The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1866-02-14
EECH OF
HON. WILLIAM ALLEN,
~ AT THE
DEMOCRATIC FESTIVAL,
Held I'm Columbus, Jan. 8, 1866,

When Alexander was about to depart
upon his great expedition to the East, in
the exuberance of his generosity he dis
tributed the whole of his private fortune
among his friends His steward, when
ordered to deliver ever the last piece OF
it, said to him: "And when this is gone,
what will you have left for yourself2n
IaHope, and it is enough" was the sub
lime answer of the great son of Philip.
The Democratic party is about to renew
its efforts for the restoration and perpetu-
ity of public liberty. 1t is at such an
hour as this that the party finds itself ut
terly bereft of all power in the States and
in the Federal Government, and if, under
these circumstances, it should ask what
that party has left, l answer with the
Macedonian, "Hope, and tits enoughw
Sometimes the perturbations of the air
swell into terrific storm-tbe waters of
the sea are violently rolled up into noun
famous ridges-the quick lightning fash
es forth from the black bosom Of the i'm
tpending cloud, and the prolonged rever-
berations of the lurid sky might to an
uninstrueted observer, seem to portend
the Immediate dissolution of nature; but
the philosopher looks upon the scene
without any such apprehension; he knows
that the all-embracing and eyer-acting
principle of gravitation will eventually
silence these warning elements, and bring
back every particle of the displaced wa
tiers down to the old oceans normal level
For four years past, over the great
deepof the national mind, such storm
has been driving-men's passions have
bbeen convulsively tossed hither and thith-
Ter, and their actions have responded to
their passions. The wrecks of broken
Constitution; the desolation of vast re-
gions of the Republic; the number Of
prisons, of executions; Of fresh graves; oi
hospitals, of cripples; of widows and or
phans; the ominous mutterings of the
whole people; under the pressure Of in.
tolerable taxation; the immense order for
the payment Of four thousand million oi
dollars which we have drawn upon pos
terity in the form Of a national debt; the
mortgage which the Government has ia.
ken upon every mans lands, goods and
muscles for the payment of this debt; the
prevalence of crime everywhere, and in
all its varieties; the sense of insecurity
the doubt, the dread, for the future
which pervades the mind of the entire
nation-these things show whore tha
storm has been. and measure the intensi
ty of its violence A man of even high
intelligence, looking upon this sac
scene, with its threatening futurity, might
well imagine that our social, as well a;
political, organization, was about to under
go total disruption; but philosophic
statesman will look even upon this dis
NAL prospect mot without sorrow and sad
ness, but without despair. He know
that the all-embracing and ever -actine
principle of Democracy, will, in the long
run, speak order to this chaos, and bring
back States and men, with their rights
and liberties once more securely within
the Old guarantees of the Constitution
1 duu tuo ldW. q
But when will this consummation bt
realized? This question can be answered
only when the present session of Con
gress shall have adjourned. If this Con
gress shall 6nd its reason so bewildereC
by the miscellaneous misery which it,
predecessors have inhictedupon the coun
try, as not to be able to see the direction
in which its duty calls it, it may fud ar
example worthy of its imitation in thu
history of the greatest people, politically
considered, who have ever yet appeared
upon the globe.
Ancient Italy, from the Alps to th'
Ocean, was originally subdiyided into |
large number of small, but Independent
States. Rome, one of these States, had
after six hundred years of war and nego
tiation, succeeded in establishing an Ital
Ian Union--herself holding the position
of central and paramount authority, SC
far as to exercise the right of highway
for the march of her legions and the pas
sage of her couriers, throughout tb,
whole of Italy. together with the exclu
sive power of peace and war .and the cor
relative powers of leyyiug troops an(
revenues for foreign conquest, In every
other particular, the other States, styled
allies of the Roman people, retained thei
Irrespective State Governments in all thei
Integrity. for every object of local ant
municipal legislation. In the year 662
from the foundation of Rome, cosrespon
ding with the year SO previously to th'
birth of Christ, the allied States claimed
of the Central Government of Rome wha
were known as the rights of Lartium, or
lin other words, of Roman citizenship, St
liar as to vote in the election of Roman
EConsnls, and other Magistrates, aud, als'
to vote in the assemblies of the Roman
people upon all questions OF peace ant
war. They predicated these claims upol
| the admitted fact that for sixty years the,
had contributed more than two-thirds o
the recruits to the Roman legions, an,
more than two thirds of the revenue t.
the Roman Treasury; and that, willis
with the aid of these troops andrevenues
Rome bad effected the conquest of larg
and rich countries beyond the limits o
Italy, the proceeds arising from all thes
conquests, the lands, the prisoners of wa
made slaves, and the immense contribu
ltions in money levied upon subjugate'
kingdoms, had all, and in every instance
, been appropriated BY and to the exelusiv
benefit of the Roman people.
! Notwithstanding the manifest justic