Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1866-01-18
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
OF
GOV. JACOB d. COX,
Delivered before the Senate and
House of Representatives,
January 3, 1866.

State have gone by, and we bave begun an
era of peace with its new duties and new re-
sponsibilities. We have proven that our
Government is strong enough to resist the
most formidable efforts to destroy it by force,
and we are now to show whether it has such
vitality that il can assimilate the different
elements comprised under its rule, aud har-
monize the antagonisms necessarily remain
ing after so fierce strife
| For years all our energies and resources
have been devoted to the simple duty of
subduing great rebelion and what was
demanded of US was undaunted courage and
obstinate determination, concentrating our
will and our power upon the single purpose
before us, and refusing to be turned aside
for any other object till that was thoroughly
| accomplished. Now we have put of the
harness of war; the grand army which saved
the republic is disbanded its veterans have
been quietly absorbed into the mass Of their
fellow citizens, and all are new intently
studying the problem of changing a Union
restored BY force, into one whose perma-
nence shall be guaranteed by mutual good
will and commsn interests, and be based up
on universal freedom and genuine republi-
csnism. TO do this will demand qualities
of head and heart quito as high as any that
have been called into exercise hitherto, and
il we succeed in finding the solution We seek,
we shall prove that the victories of peace
are far greater than those of war On the
one hand are the dangers Of receiving nto
full participation in the Government those
who have boon stalking every thing upon its
overthrow, and upon the other, the ohlizs
tions we are under to the whole world to ad
here to those doctrines Of drmocatic liberty
and equality which lie at the foundation Of
our system whilst our relations to the unfor
tunate African race, whose slavery we hav,
abolished and whose freedom we are sacred
ly bound ts protect, come in to complicat'
both classes of difficulties.
Congress and the President arc now a
, work upon the details of complete rcstora
ton Of civil government in the States lately
rebelIious, and we, in common with th'
whole country, are watching their progres
with the most earnest hope that they ma,
speedily agree upon q nstonsl policy which
shall thoroughly accord with the highest in
, terss,s OF the whole land. do not regart
this proper time to discuss specific meas
ures which are before our federal legislator,
aud authorities, but all our public acts in GU
State organizations, as we'll as in our Nation
! al capacity must be moro or less modified
, by circumstances shaped by the great wa
in which we have been engaged, and it seem
necessary therefore, as preparation TO
every species of public duty, that we shoul
look with special care at any dangerous ten
denotes the war may have developed an
recall tho general principles which shaul
4 guide our action As servants OF the people
1t is in the excitement of great struggl
that the institutions Of country are in n
, most danger Of change, and perhaps no na
ton ever passed through such q conyulsiO
as ours and then returned to the principle
c of government and exact form OF constitu
t ton which it had before. The maxim tina
q revolutions do not go back ward, has SCENE
y to have even wider and deeper sisn!f
clnce than has besn popularly given to il
The same law OF Progression which as
a made the eOnvulsions Of monarchical govern
n ments tend toward tho Development of POI
ular liberty, has "a republics too often 10
IL to q dospotism Of classas or OF factions, an
n thence by easy stages to anarchy and ute
disruption. A victorious majority, ftushc
with its triumph, finds it easy to forget tn
rights Of minorities; and it remains for U
to prove whether, in our day, the old CT
of Woe to the conquered may be silence
10 by a truly republican determination to a
minister the government for tho real adval
tage of all of the defeated rebels as we'll q
!. ofthe loyal victors.
Q The war was not waged by us, who n
maincd faithful to the Government, to sui
=. vert any Of the principles Of human lberl
l. upon which that government was based, b'
to confirm aud establish them. The OF
great doctrine which has been settled by Il
1t war is that the National Union cannot al
or shall not be destroyed by the action of al
of the States composing it, but its CONT
&c uance, its modification, or its dissolutlt
i. shall be determined by the whole peop
= acting as one nation under the forms Of Il
federal constitution. The ono great soci
A. change which has been determined by Il
re same event, is the abolition OF slavery, Il
existence of which was stakod upon the su
l. cess of tho rebellion, Of which 1t was Il
no cause.
ao These things have been decided in Il
~ dread court Of last resort Tor peoples al
nations By as much a. the shock OF arl
Oh hosts is more grand than tho lntcllectu
IS tilt OF lawyers; as the God OF battles Is
v more awful Judge than any earthly cnur
~ NY so much does the dignity of this conte
and the finality of this decision exceed tn
,rr of any human tribunal. five have not be
IS right in pledgng our lives and our tortun
III to save our country, then the blood OF b
myriads OF heroes who have fallen rests wi
murderous guilt upon our souls, aud
TX should never consent that the justiheati
"a or condemnation OF this great people shou
in rest, now as hereafter, with any bench
Judges however learned, especially VIII
,es each Judge must determine his own eau
M since ho must have been for or against t
tb country in her struggle There are sol
he things to which courts of law can add
sanction, and nation appeal to God VIII
it seizes the sword is one Of them. We ms
I'D when necessary, try individual traiters. q
m, the people OF the United States will app'
nd as prosecutor, but not US defendant at
~ bar
Being conquoror, the Government has t
FOR undoubled right to impose terms upon t
zoe conquered. but in the statement of wi
of should limit and defue those terms, di
cuties arise. We are apt, indeed, to list
with impatience TO any limitation of o
control over those who are subject to ,
'es The pleasures OF rulership and the
ng which is felt in the exercise of power ha
SO always appealed with peculiar torce to t
"a frailities of human nature, and profess
y, Republicans have been as subject to tn,
~ temptation as other men. In a time Ii
W. this most of us feel the necessity. Of chez
ing our impulses aud passions, challengl