Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1868-08-06

the excitements and acerbities Of
party struggle, with excitement un.
paralleled in the political contests
of the past, / rejoice to be able to
say before you to-day, that never
when l returned to your midst, has
there been one man, be he even the
btterest of my opponents-therC
has never been a. man, however an
tagonistic he might be to me, that
ever met me with the reproach thai
| had turned my back upon a soli-
tary pledge made when asking foi
your suffrages, or that ! had proved
infdel to the faith ! professed ia
you when | was a candidate before
you for your favor, Great ap.
plausc.
Differing with some, all knew my
convictions were the convictions ot
my life. l believed in them as nm
reservedly as | believe in the inspi
ration otrevealed truth. They were
the polar star ofmy political course.
they were the chart by which
marked out my public career
have proved truthful to them in tho
past, and whatever is to be before
me in the future, God helping me
| shall stand by them as earnestly
and indexibly in the years to come
as have in the past. Great ap
plause.
You remember that the most Of
my life has been spent among yor
in the editorial profession; and all
of you almost, especially those who
have lived here for years, can bcal
witness to the fact that ! was no
sluggard in the performance oi
those duties, / was generally the
editor, the publisher, the proof
reader, the mail boy, the collector,
all rolled into one. Laughter.
But ] performed them to the best
of my ability; and l have this to
say, looking back to my earlier life
as an editor, | can say that while /
antagonized with my opponents be-
cause | believed their principles
wrong and my own right, antag-
onized without opprobrium, and |
opposed them without invective,--
And every one Of you here, Demo
Gratis and Republicans, l can call as
witnesses that, in spite Of all the
political storm of the last six or
eight years. have not-as you
know yourselves-in this district
ever designated the Democratic par
ty by any other name than that
which they have chosen themselves.
In all the hundreds of speeches /
have made, you have never heard
me allude to them as Copperheads,
or anything they might condemn as
personal or opprohrious, I have
given the name that they see fit to
g,v1 10 themselves; and l have
borne patiently, and without such
retort, every epithet that has been
heaped upon me by those who have
seen fit in that way to oppose me.
| have believed that to be the wiser
course, and experience has proved
its correctness to me.
There is one thing that embar-
asses me in speaking before you
to day. AS | address you there
come thronging into my mind the
great issues which the millions of
the American people are to settle at
the polls at the November elections,
hut my lips, from the position that
| now occupy before this people,
are to be sealed in regard to these
issues. | cannot speak in regard
to the platform, nor can speak, as
| deem propriety forbids me, Of the
candidates that are arrayed against
us. | have not deemed it proper
or fitting, when one is represented
by the people, or by a party repre-
senting q large portion or majority
Of the American people, for the ma
tional offices for which General
Grant and myself have been pre-
sented, to go into the political are
ma, and there discuss these exciting
and agitating questions, My record
is made up before you, 1t is writ
ten on the pages of our country's
legislation for the past fourteen
years. 1t is inscribed there where
| could not erase it, If | would, and
where | would not eras4 it if |
could, 1t is there for good or evil.
1t is my convictions, expressed by
my votes, in my speeches, in my
letters-the convictions of my life
and of my heart-believed in with
all my soul and strength and mind
Not one word fit shall | ever take
back Every word of it is confirm.
ed to me by the experience of past
years, and there is not, as / look
back at it, one single Sc ltenco that,
dying, l would wish to blot.
What may be the future for me
depends not now upon the people
of this district alone, but upon the
millions of the American people. Il
| have faith-you know how my
faith has been in the times Of ma
tional and party reverses--neverI
neverquailing, never abat-
ing--I have faith to-day. ] think
can see in all the signs of the
times the triumphant victory that
awaits the great leader of our Union
hosts, riyaling in its brillianey and
and its benefioent effects upon our
country the brilliant victories won
by him over the armies Of the re-
bellion. / believe an overruling
holds the destinies of