The Vinton record. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1866-1891, 1866-01-18

conferred upon majorities, but it is
most efficient for good when il
approaches most nearly to giving
voice in the Legislature to all
minorities in proportion to their
i number.
4 1t is better and safer that a
minority, however hostile to us in
principle, should be so represented
as to be openly heard and answered
THAN that it should have the adyan-
ftage of winning sympathy and gain.
sing partisans by making issue upon
Ethe question of the right of repre-.
sentation instead of upon the falsity
of its obnoxious principles.
Military government is in its very
essence a despotism, and any long
continuance of it after the cessation
Of armed resistance is contrary to,
hAnd d confession of the failure OF
republicanism.
These and many similar general
maXims of government are the in
tellectual diet upon which every
living American has been bred,
and Of which we have been such
earnest propagandists that no one
of us can deny them without incur
ring the contempt Of the civilized
/ world. They are mere distractions,
it is true, but we need to bear them
in mind none the less carefully for
that. All rules are abstrations,
whether they be the formule for
solving the problems of govern
ment or of other sciences. We
recall them to test our work, and
we reckon ourselves to have made
good progress in proportion to the
faithfulness with which we have
adhered to them.
In the heat of our just wrath
against those who would have
swept republicanism from the con-
tinent, had they been successful,
we are in danger of forgetting prin-
ciples TO which we owe allegiance,
and therefore we should not excuse
ourselves from the thankless task
of reminding each other of them.
To follow these rules and yet pro-
vide that the national safety be not
endangered, to determine who of
the Government are without the
pale of clemency, and yet to extend
amnesty to the other millions of
those who were rebels, to restore
political privileges to those who
were formerly masters, and yet
protect the freedom of those who
were formerly slaves-such is the
difficult and delicate work before
the executive and the legislature
of the Nation, and they may rightly
claim of us all such appreciation
of their task as shall make us most
kind and charitable judges of their
differences from favorite measures
of our own. We have, indeed,
reason to be devoutly thankful that
the work has fallen upon men in
whose patriotism and wisdom we
have so great cause for confidence,
and that the progress they have
already made promises a conclu-
sion which shall be reasonably
speedy and generally satisfactory
to the country.
In the presence of these vast in
terests which are before us as part
of the Nation, the local concerns
which affect us as a State alone, are
likely to be dwarfed and lose their
proper attention. | do not propose
to enter into any detailed or elabo-
rated examination of our condition,
or to make recommendations of
legislative action. This has been
fully and ably done by my prede-
cessor. | shall only glance at the
outlines of affairs and content
myself with the briefest and most
cursory view of the situation. In
our official state duties we find no
such heavy responsibility as rests
upon the shoulders Of the officers
Of our National Government. The
close of the war has taken from us
the necessity for putting armies in
the field, and relieved us, in our
State capacity, Of the labors Incl
dent to close cooperation with the
General Government in all the
great affairs which have made the
past five years so memorable in
our history. We are subsiding into
the quiet routine of peaceful times,
and as our young men are return
ing to their farms, their merchan-
dies and their shops, the great drain
upon our physical strength being
removed, the energetic use of in
telligent labor will soon prove how
rapidly the, recuperate powers OF