The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1867-11-12

ernments.-a revolution before which the
Constitution was overthrown, the Union
dissolved, and liberty crushed out beneath
a military and civil despotism the most
searching, the most complete, the most
appalling ever established in a republic;
a despotism combining the madness and
license Of the mob, with the system and
discipline of the military despotism
to which fear in tyrants, ambition in
Generals, hate in churchmen, and mad.
ness in all, gave cruelty, a desperation,
venom and fury which smote and
consumed and devoured as 1t walked in
darkness or wasted at MONDAY. Free
dom of speech, of the press, of public
assemblages, and of the ballot, had all
perished in every border State South;
and The. aButcher fredericksburg, =
writhing and infuriate under defeat, had
just been deputed to extinguish the last
| lingering spark of liberty in the North.
west. Once before, indeed, she had been
assailed in the United States, and for a
similar purpose-to suppress and crush
tout the opposition OF the Democratic
| party under J Jefferson, to the French war
Of '9S, stirred up by the Federal party
under the elder Adams; and my distin.
guished friend here, General George ".
Morgan, statesman in peace, hero in wal.
chiyalric gentleman at all times, bears iE
his veins the blood Of martyr to free
dom Of the press fye-and.twenty years
before -Iuwas born, But the reaction
came; the Democratic party triumphed,
and the Constitution was asayed at the last
gasp [Applause.
Under circumstances, such as / have
described, you, the men Of Knox, and Of
other counties near you, assembled upon
this spot, sacred thenceforth and forever
Ito liberty, to the number of more than
| ten thousand. Twas May-day in the
year Of grace, 1863. The sun shone
brightly; thousand banners streamed
peacefully in the gentle breeze; every
bird was upon the wing, and the forests
rang vocal to their cheering melody. The
flowers, too, lent their sweetest perfumes
and the blue sky was ooi;ss,sgus5
80 cloudless, clear, and purely beautiful,
/ That God, alone, was to be seen in heaven
But while all nature thus gave signs
of good will throughout her realm, and
God commanded peace through all his
works, far other was the scene which man
had ordained for the passions of his heart
and the llabors of his hands. Mars drove
heavily and headlong his fiery, chariot,
while Terror, with gorgon head. turned
Religion and Pity and Mercy into stone,
Your assembling, men of Knox, was an
act, of courage unsurpassed in history
Not Grecian, nor Roman, nor Swiss, mol
English heroism, ever excelled it. The
l-days of the Tells, and, the Stauffachers,
and the Winkelrieds of history, and the
Biedermanns and Donnerhugers of fiction
of Bruce, of Hampden,h of Sidney, and
of Russell, had returned in America; and
proudly, bravely We all met the crisis
| You demanded that | should speak in
|your name, and / obeyed, hurting defiance
at tyrants and usurpers and deflers Of
the holy temple of liberty, wheresoever
found. Standing here upon this spot
and under this same flag, which 'foated
then from the, platform, / declared the
war sscruel and unnecessary" and it was.
| [Cries of, "Tbat's so."] So had said
Abraham Lincoln; ''not waged for the
preservation Of the Union;" aud it was
not; "but for the purpose Of crushing
out liberty and establishing despotism. 2
Congress has so enacted, and whs to-day
doubts it? "a war for the freedom Of
the blacks" SO it was, and this is now
the boast of the leaders of the Republi-
can party, IA war for the enslavement
of the whites" and to-day the. wailing
cry of six millions of white men, disfran-
chised, burdened oppressed, bruised, and
crushed under the heel of a military des-
potism, established, not under the right
of conquest, attest the prescient truth Of
the declaration. 9. "Order 30 a usurpa-
tion of rower;' and such it ,was,l soon
after tramplel under foot, despised and
spit upon by thirty thousand freemen as.
sembled in Ohio's capital "That 1 was
at all times and upon all occasions, re.
solved to do what I could to defeat the
attempts which were being made to build
|upa monarchy upon the ruins of free
government" Was ever prophecy SO
fulfilled? And here, to day, in presence
Eofltwenty thousand freemen of Ohio, on
bended knee. and upon this,the self-same
lspot, ! thank my God that | have been
enabled to keep the resolution; and now
in His presence, and before you, my wit,
nesses, I renew the holy VOW, and swear
'fby the great white throne, and Him " ho
1sitteth thereon, that slavery having per-
lished, the Union of our fathers, and the
Constitution, of our fathers, and the lib
ties secured by them, shall be preserved
to US and our children's children forevcrl
[Applause. 2asa i1s
! Another scene. men Of Knox, is wit.
messed here now. in the calm of an au-
tumnal day, with mellow October sun
shining down oheerily upon us, not ten,
but twenty thousand freemen greet the
return Of the exile, ant bid him good
1cheer! EGrcat applause. There is no
war in the land to-day;1noo military des-
Ipots here; no arbitrary arrests; no mill
Itary trial; no ''orders" of whatsoever
number, no provost marshal, no judge
advocate, no conscriptions, no bastiles.
no mohs, no assassinations, no exile, no
scaffolds. [ Applause. There are no spies
here day to pollute this sacred pres
once. In peace, in ease of mind, in the
s'truee of ffGod, !" in security, with JOY
yelling from every heart, beaming from