Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-08-19
MOL 3)XlXXV.2 aIgHT

the tongue of an Adams, an Otis and a
Henry in the colonial assemblies, and to a
Pitt, Burke and a Barre in the Parlia-
ment of England in the great Legislative
discussion which preceded the war; it
nerYed the arm of the soldier upon the
tented field when discussion gave way to
the clash of arms; and it thrilled the great
heart, OF the people throughout the land
into the most heroic discrimination to
achieve freedom and. independence. /
1t is wonderful how. history reproduces it.
self. In, passing, only few days ago,
along the old battle9fields of Trenton, and
Princeton, and Monmouth, on the plains of
New Jersey, my mind was sadly and deep
ilv impressed with the strange reflection
that the great Democratic party of the ma
ton was now doubtfuily contending for
the very same rights,and asserting the very
same principles, that Washington and Mer-
Ger fought for on those bloody fields of the
Revolution. Is it not so, my friends Is
it not burning shame, a deep and lasting
Hrepreach upon our character as a free peo-
pie, and our intelligence and patriotism as
citizens, that we are now, through the ma
lchinations of desperate party to retain
power, sanctioning the very doctrines
which. compelled the Declaration of Inde-
pendence? There is not more complete
parallel in history than this; for what does
that Declaration assert of oppression and
wrong. of usurpation and outrage, as
against English tyranny, that might not
be declared with equal force against Radi-
cal Republicanism in these modern days?
The Declaration alleges that the English
King endeavored s'to render the military
independent of and superior to, the civil
power" Ten States of this Union, groan-
Ing. under the iron heel of five military
despots, present the mournful counter
part, .,-,-.-........:
The declaration charges that he quar-
tered ''large bodies Of armed troops among
fus." The same thing now exists all over
ithe South. '-1f 9Ho la siht ~ -
The Declaration charges him with Sim
posing taxes on us without our consent"
Ten millions of American people, seven
millions more than existed at the time OF
the Revolution, are taxed without repre-
The Declaration charges that !" he has
erected a Multitude of new offices, and sent
;hiJher swarms 4of officers to harass our
people, and eatout their substance" Ineed
not cite the parallel-there is not an hour
in the day that we do not JeeLits presence
The Declaration charges that "he bas
kept, in times of peace, standing armies,
without the consent of our legislature" A
standing army, largely, made up of negro
troops, is now spread over. bali of our ter
ritory, at an annual expense of $3.50, ,000 600.
The Declaration charges that we are de
lprived, in many cases, of the benefits of
trial by jury" The trial by jury, in all
cases, is utterly abolished in all the South
ern States.
The Declaration charges him with I" tax
ing away our charters, abolishing our most
valuable laws, and altering, fundamentally,
the powers of our government All this
| is equally true of the present tyranny. The
great Radical Autocrat asserted on the floor
of the House of Representatives only few
weeks ago that all that remained of the
lConstitution was few fragments sticking
in the kidneys of timid and over-virtuous
Senators. -. ...,-.., .s...-. .s ~ .- s-
/ The Declaration charges that he protect
ed his emissaries from punishment, by a
mock trial, for murders which they should
commit on the Inhabitants of these States"
/ That infamous bill. called the. Indemnity
act, of March 8, 1868, does the same thing.
-TheH Declaration charges the English
Parliament with s'suspending our own
legislatures, and declaring themselves in
vested with power to legislste for US in all
cases whatsoever" That omnibus of all
abominations,a called the supplementary
Reconstruction bill, passed last month by
a rump Congress, erects the same unmiti-
| gated despotism over an extent of country
NEARLY as large as that of all Europe, and
subjects the lives and property of an en-
tire people to the rule of the bayonet and
the will of the negro. .aJq
I There stands, my fellow-citizens, upon
4 one Off the streets in the northern part of
4 Boston quaint old building. world-re-
Inowned, called Faneuil Hall. 1t is some
times named as the 6 Cradle of American
Liberty !" how sad the reflection that it
may hereafter be pointed out as its Grave
Within its walls was heard the first articu-
late voice of civil liberty on this continent
the embryo life of the Constitution was
inaugurated there-how strange the con-
tradiction that its Great Defender" in
after years, should be refused to speak
within its portals in defense of that same
4 Constitution. But such are the results OF
i tanaticism Is it not strange, my fellow
4 citizens, aye, is it not s.passing strange
that from this RutH of American inde-
Il pendence, this temple once dedicated to the
4 great principles of Constitutional law and
, civil liberty, should be Illuminated those
: tyrannic DEGREES of party gdespotism which
have stricken down all law in the land
| and made the Constitution the merest
a mockery and current by-word among the
t people; and that upon the walls of that
!, once honored edifice the names of Will
4 son, Sumner and Boutwell, are i'm
! piously placed high above those of nan
!, Adams, an Otis and Hancock? And yet
it is most true -.-rr
Can such things be. and overcome US like sum-
mer cloud. 80 80
; Without our special wonder? ?"
Let us reverently, my fellow-citizens
turn for moment to one of those days in
the olden time when the people assembled
in solemn town meeting 10 discuss the
2 great question OF representative liberty
), l. do tnis, not with the vain purpose ol
l rounding a period, or to play the orator,
/. but with the design of impressing upon
, your minds the nature, the necessity, and
, the vital importance OF this great question
!, of the right of Representation in a consti-
!, tutiUnal government like ours. We car
t not drink too often or too deeply at these
fountains of. liberty and law. A recur-
e renee to first principles is essential to the
J, preservation of public liberty. In the
r occasion, and in the inceptionof the very
e troubles which are now upon US: "Wher
), the mariner has been tossed, for many days
t in thick weather, and on an unknown sea
he naturally avails himself of the frs
e pause in the storm, the earliest glance o.
e the sun, to take his latitude, and ascertain
e how far the elements have driven hin
t from his true course. Let us initiate thi
8 prudence, and, before we float farther OF
e the waves, refer to the point from whicl
/; we departed, that we may at least be ablt
e to conjecture where we now are" Thi
$ figure of rhetoric is as applicable to nation
E as it is to individuals. The American peo
n pie have drifted far from their origina
u moorings. The party now in power, AM
1t who shape the policy and control the af
70 fairs of the Government, occupy the sam
n position in relation to the rights and LID
o critics of ten millions of their fellow-coun
o trymen, which George Iii did toward
of the three millions of colonists prio
- to the revolution. The historic par
l. allel is pointed and significant, an
l. can neither be denied or defended
e Let US turn to a scene in that old Faneu
e Hall one hundred years ago. In doing 81
'r produce you no ''Copperhead" docu
N ment no newspaper scrap, but 1 read t
lr you from the 1lth Vol. of "Dodsley's An
r nual Register" page 237, printed in Pa
E Mall, London, in 176s, the year that thes
n proceedings took place:
lie r..F-o,, the Nsv York Ci,zstts San. os ,7ea