The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1864-1911, 1866-09-19
ESTABLISHED A. D. 1882.
GEN. s. A. STRICKLAND
AND
REV. MAXWELL P. GADDIS
ON NATIONAL AFFAIRS.
Enthusiastic Demonstration In
Favor OF the National
Union Party.

The campaign was spiritedly opened yes
terday at BATAVIA. the soldiers aud sailors o
Clermont County turning out en- ndSse tt
give their approval to the principles lai(
down in the platform of the Philadelphi;
Convention, and every township of thu
county was represented, and the call uRde
which the meeting vas organized was signet
by over six hundred of the soldiers and sal
lors who participated in the late war, anC
who were present upon the grounds to ties
tify their approval Of the policy being pur
sued by President Johnson
The speakers stand, erected in the court
house yard was tastefuly decorated witt
flags, banners, notices, and portraits of oul
prominent Generals and statesmen.
The asscmblage Of citizens, which was by
Far the largest ever known in Cermon
County, was called to order at one O'Clock
by y. Il. Penn, Esq, who introduced to the
audience General S. a. Strickland, who
spoke as fellows:
! SOLDIERS, SAILORS AND FELLOW CITI-
zENs: | fear you will be disappointed in
your expectations of speech, after the
fiattering Introduction of the Chairman OF
| this meeting. For over four years was in
the field as a soldier, aud since | was mus.
| tered out have, in my attention to private
business paid but little regard to political
matters but will endeayor, in frank and
candid manner, to discuss some of the lead
ing issues Of the day that divide parties at
the present time.
For more than eighty years this Govern
ment of ours moved on smoothly in peace
and unparalleled prosperity, with the great
statesmen OF the age, of all political parties,
upholdiug, defending and sustaining the
| Constitution Of the United Statos as the
great charter of our. liberties. regardless ot
every consideration Of party policy Indeed.
We may say that Webster, CasS, Benton,
! Clay and Douglas, th1 first statesmen of
! their age, however much they may have
disagreed as to party politics and party tac-
tics, all agreed as to the sacred obligation of
the unity of these States, expressed in the
written charter of our liberties, the ,Consti-
| tuition of the United States.
Trouble and difficulty commenced when
the great lights of the age had died out. -
Constitutional requirements were disregard
cd and sectional controversies commenced.
As entered your town to day, ! was SOL
EMMY impress with the vast asscmblagc of
y ople of all political camploxions, remind
fact that, as in the few past years of dark
stitutional aud popular government. of the
time when patriotic men of all parties
rallied under our National flag for the pro-
lection of our Government against armed
treason, as We We're then successful in the
restoration of the Union by combination
Of the virtues and patriotic elements of the
urtr i,u bn +
by the combination to- day of all patriotic
elements we propo-e to preserve the Con
stitution Of the country intact, and see that
VIC transmit to rosterity unimpairrd the
Union saved and the Constitution preserv-
ed.
Let us examine the causes which led to
all of our National difficulties. We saw at
the beginning party which were not salts
States-the great bond Of Union, which was
good enough f. r Washington and his Pres
idential successors--but with the declaration
to let the Union slide" aud saying that
''thc Constitution was Il covenant with hell,
and league with the devil, " they produced
a counter sectional feeling Of equal maligni,
ty in the Southern States, that culnlinated
in open rebellion, and armed resistance to
the lawful authority Of the General Govern
ment.
This sectional elimination AMI recrimna-
ton had engendered bitterness in the hearts
of either section, and while in their mad
ness and fanatical passions of sectional ha
tired, the clash Of arms struck harshly upon
our ears, and our Government and our Iiber-
ties were endangered. This was the pri
mary cause of all our National disasters and
great internecinc difficulties. No popular
Democratic Republican Government like
ours can live long, with the preservation of
| the rights of each constituent part, when
| controlled by sectonalism. The control of
| a representative government can never be
| confded with safety to the hands of parties
who deny and ignore the rights of any con-
siderable PARTON that are entitled to proper
| representation.
The Constitution is the bulwark and ,the
palladium of all our rights and liberties as
nation. know no party, no clique, or
political association that fails to rec)gnize
| this great idea of American Government. -
The whole couatryi, clad in the habiliments
of mourning, for no other reason than the
indulgence Of sectional prejudices and sec
tional passions.
The question of the hour is, Shall we pre-
serve the flag and the unity o. the States
our army and navy have SO nobly defended?
take the'Coustitutiop for my guide. say
| no sectional party can ever govern this great
country. 1t would.be useless for me to dis
| cuss the question whether am right or not.
The sad, solemn, impressive lessons of the
past h We taught us what our duty is now.
The perfect unity of these States, with equa
and legitimate rights to ill, has been our on
y safeguard in the past, and it is our only
hope for the future
|, Let me speak for moment on the sub
ject of reconstruction. 1t has become to
many of us hateful word The objects and
purposes for which We fought was the res
| toration OF the country to a National unity.
The ends for whicn the war was prosecuted
were announced to Us officially by resou-
| tions OF Congress in substance to restore all
| the States to their sovereign rights in the
Union. 1t was under this call and with
this promise that men of all parties rallied
| to the defense ofour National standard and
saved the country from dissolution. Have
we not a right now to ash full6llment of
tho promises then made?
In the progress of the war slavery was
abolished, and President Lincoln, than whom
no purer and patriotic President ever lived
offered the insurgents an opportunity to re,
turn to their allegiance. Now more than
a year has passed since the rebellion was
crushed, and not an armed enemy exists in
the country, and why is not the Govern
ment restored?
Mr., Lincoln, by proclamation, attempted
to abolish slavery; our patriotic President,
JOB nson, by positive exactments Of condi.
tions, abolished it by Constitutional amend
ment. If the party to-day claiming that
certain States are out of the Union for thu
highest prerogative and privileges they can
enjoy--representa.ioD are they in the u.