Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-09-20
he Right Of Representation
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.omA1i NEWARK, OHIO
On Th4rsaay Evening, sept. 10, 1886

Ii T1jBH h4id td--- -iH"'3 ad1 Iu -sI
ITFqn pW1 10 yf.I r .IfIrJ .-JiIiaagl rjHf
iJudge oA,G. Thurman addressed, q large
meeting at. the Court House in, Newark,
Ohio, on Thursday night, September 13.
The following is hisspeeeh: ''''"us -
Mr.. PREsiDENT AMI MY FRIENDS If
there is an undentablep lesson taught by
history, 1t is that no Government, extend
ing over vast territory and embracing in
Its sway q numerous population, has ever
been enabled to pefpetuate its existence by
the mere exercise Gof force. No such Cow
eminent having no other element to per-
petuate 1T than mere, brute force has es-
capped destruction. You have only to go
back to the earliest era of history, and
trace the worlds progress from that day To
this, to see this truth illustrated in man
ner the, most striking. The first great
Governments Of which we have any account
are those mentioned in Holy Writ--the
BabylOnan, Assyrian, Median, Persian,
Egyptian-and now, my friends, where are
they? Where are those mighty Empires
that seemed destined to aduratiOn as great as
the globe itself; that seemed founded upon
n rock that nothing could shake but the
| fiat of the Almighty? Gone from the face
ofthe earth so utterly gone that the sites
of their greatest capitals are only found by
the spade of the antiquary. Not a yestige
of them left All gone. Where is that
great Empire of Alexander, which aspired
to govern the earthP Broken into thou
sand fragments. Where is that great Ro-
man Empire, dominating over the world,
which seemed to have fastened its grasp
upon time and upon eternity? Broken ini
to fragments, and itsbimperial city, that
once held within her walls a million, of
people, now .dSindled into insigniticance
compared with that city Of yesterday, our
own Cincinnati. '"" -. .' 'Waa 10 "p'i
Let us come down eight centuries more.
Where is the Empire OF Charemagne2
That mighty Empire, that seemed to con-
solidate nearly all Christian Europe into
One mass. Where is it now? Split into a
hundred different Governments. And,
coming down still later, where is that
mighty Empire of Charles Fifth, that en-
braced not only Spain but Austria, the
Netherlands, all of South America and
Mexico on which the foot of an European
rested, and the greatest and most beautiful
of the West India Isles? Where is that
great Empire now? Broken and sunder-
ed so effectually that Spain is now one of
the weakest aud most helpless Of the great
Kingdoms of the earth. Why is this
Why is it that all these mighty Empires
have crumbled into nothing? The answer
is Their only liSament was force force
was their only principle of cohesion. They
had nothing to bind them together but
mere brute force. And hence they failed.
For nothing can perpetuate Government,
extending over vast territory and em-
bracing a great population, if it be not
founded upon thetgood-will and love, and
mutual interest of its people. l make these
IHNrR rRlt fn n
sayin relation to the condition. of our coun-
try. ..zT ...r
Let me first observe that the men who
framed our Government were as wise and
learned a set of men as ever sat in legisla-
tive body as ever met on the face OF the
globe. No men better than they knew
what history taught. Looking down that
vast vista OF the past, they determinedi our
fathers, Washington, Franklin, Jefferson
land Hamilton, they determined that they
would lay the foundation Of this American
Republic, upon some other principles than
mere force. They did not mean to abso-
luteIy ignore force In their Government,
because)it is, to some extent, necessary in
any Government, but they determined that
force should not be, as in the past, its chief
cohesive principle. They determined that
the foundations of the Government should
be SO laid as to be more powerful than an
army with banners. They determined,
first Of all, to make the people of this coun-
try love the Government, and the Govern
mentltO interfere as little as possible with
the individual man. The first stone Of
their editice was, to give manffeedom that
he never had enjoyed before! He was not
to be imprisoned without due process of
law; he was to have the right to come and
90 at will to acquire, hold and dispose of
PROPERTY; to remain unmolested iniperson
and property so long as he molested mo
ones to have avoice in the choice OF his
rulers, and an indestructible right to wOr-
ship God as his own conscience should die
tate. This was the first gredt foundations
stone, the liberty of the individual man.
But there were other stones to be La d upon
that. The State Governments already eX-
listed: but the framework, of a General
Government was to be erected. But our
fathers determined thar this General Gov
eminent should be as tightly felt as possible,
that its6ou1d not be one great consolidated
desp6tism, 6ne' great centralized power
governing everything, interfering with.
everything; !; but that it should be aGovern-
nent OF limited and delegated powers, upon
whieh,should be conferred no, horsepower
thai was necessatyto carry out the pur-'
poses for which it was to be formed. Look
at9y6ltS Constitutions, Retlefal J Jand State,
and drseeWhattheyiIares To the State Leg
islatpres islleft the making of ,ninety-nine
ont of d aalhGbdred OF your laws, q TO the
State cbufts Is left the decision Of nine hum
dredand n10sty-pine out Of every thousand
cases of litigation. To State officers is lett
the execpti0n of theseb laws and the. en-
forcing of these decisions. The idea of our
Governments, as embodied in urConstitu7
lions. is that the people of each State are to
govern themselves III matters Of local con-
Germ. and only in matters of general cons
eern Is the General Government toGinter-
fere.es This was the idea of our fathers; and
they Thought that by thus leaying.the mass
of powers with the States and the people,
hndGOnferring very limitedipowers upon
the Federal Government, they hadi Greeted
d frame work. of government that might
escape the destruction that, sooner or later,
never fails to overtake consolidated despot-
ism. ss' ,aSei 'il'"i As''''s ~ ~, ~" =
But they, knew that however wisely our,
GeVernments had been constructed ethere
mustY .ih orders to perpetuate thehI,f and
above All, TO ,perpetgAtei freedom, y exist
among the | People senti timents OF mltliaI
good will and ties of mutual interest.y yll
The idea in the minds of our fOrefathers
was that this great RepublicQf the lGnited
States should be, ,aeOmmunity of brethreht
This was a great idea. You had
aneestry,a common n glory in achieving Your
indepehdeneG 4he history of one colony
was the history Of almest every other. You
had Similarity in your State institutions.
You were t0q4aveiia General Government
that was Intended to bear upon you as 1ftS