Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-05-25
9Th District-J S Grail, Richland.

.
10th g w J. Glessner, Ideas.
1lth G O Wilhelm, SGioto.
5 18th F" ARVan Cleaf Plckaway.
18th F" Sam Adams, Muskingum.
l4th " A X Wiley, Ashland.
18th " Williams, Monroe. T,
, 10th I" c. II Mathews, Tuscarawas.
18th :" CN Allen, Jefferson.
18th +" Jas Henderson, Cuyahoga.
18th I" TJ Carlin, Ashtabula. a
Hon. A. G. Thurman was conducted to-
the Platform, and being introduced to-
the Convention, by the Chairman, Mr..
Jewett, made the following address: .n
Speech of Hon A. O.. Thurman i51.
r GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION II am
very sensible of the honor conferred upon
ME by being called upon to preside over
your deliberations. And / am the more
bound to make my Acknowledgements ttiat
1t comes unsolicited and without even a.
wish on my part. | return my thanks to
you, gentlemen, and will endeavor to merit
the confidence you have. reposed in me.
And to do so, am sure, will not be diff
cult task; for never did greater harmony
prevail in our grand aud time-hOnored
party, and never did its Delegates assemble
in Convention with more of fraCerna feel
ing or with firmer resolution to stand by
the principles that have made the name of
the party a synonym OF whatever eX-
presses good government and that will in
the future secure to our organization an
existence as enduring as time. Where all
are actuated by the same noble motives,
and neither envy, jealousy or selfshness
finds place, the duties OF presiding Off
Ger are so simple that it is scarcely possible
to err.
Gentlemen, we have very often met in
Convention before and under the most
various circumstances-at times when all
was so bright around us that the most far
sighted and distrustful could perceive no
speck Of danger in our political sky; and
again, when that sky was so overcast and
menacing that even the most lion-hearted
and hopeful could scarce refrain from
despair. We have seen our country, under
Democratic rule, the abode of the most
Tree, prosperous aud happy people on
earth aud, again, we have seen it, under
the dominion Of our opponents, prey to
all that human nature has ever developed
OF despOtism, horror and calamity. |.
But whether In sunshineor in darkness,
in calm on in tempest, our party has ever
followed the path of duty according to it,
honest convictions. rO say that it has
never erred would be to claim Tor it Il more
than human intelligence. To say that it
has seldOnl erred and never Intentionally,
is but to speak the verdict of his
tory. 1t is 50 years since the inauSu-
ration Of Mr.. jefferson. During IS
years Of this period, the Government
was in the hands of the Democratic party.
During nearly eight of the remaining sew
enteen years, though presided over by
Presidents not of our choice, it was admin
istered, in the main, upon Democratic prin-
ciples. In this long lapse OF time there
was witnessed, what had never been wit
messed before, Il total absence Of civil COM
motions, and profound peace Tor fifty out
of iifty-siX years. And not peace alone, but
also, uneXampled freedom, growth, pros
perity and happiness. No man ever lost
life, liberty or property, for political OF
tense, under Democratic administration.
No man was ever deprived by such an adj
.ministration, of life, liberty or property,
without due process of law. No political
Bastile ever then darkened and disgraced
the face of the land. No prison doors were
ever then closed against the sacred writ of
hdbeGS corpus. Nomilitary commission, or
ganIzed to convict, ever then uSurped the
functions of the lawmaker and of the civil
courts. No tongue or press was ever then
silenced y arbitrary power. And never,
no never, was such thing then heard of as
an American exile.
Who can look at this picture of liberty,
security, happiness and national glory,
f ebly though it be drawn, without feeling
his heart swell with an honest pride at the
thought that he belongs to a party that has
such history? What sad reverse the
last few years present, | need not say.
Their events are too fresh in our recollec-
tions to require recital.
And now, gentlemen, we are again as
sembled in council to consult and to act for
the common welfare. The storm OF war
has passed by but we are yet very far, |
fear, from the haven OF peace and safety.
Indeed, it may well be doubted, whether we
have ever seen a time of more peril than the
present. After four years of bloody war
to preserve the Union, as we were told, we
see the party that arrOgates to itself eXcu-
sively the name of Union, practically dis
solving what 1T pretended to preserve.
We see eleven States that have laid down
their arms, are obedient to the Constitution
aud the laws, and are anxious to resume the
exercise of tlIeirconstitutional rights, forri-
bly, deprived of them, heavily taxed with
out representation and ruled by laws in the
making of which they have not the Slight
est voice. Aud this is done by party that
calls itself Union and Republican. Pray,
gentlemen, ii this be Union what Is dissolu-
tion? if this be Republicanism what is des-
potism? Did any one ever hear English
rule over Ireland Austrian rule over Hun
Cargo Russian rule over Poland called re-
publican? fancy not-and yet wherein do
they differ in principle from that rule which
our Abolition so-caled Congress exercises
and is striving to consolidate over the South
ern States? And who does not see that if
the precedent be set and approved, OF
Congress excluding State, or States
from representation, there never will
be wanting pretext f6r like ex-
clusion OF any State obnoxious to ma
jOrity of the Congress, or whose represent
tation would oppose bar to the schemes of
that majority or to the perpetuation of its
power? If the representation of a State is
to depend upon tile will of Congress, in
stead of the provisions Of the Constitution,
of what use is the Constitution, or what vi
taity has our form of Government?9 What
would have been said had the Congress,
when the Hartford Convention was in ses-
sion, and when Massachusetts forbade her
militia to pass her own borders to defend
the country, excluded the New England
States from representation? What would
the Summers, and Wades, aud Stevenses of
that day have said to that? And vet there
was jus5 rs much right to do SO then, as
there is to exclude the Southern States nov
that is to say, there was and is no
right of exclusion in either case. Let
no man deceive himself, or be deceiv-
ed by sophistry upon this question:
1t is vital to the existence OF our
Government. The wrong done to the South