The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1867-08-15
pOIitital.
OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN.
SPEECH or
GEN. R. B. HAYES,
At Lebanon, o., Aug. 5, 1861.


orable address at the dedication Of tho
Gettysburg National Cemetary with
these words
Four score and seven years ago our
fathers brought forth on this cont.
nent new nation, conceived in liber
ty and dedicated to the pro-,osi,;on
that all men are creaiea1 canal
This was lA.5rsham Lincoln's opin.
'op ." what was accomplished, and
what was meant by the Declaration
of Independence. His idea was that
il gavo birth TO nation, and that il
dedicated that nation to equal rights.
Now, so far as the performance of
duty in the present condition of our
country is concerned, ''this is the
whole law and the pruPhSta." The
United States are not coufederacy
Of independent aud sovereign States,
bound together by mere treaty or
compact, but tho people of the Unit.
ed states constitute nation, having
one flag, one history, zone country
one constitution, one destiny" Who
ever seeks to divide this nation into
two sections-iutc a North aud a
South, or into four seetions. accord
ing to the cardinal points Of the COM
pass or into thirty or forty iudepend.
ont sovereigntios---is opposed to the
nation, and the nations friends
should be opposed to him.
Washington in his Farewell Ad-
dress, says:
The unity Of government which
constitutes you one people is also now
dear to you. 1t is justly so, for it is
main pillar in the ediaco Of your
real independence, the support of
your tranquility at home, your peace
abroad; of your safety, of your pros.
perity, Of that very liberty which you
so highly prize. 4 X The name
of American, which belongs to you in
your national capacity, must always
exalt the just pride of patriotism
more than any appellatiou derived
from local determinations. With
slight shades of difference you have
the same religion, manners, habits
and political principles. You have
in common cause fought and tri-
umphed together; the independence
and liberty you posses are the work of
joint counsels aud joint eforts--of
common dangers, suiferings and sue
cesses.
The sentiment Of nationality is tho
sentiment Of tho Declaration of Inde.
pondcnce; it is the sentiment of the
fathers; it is the sentiment which car.
ried US through the war of the Revo-
luton and through the war of the
late rebellion, aud it is sentiment
which the people of the United States
ought forever 10 cultivate ard cher
ish.
The great idea to which the ma
tion, according to Mr.. Lincoln, was
dedicated by the fathers is expressed
in the Declaration in these familiar
phases; "We hold these truths to be
self evident, that all men are created
equal; that they are endowed by their
Creatorwith certain inalienable rights;
that among these are life, liberty aud
the pursuits of happiness. That to
secure these rights governments are
instituted among men, deriving their
just powers from the consent of the
governed"
An Intelligent audience will not
wish to hear discussion as to the I'M
port of these sentences, Their Ian
guage is simple, their meaning plain,
and their truth undoubted. The
equality declared by the fathers WAS
not an equality of beauty, or physical
strength, or of intellect, but an eqaH.
W Of rights. Foolish attempts have
been made by these who hate the
principles OF the fathers to destroy
the great fundamental truth of the
Declaration by limiting tho applica.
ton Of the phrase "all men" to the
men of single race.
But Jeiferson's original draft of
the Declaration leaves no room to
doubt what he meant by these words.
The gravest charge he made against
the King OF Great Britain in the
original draft of tho ID cIaration of
Independence was the following:
He has waged cruel war against
human nature itself, violating its
most sacred rights of life aud liberty
in the persons of distant people
who never offended him, capturing
and carrying them into slavery in an
other hemisphere, or to incur miser-
able death iu their transportation
thither. This piratical warfare, the
opprobrium Of infdeI Powers, is the
warfare Of the Christian King OF
Great Britain, determined to keep
open market where MEN should be
bought and sold.
In this sentence the word "men" is
written by Jefferson in capital letters
showing with what emphasis he wish
ed to delare that the King of Great
kritain was making slaves OF people
to whom belonged the rights of men
SLAVERY HOSTILE TO UNION.
| Unfortunately for our couatry that
King and Others who "waged cruel
war against human nature ITSELF" had
already succeeded in planting in
the bosom Of American society an ell
ement implacably hostile to human
rights, aud destined to become the
enemy of the Union whenever the
American people in their national ca
pacity should refuse assent to any
measure which tho holders Of slaves
should deem necessary, or even i'm
portant for the security or prosperity
Of their peculiar institution"