Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-10-05

| lows.
Fellow CITIZENS I'm the excitement Of
political canvass we assemble together
rather as strangers than neighbOrs; more
like enemies than friends. Especially has
| this been the case during the last five
| years, when passion and prejudice usurped
the place of reason and judgment. The
momentous struggle then pepding might
| palliate, or perhaps excuse this state of the
popular mind. But now the war is over /;
and with the war, passion should suhside
and reason resume its sway. Issues which
divided us in the past have been settled
| forever by the tribunal of arms. We are
| entering upon new era in onr political
history, and should let "the dead past bury
| its dead" with all its rancOr and bitterness.
The time for exercising the high st fnnc-
tions of freemen approaches. We must
soon, by our votes, determine the most i'm
pOrtant, the most vital questions which
have ever been submitted TO the American
people. Under our form of government.
where the will of the people is Jhe supreme
law, where every citizen is a sovereign, we
! hold the destinies of the Republic in our
hands; and its very existence depends up
on our intelligence and integrity. Every
citizen, therefore, who would perform his
| duty to his country and 10 himself wisely
and well, must carefully examine these
questions at issue in the coming election,
not with the prejudice Of a partisan, but
with the impartiality of judge. | do not
appeal to you, to-day, as Republicans or
as Democrats; but address YOU as Amer
| lean citizens; citizens of q common cOun-
try, having an equal interest in its welfare.
since its future must be ours, whether for
veal or for woe.
| Almost eighteen months have passed
since the welcome news flashed over the
wires, "Lee has surrendered! the war is
| ovprw On the surrender of the ContedeT-
ate armies to our victorious Generals, the
| Chief Executive of the nation found a peO-
pie without Government. Immediately
he sought to bring order ont of chaos by
using the best means in his power to re-
store the Union. He removed the blockade,
that commerce, long stranger might
bring needed supplies to the people; that
the people of the South might regard the
! people of the North not as enemies coming
| to destroy. but rs benefactOrs willing to AS
sist and to restore. He established courts
of Justice and restored the habeQS cOr3alS
that the laws might be administered
| throughout the country. He re. establish
ed postal facilities that an interchange of
| sentiment and opinion might aid In the
great work of restoration. The conduct of
the people of the Southern States since the
close of the war is unprecedented in the
annals of history. They are now as eager
to restore as formerly to destroy. A unit
| in opposition during the war, a unit in
submission after its close. Despite the
persistent efforts of incendiary politicians
! at the North to stir up discontentan in
| cite insurrection, their conduct has been all
| that could be expected of them, They have
| roDnoIh1 tbnt,. o,cIin rnpc nf cppncciOY, ;
1 ified the constitutional amendment abol-
ishing slavery; they have complied with
every suggestion of the Executive; and
| finally, elected men who would represent
| them In Congress. Thus, everything
which the President could do to restore the
Union; everything which the South could
be expected to do, had been done before
| Congress assembled; and we have the au-
thority of Grant for believing the South to
he sincere in their wishes and efforts TO re-
sumo their former relations with US, Con-
gress alone could complete the restoration
of the Union by admitting the Southern
| Representatives to their seats within the
Legislative halls - '.. ..f boa
ifr. a' CONGRESS. uJ ....
Instead of restoring, that body calling
| itself Congress, fastened to destroy. The
I Constitution, which the Radical portion OF
| Congress had been denOuncing for thirty
wears las league with hell and a covenant
with death,H was seized upon with fanatic
hatred. Every Radical member looked
upon himself as Il modern SOlon with a
special mission to destroy, under the gusa
of amending the Constitution; TO patch
| the organic law till no trace of It's original
beauty could be rdiscerned; to make it a
Joseph 'scoatof many colors... Early in the
/ f,, ot hn ~
| deus Stevens, declared ''that no Senator or
Representative from the Southern States
shall be admitted into either branch of
Congress until Congress shall have declared
such State entitled to such representation ~
This body, a "Union Congress" absolutely
! legislates eleven States out of the Union
during its good will and pleasure! Con-
| gress declares that four hundred thousand
soldiers have died in vain! That seven
thousand millions Of dollars have been ex-
| pended to no purpose H. Congresscompletes
what Davis and Toombs and Yancy begun.
| Congress declares THAT SECESSION IS A
SUCCESS AND THE WAR FOR THE UNION A
FAILURE. Congress violates the iplighted
faith of the nation which in 1861, declared
that the ,ayowed and only object Of the war
was SO preserce the Union and the dignity,
equality and rights Of the several States AMIN
paired" ."e't ~. ,'." p, i.,.'Aa shH"
T. Congress deliberately insults these bronz-
| ed veterans in our midst, aud stigmatizes
| the memory of their fallen comrades who
| fought not to destroy, but to preserve in
tact the Union of these States. Such is the
Radical doctrine according to Saint Thad7
deus! But we are assured that Radical
| majority in Congress are in favor Of restor-
| ing the 'Union-on certain conditions; that
they are ia favor rofadmitting the South-
ern States-after while; perhaps after the
| Presidential election of 1868! During the
war, any one who spoke OF "couditions"
was a traitor! These gentlemen ia Com
gress belohgedto the unconditional Union
party, and being lOyalists of the ne pl,ts ul-
| ira stda,p, of course, We're too patriotic to
| embarrass the Government BY observing
any nusty constitutional guarantees of life,
! liberty and property to thosewho differed
from them in the North But now it seems
! they are very conditional Union men So
| conditional, that it depends upon circuni-
stances, upon the "logie ofevents," wheth4
er they ever will be in favor of the Union
or notl Consistency Is. a jewel, but IL GER
tainly cannot be found in the Radical, head.
| But It is urged that the Southern Repre-
sentatives are dsloyal, and TO admit them
would be to place the Government in the
hands of its enemies, Loyalty means ,obe7
| dience to the laws, and if those men from
lllt NJ f.tll " dtye tl,, .s,,,