Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-08-23
SPEECH OF
GOVERNOR J. D. cox,
DELIVERED AT
Columbus, Tuesday Eve, Aug. "a.
DOCTRINES OF THE DEMOCRATIC
CREED.
DUTIES OF THE UNION PARTY.
A Calm Statement of the Issues
Of the Day.
les OF THE UNION PARTY.

i 70 . ITU DCUUTU ~ IUNU-GINN u U--IlW
ing grave questions Of public policy, and
of determining, each citizen for himself,
how duty requires us to act upon these
questions. The approaching elections will
decide what is the popular judgment upon
measures of vital Importance to the coun-
try And my purpose in addressing you
is to state as clearly and definitely as l
csn what issues are made up. and what
action I regard as obligatory upon myself
and you.
Could we enter upon the discussion
without partizsn prejudice or passion, it
would seem easy to reach the truth; but
for a people just coming out of a terrible
war, calm and dispassionate consideration
of the problem of the war itself is the
rarest of ali virtues. We must not be
disappointed if after doing our best to d.
vest ourselves of influences which would
warp u Judgment we should still fra
them creeping in W All l caG
promise is to make the effort to beentirely
candid, and to state the positions of par
ties and persons as they really appear to
me.
The close of the war, by the surrender
Of the armies of the rebellion, brought US
to the problem how q real peace should be
made and the whole country brought
most speedily and safely into the full en-
joyment of a constitutional republican
government, without sacrificing any of the
proper results Of the war.
Two great organized political parties,
and only two have existed from the out
break Of the rebellion to this time. The
Democratic party before the war number
ed among its most trusted and honored
leaders those men in the Southern States
who plotted and organized the rebellion.
These leaders not only represented the
party of the rebellion in the South, but by
their influence upon the party in the
North had so far led it away from the IN
conditional Unionism which once marked
it thst now for many years the theoretic
right of secession has been accepted by
the organization as an established party
dogma. So far has that party been from
changing this article of its creed under
the lessons of the war, that it is still af-
frmed both in the formal statements of
principle published periodically by its
conventions and in the speeches of those
who are regarded by the country as its
most authoritative Representatives. On
this subject both the party and its orators
still hsbitually adopt the formula which
has been, so TO speak, the sacred text of
s-ecessionism, which was always in the
mouth Of Calhoun and his followers;
namely thst each State has the right in
reference to all questions Of constitutional
law arising between itself and the federal
government to judge for itself as well of
infractiona as Of the mode and measure of
redress
This cardinal doctrine of the Demo-
cratic creed accounts for the attitude of
the party toward the war and all the
questions which have arisen out of il.
Their conclusions have generally been de-
duced logically from it. and would be
right doctrines if the original were true.
Many of that party regarded the rebel
lion impolitic, but they could not con-
denim it as wrong. If they were consist
ent however, they must deny the right to
coerce the rebellious States into submits
sion, and accordingly their boldest and
most honest leaders were found opposing
the Government during the war, and en-
barrassing it by all the ordinary tactics of
parliamentary opposition
Under the control of the same ideas
that party has taken its ground upon ex-
isting questions. As secession was in
their opinion Alright, there can be no pen
atty imposed upon those who practiced it,
and no terms whatever can be insisted on
by the Government. They claim that the
rebellious states spring at once into nm
possession of every right aud privilege
by them before the war, and that
may assume and exercise full partici-
potion in the Federal Government, "un-
conditionslly and Immediately"
M. - A.-1Ts.-- A.
from the same fundamental doctrine
of the right of secession which the Demo-
cratic party has not SO openly avowed,
but which their general faithfulness to the
results of that article of their creed
would warrant US in expecting them TO
draw whenever they may attain topower.
these are the doctrine that the
constitutional abolition of slavery is not
upon the South, since it was OBJ
tanned from them under duress; that the
debt contracted by the rebellious States in {
asserting their rights to secede is as bin6- ]
upon the country as that incurred by
US in putting down the rebellion, and that {
all legislation enacted in the absence from
Congress of the members from these States ]
IS invalid. '
The more honest earnest and able these Z
Democrats are, the more certainly and {
strongly do they uphold the opinions I I
describe; and if there be danger in such
doctrines, the danger to the country in
,reases with the depth of conviction and ,
moral consistency Of the men who advo- t
them. . c
The other great political organization e
5 our Union Republican Party. It sprung 9
nto existence in its present form in 1861, s
when the rebel batteries opened upon Sum 1
er, and consists of the Republican party B
by all others WHO believed that t
he Union of these United States is in a
lissoluble and were willing to fight t
or the national existence. 1t drew v
o it all those Democrats whose I
yes were opened to the abyss into which e
ecessionism would plunge them, and by a
heir aid & became the dominant party L
throughout the country, wherever loyalty o
vas dominant over treason. As the con- P
titutionaf right of secession was the only p
significant doctrine Of the Demo- Z
ratio party, so the perpetual and indie Ii
unity O the Federal Government v
as been the central article of our creed. (,
By this sign the Union party has conquer n
d.. 1t has the glorious prestige of having b
aimed the victory over the most formids- o
ly organized rebellion which ever II
the life Of a nation. In f
all the enorm financial a
ificulties which necessarily arose from e.
be blow given to public credit by SO a
reat an internal disturbance of the Gov b
rnment; in organizing great armies and "
Onducting military operations upon a oil
,ale OF the greatest magnitude; in con- u
with the most insiduous and dan o.
erous opposition within the loyal States; CT
nd in so wisely conducting our relations q
foreign governments that covert q
never ripened into open war, the q
Inion party has made good its claims to Il
he truest craftsmanship and noblest cour- b
ge. Every quality which can give en- b.
to its members It has abundantly
and viewed simply as 8 means al
the accomplishment OF public good, Il
ais powerful organization has g value so "
neat that it would be worse tasn folly to sc
it away. Its history is the history S,
f the country during its most important di
nd critical epoch, and is as glorious and OF
S sure of remembrance as that Of the orig Q
lal founders of the Republic. L
The power OF this organization has been W
5 great IS ever can be necessary TO a Ii
party in order TO direct the policy Il
nd the destiny of the country, for it has N
Ontrolled all the departments of the Gov @
and had so large q msjority in ST
9th branches of Congress that the return sl
Z full delegations from the Southern dc