The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1866-01-18
6uberaatoriaL.
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
Jacob D, Cox, Governor Of Ohio
Delivered before the Senate and House Of Re
personalities Jaau'ry stb, 1866

personalities, Jaau'ry stb, 1866.
We arc entering upon o new
epoch in our history, The period
i the struggle for national exis
tehce is ended, and we have celc'
bratcd our Thanksgiving to God
for deliverancc The war n lmini.
stratiun of both Nation and State
have gone by, and VIC have begun
an era OF peace with its new beau
ties and new responsibilities. We
have proven that our government
is strong cnon Ii e. resist the most
formidable efforts to destroy it by
force, and we arc how to show
whether it has such vitality that il
can assimilatc the different elo.
meuts comprised rndor its rule,
and harmonizc the anita Ionisms
necessarily remaining aftcrso fierce
u strife. #.
For years all our energies and
our rcsoursos have been devoted /,
t c simple duty of srbduing great
rebel ion; and what was demanded
us was undaunted courage and
obstinate determination, conccn
traling our will and power upon
the single purpose before us, and
refusing to be turned aside for any
other object till that was thorough
| " accomplished. Now we have
pu. off tho harness Of war--th,
grand army which saved tie Re
lpublic is disbandud.-its veteran
have been quietly absorbed into
tho mass of their fellow c,tzens-
tand all are now intently stud,in.
the problem OF changing Union
restored hy force. in!o one whose
permanencc shall be guaranteed by
mutual good will and common in
forests, and be based upon univer'
sal freedom and genuine Rcpuli-
canism. To do this will demand
qualities Of head and heart as high
us any that have bccu called into
exercise hitherto, and if wc suc
coed in tinling the solution W.
seek, we shall prove that the vic.
tories OF peace are far greater than
those Of war. On tho one hand
are the dangers of receiving into
full participation in The govern
ment those who have been stalking
everything upon its overthrow, and
upon the other, the obligations we
are under TO the whole world To
adhere to those doctrines OF demo
cratic liberty and equality which lie
at the foundation of our system ;
whilst our relations to the unlortu
nate African race, whose slavery
we have abolished and whose free
dom we are bound to protecr, come
in to complicatc both classes ofdif
ticulties. ......- tl. .....
Congress and the President are
now at work OH the details of com.
pleie restoration OF civil govern
ment in the States lately rcbelliou.
and we. in common with the whole
county. are watching their, pro,
.rcs. with the most earnest hopt
that they may speedily agree up
On national policy which slial
thoroughly accord with the high
est interests Of the whole land.
do not regard this a proper time
to discuss specific measures wI,icl
are before our Federal Legislature
und authorities, but oil i-.s.'. f,"""c
ss,s sa omr state organizations, as
well as in our ra,iona! capacity,
must be more or less m"diiicd by
circumstances shaped by the great
war in which we have been en-
gagged. and it seems necessary,
therefore, as preparation for eve
ry species OF public duty, that we
should look with spccisl care at any
dangerous tendencies the war may
have developed and recall the gen
eral principles which should guide
our actions as servants OF the peo.
pie.
1t is inithc excitcinento Of q great
struggle that the institutions, Of a
country are in the most danger Of
a change, and perhaps no nation
has ever passed through such n
convulsion as ours and then re
turned to the principles OF govern.
mont and exact form OF constitu.
tion which it had before, Tie
maxim that revou ions do not 20
backward, has seemed to have even
u wider and deeper signiticauc,
than has been popularity given to
il. The same law Of progression
which has made convulsions of mo
rarchical governments tend toward
the devclopemcnt Of popular liber
ty has, in republics, too often led
TO a despotism of classes or OF fac
tions, and thence By easy stages 10
anarchy and utter disruption. A
victorious majority, flushed with
its triumph, finds it easy to forget
the rights Of minorities; and il
remains tor AS to prove whether,
in our day, the old cry of ''woe 10
the conquered +" may be silenecd
by atruly republican determine
tioh to administer the government
for the realpad vantage of all--ofj
the defeated rebels as well as oftheI
loyal victors. 1i3i n3di 4
The war was not waged by MS,
who remained faithful to the Co
vernment, to subv rt any Of the
principles Of huAap liberty upon
whicl. that government was based,
but to confirm and establish them
She one great doctrine which has
leen aertlad Inv the war ia thar thal