Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-10-28

youuhaVe udoLev that they will say tnat
you have encouraged them to go
future you cannot get rid of that. ou
will say so If you put their ticket in office.
WIN You DO it? tCries of NO, no.o] But
have not come to the bottom of this evil
yet. How does it happen that during the
last eight years we find the burthens and
privileges Of the Government SO unequally
distributed I win tell you. There has
been policy at Washington for the last six
or seven years to sectionalize power. Let
me show you how this is done. You know |
when we formed our Constitution we said |
that we would keep alive State Rights. To |
do this we would let the smallest State |
have as many Senators as the largest State.
That was meant for their protection and
for the protection of all, to show more
clearly that this was a limited partnership.
eternal as the hills, enduring as time, but
limited none the less. Now how has that
feature of our Government been so per-
verted as to produce these great evils of
which spoke? Look at the Senate. A
majority of the people of the United States
live in the nine States of New York, Penn
sylvania. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Ken
tucky, Missouri, Wisconsin and Michigan.
/ think have named them all. Tney have
eighteen Senators-one-third ofthe Sem
ate. The people of Ohio agree to that so
long as it is the fair working of our insti-
but when it Is made to invade your. rights
you ought not, to say the least, to approve
of it. When this Government puts the
power into the hands Of the Senate, and
then fills that Senate with sham States
and with States without population, and
gives 1t control over your affairs which
does not rightfuily belong to it, that is an
injustice to the majority Of the, people
OF this country. The Senators from the
Western States not seeing the bearing of
it, voted for 1t because it was said they
wanted to vote down President johnson,
and by these measures the people of Ohio,
numbering nearly three millions of peo-
pie, have been practically disfranchised.
There are two men sitting In the Senate
of the United States from the State of
Florida, one who went from, the State of
New York, an unknown man, and
the other from some other quarter
who do not represent the white people of
that State, and does not even represent the
negroes, because they, do not know that
same vote with the Senators from the
great central States. Tt is not merely a.
wrong done to the people of Florida; it
is a wrong done to you when two such
men become your rulers. Add up these
States. There are ten or twelve Senators
in That body put there to fortify al party in
political. power, who have no eonstita-
lions of Ohio, the !. four mil.
lions of New ork? Where are the MAJ
jority. of the American people in this body
What next has been doncp They have
gone on and increased unduly the power
of that body. until you find that you have
no voice there. The executive power was
transferred tosthe Senate in a large meas-
ure.s You have voice according to your
population in electing President They
crippled the President; they took away
from him all power OF removal; they have
taken the Executive power as far
as they could, and have given m it
to a body that does not repre-
Republican friends, you may be pleased
with this for little while; you may think
it secures in office yourself and your
friends; but is this great and wise states
manship? Is. this far-sighted? Is this
looking down the future to the time that
viii surely come, when you will have iu-
terests conflicting with the States thus
made?r / could detain you here a long
while to show you how, step by step, the
Executive power has been absorbed. In
another way itabsorbed the power of the
House OF Representatives. -szs ".
We have a great deal of patronage in this
country. There are sixty thousand Office
holders. The Senate controls all that; the
President cannot get rid of it. 1t has be-
come the central power to vastly greater
degree than it ever was before. The House
of Representatives are in no small degree
dependent on the Senate. The terms of
Senators are much longer, there are fewer
OF them, and they are so fortified that
popular changes cannot remove them.
They have taken the power from
your President" whom you can
elect once i2ind four years. They
have made him to-day what he ought ney-
er to have been for the honor and dignity
of the American, people. You saw him
who sat in the chair of w Washington, the
chief magistrate of your country, who
heretofore you boasted was man who held
more honorable power than any monarch
in the world dragged like acriminal before
a tribunal that decreed His sentence before
they heard a word of testimony Voice,
"That's so,n and loud cheering.] Look at
these acts of Congress for, yourselves. See
the changes that have been wroughtin the
structure of your Government TO carry
power in every instance to that body which
does not represent, the people OF the -coun-
try. My Republican friends, is it wise
for you by your ballot, when about to ex.
ereise one of the most sacred duties of
Americans citizenship, to say that you ap-
prove of this ? a[Cries of mo, no."] The |
resolutions which placed my opponent in
nomination did not declare his sentiments;
they declared their own; they declared that
the policy of their party had been right.
and when you vote their ticket you declare
the same thing. From time to time the
ablest men of the Republican party have
come forward with words of protest |
against their exercises, but they have been |
trampled down r as the maddened herds of 4
buffalo on the Western plains trample |
down their leaders, If they stay for a mo-
ment in their headlong course. lCheers II
One after another they have gone down.
until no man dares protest any longer. Are |
you ready, my Republican friends. to give
suit. I stand before you perhaps as
an individual more concerned than
any other man,, except my Cpl onent.
What is it to me whether l shall stay in
private life or go to the performance of /
duties from which every thoughtful man
must shrink 2 Let me say that no man
ever stood before the country as a candi-
date for that office, no matter how,
strong the convictions of duty were that
forced him into that position, who was not
filled with most serious convictions. with
regard to the sacredneSs of the trust. |
would not believe, and would repel with
scorn any attack on my opponent that
should assume that he did not mean what
was right. AS Col looks into, my heart,
1 cannot think of q man, care not how
wanting in virtues in other respects, who
could look at the vast interests of this
country, who could see its greatness and
think of its future, and not tremble and Of
fer fervent prayers that he might have wis
dom above mans wisdom to guide him in
a place like this. fImmerse cheers.1 This
large crowd which L see before me, where
will it be in a few rolling years? How
much does it matter to you, Republican or
Democratic friend, whether you shall or
shall not have thrill of triumph or a
pang of defeat in few days from. now
But how important it is that that decision
should be right! How important that
neither our passions, or even our honest
mistakes, should bring evil upon this glo-
rious land. Has legislation been equal
What is unequal is generally unfair. Trace
it down, not alone in the distribution of