Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1868-08-26
THE NINTH OHIO DISTRICT,
speech by Gen. w. HI. Gibson
Delivered at Tisin JuIy 81. !

FELLOW CITIZENS IL thank you all
for this greeting, and / return to you
the profoundest gratitude of my heart
for this, and the ter thousand NANTES.
tations of your favor and colfidence,
received st your hands. | stand before
you to night in a new position. By
the action of the representatives of the
Republican party, of my district, on
yesterday, have had committed to my
hands the banner of my party, to be
borne in the approaching political con-
fiict. In accepting this position.I ! think
| comprehend fully the responsibilities
attached to it, and ! invoke the favor
of Almighty God, that in this conflict
| shall do nothing unworthy of myself
unworthy of my friends, or unworthy
of the country that we all love. Ap-
plause. In seizing this banner and
waving it in the battle front of this
civil conflict, l think | know what
that banner means. 1t represents the
ideal that was planted in the Seven
teenth Century on Plymouth Rock and
JamestoEn, announcing the great idea
that man should govern himself. That
banner represents the other grand idea
born in l776, that this should be the
land of the free" 1t represents the
grand idea recognized at Appomattox
Court House, when Lee reversed his
sword to our own Ulysses Grant. Ap-
Plause. In entering upon this contest
for the nomination just passed, | wish |
to say a word. There are those here |
tonight who will bear witness TO me |
that | have twice refused this position, |
during my political life, when ! could |
have had the nomination, and when
nomination was equalto an election
Last spring this position sought me. l
never sought it. And when we went |
to Clyde, yesterday, there was not from
old Seneca county, TO which owe my !
life, and all that | am, one man who
was not a Gibson man, be his politics
what it might. Great applause
There was not of the six counties in
the district a single delegation among
whom, in the Convention or outsiders,
could not be found resolute Gibson
men. | stood double among the COM
petitors, and thanks to the faithful
friends from Seneca, they stuck to me
like soldiers with muskets in the front,
and won the victory. | thank them,
| thank you, and / thank my Demo
cratic friends slso, for however strong
and resolute | have always been il my
principles-and I may have done in
justice te individuals, but there is not
a Democrat in this county who would /
not approach me upon terms of perfect
friendship. If there is tonight single l
man against whom harbor ill-wili / I
know it not and if there be any who
harbor ill-will to me he does me great {
injustice. Voices-"There are none."l
| can say this not only of this, but of ,
other counties, for | have not heard {
that one of them has uttered an unkind '
word or expression. And tonight, {
when | look back on my life, l have '
much TO remember. 1 stood where we s
ire tonight, when right beneath this =
tsn6 was a great natural pond; stood L
n this town when there was but three L
complete houses On this side of the )
liver, and when there was no open 4
highway dwelt in your county when t
,ur only evening visitors were the 4
Senecas, the Wyandots and the No I
hawks. l have grown up in your Il
midst. Calumny may have followed d
ne; injustice may have persued me Z
,ut look at my life, whether basking b
n the bright sunshine of prosperity, l
Ipon the wings of popularity, or in the b
hadows Of poverty, appeal to you, Il
lave | not shown myself man? Loud D
pplsuse. p
thank you, then, for this manifes- P
alton, and what you have done for p
ne. l do not come to night to ask you ol
o vote for me. l have come to tell Il
on what l am going to do. have CT
10 war to wage upon any individual; st
have no war to wage against a man 70
ecsqse he is q Democrat, Conservative, "
: ! care not what. | war for prinoi di
lie, sgainst that which / believe to be
'rong. One or the other of the great p
olitical parties OF this country are ab- te
olutely wrong in principle. Both +,
lay, and no doubt are honest. do W
OF claim that my political opponents e
re dishonest. ! concede to the most of
lolent political opponent have, the of
lme credit for honesty of purpose, and at
atriotism of design which l claim for re
Iyself, and / only beg that he concede it
le same TO me. | may be wrong. wa
Viii you not admit that possibly you no
ay be wrong, alsol This poor, weak so
Imanity of OURS IS liable to be wrong, to
It there is little INSTINCT implanted VI
every bosom that leads US 10 seek WI
Ie right. The humblest man, the wa
wliest little boy that trudges bare pa
oted along onr streets, recognizes the iss
es of right, and his little soul pants up
drink deep of its crystal fountains it
I'd do right. And this is what L am tar
lling TO conceds to all men, of all Wb
'litical parties in Ohio and elsewhere. up
len what is my duty? To enter into mi
is canvass man and address my fell ma
T-citizens as men and my equals, and Pr,
7 to reason with them on the great ha,
estions which affect the country, and tax
lich are as vital to their interests as VIII