The Vinton record. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1866-1891, 1867-01-24

could teel more strongly than | do
how great is the debt of gratitude
1 owe you. For, be the result what
it may, the honor of your unani-
nous nomination is a distinction
that any man, however high,
might we'll covet, and the posses
sion ofyour confidence and esteem
a favor to which grateful heart
could never be insensible. IS,
Gentlemen, accept your nom
ination, and will strive to prove
myself worthy of it. ~ .t.
Gentlemen, usage requires that
| shauld say something more, but
it is not my purpose to make a long
speech. You have much yet re-
maining to- do, and l would not
willingly interrupt your proceed
ings, or unnecessarily consume
your time.
The campaign before us will last
many months, affording an ample
opportunity for discussion, in which
hope to be able to take a proper
part. But, at the very outside, l
wish to observe that the return of
the Democratic party to power
seems to me as inevitable as it is
desirable; and it is most desirable,
if we wish to preserve and perpet-
uate free institutions, and once
more see happy, prosperous, and
united country-united, not by
material force alone, but by the
stronger ligaments of reciprocal
affection, mutual esteem, common
Interests, and a cherished belief in
common and glorious destiny:
How long it may be before the
reins Of Government will again be
in our hands, | do not presume to
say; but that, sooner or later, and
at no very distant day either, we
will hold them again.. and again
guide the chariot of State, as we
did formerly guide it along the
pathway marked out by the Com
stitutlon-a path Of pleasantness
and peace--I do not entertain a
doubt. For the Democratic party
is the natural party whose princi-
Piles best harmOnize with our forms
of government-in a word, the Ma,
tional party of this country. Our
whole history proves this. 1t was
the Democratic sentiment that
freed US from Great Britain; it was
this sentiment that laid the foun-
datiOns of our State and Federal
Governments; ; it was this senti-
ment that gave to our party so
long a rule, and made its rule so
benefcent and glorious. 1t was
this sentiment that gave to our
country for more than seventy
years the profoundest domestic
peace the world eveFsaw. So that
of that long period of time it can
truly be observed what can not be
sad Of any such period in any 9TH
er country-that in it no man in
the Republic lost his life for a po-
litic0l olGenso; no man ever per-
ished in civil war. And it is not
strange that it was so. For the
Democracy administered the Gov
ernment for the equal benefit of
all, rejecting selfishness, discour-
aging sectionalism, abstaing from
usurpation, and with wise jeal-
ousy of power requiring all Constl-I
tutions, State or Federal, to bel
strictly construed. 1t knew the
tendency Of power to steal from
the many to the few, the pronehess
of Government to enlarge It's au7
thority, and the imminent danger
of Capitalization; and it therefore
clung to our Constitutions as tho
great barriers against the evils il !
apprehended. |
1t is to-day what 1t has ever
been, the great Constitution and
Union loving party Of the country.
1t loves the Federal Constitution
for the glorious events that gave it
birth-for the glorious memories
of its mighty trainers, for the meal
culable benefits it hes conferred
upon the country, and yet more
than all these, tor the limited pow.
ers it contains, and the reserved
rights it leaves to the States and
the people.
And we love our State Constitu-
ton for the wise form of govern
ment it institutes, the guarantees
of liberty anh property it contains,
its express recognition of the peo-
pie as the source of power, and its
care not to trench too deeply on
the rights of the individual. And |
our late sad experience of Consti-
tutions violated, and their most