The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1866-06-28

late Democratic State Convention de.
clared against the anarchieal heresy Of
secession2 Why has it not said one
word TO endorse the idea Of an Ameri,
can nationality and common coun-
try for all, indissoluble in its parts and
destined to be perpetual? The reason
is obvious, because the Democratic
party-I mean both its branches,
Southern rebels and Northern sympa.
thizers-have not yet accepted the re-
suits OF tho war. The Democratic
party is not yet satisfied as to the re
suit of The bloody contest. 1t propo-
poses to regain on the field Of politics
what it has lost on the field of Dattle.
1t is waiting for favorable turn. II
is waiting and watching across the
border for an opportunity TO reNssert
the doctrine which led US into bloody
war. and weuld, if successful, have
terminated our National existence.
LIBERTY OF ITS INHABiaASTs
The first motto, then, which the
Union men Of Ohio should inscribe up
Oh their banners, at the outset Of this
campaign, is the integrity Of the nation
al territory. We are nation, sir, and
not merely partnership of indepen-
dent States. We are a nation and
more than that, we are free nation.
We are free nation in spite oflhe De-
mocratic party, which would have per-
petuated the curse of slavery. Every
human being throughout the length
and breadth of this glorious land from
the Northern lakes to the Gulf of Mex
leo, and from the Atlantic to the Pa
ci6c Ocean, every human being who
treads the soh over which the starry
banner waves, is free us God has made
him. entitled to eat the fruits Of his
own labor and to enjoy his inalienable
rights of life, liberty and the pursuits
ef happiness. Thus the second great
result of our war is the freedom of each
and every inhabitant of the United
States. Uenceforward freedom will
not be local, but a national boom
Henceforward one individual will not
be free, because he happens to be born
in Ohio, while another is slave, be-
cause he happens to be born in Ken
lucky, but Doth will be free, because
they we're born in the United States of
America. A man may BIZ serf in
Russia. peon in Mexico. a slave in
Brazil, but tho moment his foot touches
the soil hallowed by the resting places
of George Washington and Abraham
Lincoln, the fetters drop from his limbs
and he bccomcs"a lrcemen.
We are opposed to Capitalization or
consolidation of power in the Federal
Government, because such centraliza.
tion might become dangerous TO the
rights and liberties of individuals. We
are in favor Of local and municipal self
government, because we believe it TO
be ono Of the means OF protecting the
rights and liberties of individuals. But
while protecting the individual Amori
can citizen against Federal encroach-
mer and usurpation, We do not pro,
pose to sacrifice him to local tyranny
aud oppression. We will never attempt
the one, and we will protect him against
the other. The Federal Governments as
understood by the Union party, wW not
interfere pith the rights of local commu-
mites; but local communities must not
interfere whh the inalienabie rights of
man. If any such attempt should be
made, if State or community should
attempt to deprive an individual of his
inalienable rights, to whom is he TO
look for redress or protection ? To the
soil on which he was born, and that
sol is not Kcntuckian, is not Caro-
linian. but it is all AMERICAN, and thank
God, American soil is FREE
Our Democratic fellow citizens are
very eloquent about tho dangers of
Federal usurpation but they are silent
about the dangers of independent, un-
controllable and unassaiIablc local ty-
ranny, such as their party seeks to
perpetuate They see tho moto in
their neighbors eye, but they do not
see the beam in their own. We are
willing to oppose Federal tyrann y,
whenever it should be attempted but
why are they unwilling to oppose local
tyranny, and to throw around the poor
outraged and prosecuted black Missis-
sippian or Albanian the protecting
mantle of American freedom? In for.
eign lands, the powerful American na-
ton protects its individual citizen from
abuse & arbitrary injustice. ltprotects
him on tho shores of tho Bosphorus !;
it protects him on the banks oftho Dan.
ube or the Rhine it protects him in
tho heart of the Andes or on the distant
Nile. Is it to be powerless to protect
them at homer Is it to protect its
children against injustice on the ANA
zon or the Oronoko, but to abandon
them to slavery and rightlessness on
the Mississippi2
do not care whose duty it is TO pro-
tect the liberty OF the individual, and
whether it first behooves the local or
the General Government to maintain
his rights as human being. Letit be
the duty of the State in the first in
stance il you so desire it. But if that
State neglectsfts duty or attempts to
enslave a human being whom the Ame-
rican nation has wiled to be free if
it deprives him of rights which tho
American nation has willed he shall
enjoy, let that State understand that
being nero contrivance for the dis
charge of certain local and municipal
| functions, it must not convert itself in
\ to an instrument of tyranny and op-
preston; let it understand that it can
make no king and no slave; and that
il can deprivo no man of those inalien.