The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1864-1911, 1866-06-06
s p E Il Q Fl
HON. G. l. RENDITION
Before the Ohio Democratic
State Convention.

NOHVeuIlOn, SalQs
Mr.. President and Gentlemen of the Con
rentaon'-l congratulate you on the result
OF your dellberations-the wisdom and har
mony Of your action. The questions sub
mitted to the people are too grave, the re
suits OF their determination upon the publi
liberties are too momentous to permit tn,
indulgence of premature or vain exultation
but the scenes we have witnessed to-day may
well inspire our hearts with courage ant
zeal and hope for the future.
Another year has rolled around, and the
Democrotic party IS called again into coun
Gil. As you see, it has come with it
strength undiminished-its spirit unimpair
edits zeal unabated-its fidelity to its prin
ciples unshaken-wlth its organization al
perfect and its numbers still greater than
ever before. 1t is the party whose origin is
coeva with that of the Gnvernment-the
same party which Jefferson founded, and
Madison organized and strengthened, anC
which, by its selfdenying and just admins
tration of the limited powers granted to the
Federal Government, has, during the largest
portion of our history, secured an unparal.
leled measure of order and peace and pros.
perity and liberty.
love the Democratic party. | admire
its organization and discipline. | honor the
name and fame of its founders. | revere
its principles, so broad in their application
and so beneGcent in their influence, that in
all this land-disseyered as these States
now are-there is not a State, nor county,
nor township, nor town, nor family, nor
house-trom the Lakes to the Gult-from
the Atlantic to the Pacifc-in which it has
not representative and member | re-
we're the wisdom which could mark with
such unerring accuracy the true limits of
the powers granted and the powers reserved
and could in practice with such fidelity es-
tablish them; which could make from the
discord of States then contentious the har-
monies of confederation, whose powers
were confined to international and inter State
affairs, while to the States was left the en-
tire guardianship Of the rights, the liberties
and the political status of its citizens. And
| believe it is only by adhering more closely
to the teachings Of its precepts and example
that we may have the least hope of preserv-
ing our Government from the perils of con-
Solidated despotism on the one hand, or of
lawless anarchy on the other. The party is
the same; they will continue as long as the
Government shall endure, but each day and
year produce their questions to be answered
their problems to be solved-and thus, while
parties and principles remain, politics change.
| The duty Of the hour is to meet the ques-
tions of the hour, and to modify the appli-
cation of principles, as the exigency of the
| times may require.
The question of to-day is Union or Dis
union-the old Constitution or a new Con
stitution-the old Government as our Faith
ers gaveit to us, or revolution and change,
and new system. The Constitution is in
danger. The Union is broken, not by the
collision of arms, but by the political action
of parties. its enemies are in the high
| places of power-they sit in the seats Of the
Capitol--they have their grasp upon its
| throat-they throttle it to the agonies of
dissolution. The President confronts them
and the question presented to-day to the
Democratic party and the people of Ohio is
simply this whether they will support the
| President in his effort to maintain or the
Congress in its effort to overthrow the
Government? The Constitution grants
certain powers to the Federal Government
1t reserves all other powers to the States
and guarantees certain rights to the people.
The same powers were granted alike by all
the States. The same powers were reserved
alike to all the States. The same rights
were guaranteed to the people of all the
States. Ike States are equal. They were
equal before the Constitution was adopted.
They continue to be equal by the terms of
the Constitution itself. They must remain
equal as long as the Constitution shall be
maintained, and the Federal Union created
by it shall endure. Mr.. Seward in bis speech
at Auburn, day before yesterday, recognizes
| this fundamental truth. And in my iudg-
ment those powers and those rights belong
to-day as we'll to the States, and the people
OF Georgia and Mississippi as to the States
| and the people of Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Why should it not be so? The Constitu-
| ton provides that "this Constitution and
the laws made in pursuance thereof shall
be the supremelaw, anything in the Con
stitution and laws of any State to the con-
trary Notwithstanding" This is the meas
ure of the lawful authority of the Federal
full demand upon the States. When this lie
when this is conceded, the States have
| fulfilled their Federal duty-they have dis
charged their Federal obligation-no more
can Sc exacted from them, and they are en-
titled to the unobstructed enjoyment of all
the power reserved and the rights guaran-
teed by the Federal Constitution.
Is not Federal authority as promptly
obeyed to-day-is it not as unimpeded to-
day in Georgia as in Ohio? There is not an
armed enemy in the Confederate States
There is not show of opposition to Federal
authority even as great ''as the shadow
when it dcclineth, p" and yet for months, the
equality of the States has been violated and
the people of those States have been denied
the first great right guaranteed by the Fed
eral Corstitution~-that right which is essen
tial to free g0vernment-tha right with
out which all government is a lawless usur-
patton. which it is always right and fire.
quently duty to resist with all the means
which God and nature have put into our
hands-I mean the right of representation.
We have wonderful spectacle presented
to u.s. Scarcely year has elapsed since
Lee surrendered--yet the Confederate Gov
ernment has entirely disappeared and the
Federal Government has taken its place.
In the States old constitutions have been
abolished and new ones have been establish
ed-old governments have been thrown
down and new ones set up-od officers have
been expelled and Others selected. The
States are exercising all the functions of gov
ernpent necessary to the preservation of
civif'society. They preserve order, punish
crimes, protect life and property. They
regulate the relation of husband and wife,
parent and child, creditor and debtor. They
| collect debts, enforce contracts, regulate de-
scents, establish corporations, charter cities,
control public e1ueation. And who has
said they were not sufficient for these things?
Mr.. Seward, in the speech from which I
have quoted says that the return of the
Southern people to their Federal allegiance
lis without payallel in history. Yet Congress
r.. ~uc,x.l,s hal dar,.toJ staalP A. N =