Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-08-02

MY FELLow.CITIzENs: 81 propose to
address yon upon some of the issues in
volved in this campaign. The fearful con-
dition of our country, as well as every
proper consideration, demands that we
should be cool, calm and honest; that we
should, in the discussion of questions upon
which we differ, be governed by the gold
en- rule. In allof our discussions we should
seek the truth, freely admit the truth, and
be guided by the truth. essr tv
The prosperity of Republican form of
Government depends upon an intelligent
honest and faithful voting people. Where
the people govern through the ballot-boX,
each voter is bound in duty to himself, his
country and his God, to make reasonable
effort to secure proper political intelli.
gence, to exercise an honest Judgment and
follow his own convictions of right. If the
American people will be guided by these
principles they will seldom be wrong, and
when SO, the error will soon be discovered
and corrected. sf edt - ,eza795g era
THE PEOPLE SHOULD FOLLOW THEIR OWN
.5-osl35sI-i 40 JUDGMENT. = o tyl 3 sio-s7--
1t is q alamentable fact that party leaders,
by arousing the passions and prejudices of
their followers, mould and control the SEN
timents of many as doth the potter his clay.
Heresies, which year before were de-
nounced in q manly tone, they now adopt
like slaves, because the leaders have en-
grated them into the party platform.
Their own judgments and convictions of
right are yielded up. and the heresies of
crafty, designing men of corrupt hearts,
are accepted in their stead. The demands
of their own interests, their self-respect,
the demands of their Country and their God,
are diSregarded, while they follow corrupt
leaders to their own ruin,' their country's
destruction and the dishonor of him who
made them. t.. -..,. -
II the masses of the American people had
been ever guided by their own honest con-
victions of right, the dark forebodings that
now overhang our political horizon would
never have appeared. Our laboring mass
es generally are honest, it they were only
free from party slayery-if they were only
independent enough to act upon their own
judgments. There never was period in
the history of our country when constitu-
tional liberty had so many dark forebodings
as at this time. 81.
Is THE CONSTITUTION THEORETICALLY
-. s.ss. a-' 4-s DEAD
Pause moment and reflect. Remember
that the great leader OF Congress has bold
Iy declared, in substance, that the constitu-
tien does even Theoretically" operate
In any part of the ten Southern States.
That, therefore, ten States were destroyed
and the Union dissolved, and that we now
have only twenty six States in this Union.
Under this terrible heresy despotism is
imposed upon twelve millions of Ameri-
can people which has scarcely parallel in
the history of the world. If the despotism
ofSteEens and his family of Radical lead
ers'is tolerated and allowed to be success
full in the ten States, over twelve millions
ofspeople, it will be but the Inauguration
of scheme which will ultimately reach
the whole American people-sap the foun-
dations of the noblest political fabric the
world ever saw, and change the very tenn
pie of constitutional liberty intoa despot-
ism of the most despicable form. These
1<rr hal
tuition of the United States, and the next
day trample it under their unhallowed
feet, with a daring that would better be-
come fiends sent from the regions of dark
ness. The Constitutional liberty secured
by the blood of our fathers is In imminent
danger, and will! be forever lost unless the
honest masses of the American people will
arise in the majesty of their might, hurl
from power the despoilers, and save the in
heritance beqeathed to them by their faith
ers. ~ ss,, a.I,=g
-. THE CONDUCT OF THE LEADERS.
Review the conduct of these leaders and
you will find, among many other things of
similar character, that in 1861, after the
late war was fully inaugurated, Republi-
can Congress, with great unanimity, passed
the following resolution:
"Eesolued, That the present deplorable
civil war has been forced upon the country
by the Disunionists of the Southern States,
now in revolt against the Constitutional
Government in arms around the Capital !;
that in this national emergency we Danish
all feelings of mere passion and resent
ment, will recollect only our duty to the
whole country; that this sswar was not wag-
ed upon our part in any spirit of oppres-
sion, nor for any purpose of conquest or
subjugatien, nor for the purpose of over
throwing or interfering with the rights or
established institutions of the States; but
20 a ar16 aotn fofn fhn <Nf
e7Oenstitution and preserve the Union,
with all the dignity, equality and rights of
the several States unimpaired; and as soon
as these objects are accomplished the war
ought to cease" z
The Republican party of Ohio, in Au-
gust, 1861, in their convention unanimously
ratified and re-adopted this resolution. The
object of the war is here very clearly stated,
''to defend and maintain the supremacy of
the Constitution and preserve the Union,
with all the dignity, equality and rights OF
tae several States unimpaired." aA
Upon this declaration of the object of the
war about a million of the brave men of the
North enlisted, willing to sacrifice their
lives, if need be, to accomplish this great
object. How many of that great army
would have periled their lives to product
the disunion, the destruction of ten States
and the terrible despotism now contende6
for by the Radical leaders? si-d-i.
But, in A pril. 1865, the war ended ouI
boys in blue' came home, believing thai
they had accomplished the object for which
they had periled their lives. They felt
conscious that they had not made failure
They believed that the thousands OF theiI
comrades who were sleeping in southern
graves. although a terrible sacrifice, were
not sacrificed in vain. They believed thai
the army of the Government were prop
erly styled the +" defenders of the Consr1tu-
tion and the Union." ~.
But what are we,now told by Stevens
and his radical family of leaders? In sub
stance they tell us that the. "boys in blue
made grand failure. The thousands who
sacrificed their lives while defending the
flag and its thirtysiX stars, died in vain
ten stars were stricken out in spite of theil
efforts. All this war, the terrible, sacrifice
of life and treasure-the whole effort is 8
failure-the Union is dissolved-ten State:
are destroyed, and the Constitution of the
United States does not even ''theoretically'
operate in any OF them. The innocent wo
men, children and loyal people there, have
lost all their constitutional rights.
Hit be true that ten States are out of the
Union, either the rebels or the radical Con-
gress put them out; and the people of the
North, with great unanimity, at one time
agreed that the rebels had not the power
to do it. -4a.- ....E
But again. After the war closed the rad
ical leaders were very loud in their decla-
rations upon what, by misrepresentation
they claimed to be the language of the Chi.
cago Convention, in 1854. Then the war
had not ended, and that Convention
s"Resolued, That this s5Convention,does ex
plicitly declare as the sense of the Ameri-
can people, that after fonr years of failure
to restore the Union by the experiment Of
war; el .iiia-
These Radical leaders misrepresent tn,
Convention, and proclaim That it had de.
clared the war failure. The Convention
did no such thing. But they did declar,