our faith
ers have founded the Government"
That Is our duty to-day. We are not here
W orofa. .racat,a an NJ n aroatinn IVr