The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1869-07-15
sEeRErAKr-Charies Allen, OF

zss-5 E-f Z =
ASSISTANT SECRETARIEs-Jam A.
Gilmore. of Preble; John r. Clymer,
of Crawford; W. A. Birchai-d. of
Trumbull; Jonas Smith, of RichIand:
John J. Jacobs, of Ashland; Joseph
Gntzwiler, of Hancock; > III. d. Nc.
DoweiI, of Holmes; Oakley Case, of
Hooking; d. G. BalIentine. of Clarke.
RULES.
The rules of the Ohio House of Rep
resentatives were adopted as the rules
for the government of the Conyen-
ton. A majority of all the votes cast
to be necessary to nominate.
The nominations to be made i'll the
following order:
| Governor, Lieutenant.G Governor, Su-
preme Judge, Treasurer of State, At
torney General, and Member of the
Board of Public Works.
The report was adopted.
Judge Van Trump being introduced
to the Convention. addressed it as fol-
! lows:
! GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION =
Language is sometimes too barren Il
medium to give .utterance TO all that
| the heart may, feel. Standing in the
responsible position to which your
kind regard has assigned me, if shall
fail in nothing else, know / shall ut
terly fail i'll giving adequate express
| sion to my thanks for the distinguish
ed honor you have conferred upon me.
/ To preside over a body of men like
this, in times like these, and for the
great purposes which have brought
YOU together, is an honor of Which
any man might be proud, and which
few men could accept without emo
ton and embarrassment. This would
be true at any time, and under any
| circumstances. There has been no
period heretofore in all our history,
however. free from the strifes and
passions OF partisan warfare, when a
convention of the people, called for
the purpose of counsel and delibera-
ton upon the great interests of the
country, was not invested with de-
gree of care and responsibility calcu-
lated to elicit apprehensions as well
as hopefulness. If this is true, of the
quiet aud harmonious past, in the bet
4 ter days OF the Republic, how emf
nently true is it now, with the dam
gers, the hopes and the fears of the
actual, living, portentous present sur
rounding us? The embarrassment,
therefore, under which l labor arises
not alone from the personal RESPONSE
bility which has been cast upon me as
the presiding officer of this conven-
ton. 1t exists mainly from cause
common to US all; it springs from the
critical occasion, the great national
crisis, the Overwhelming and impend-
ing public necessities, which have
called yon together to consult with
each other upon the dangers which
threaten and imperil the government
of our fathers. We are acting here
t to-day in no new capacity. We are
standing in the shoes of those stern,
antique heroes of the far-off past, who
shook the thrones of tyrants in the as
:, sertion of mans right and capacity
for self-govelnment. Whatever may
be the result of the conflict which is
; now plainly before us, whether the
, Constitution shall survive or perish in
1.-The shock of opinion, the Democratic
party, as its latest, If not its last, de-
; fender, will be sustained By the proud
consciousness that it stood SHE. .flsIffsfif
unfiinching champion of the rights as
, well as the union of States as ordained
; by that Constitution. Heretofore the
point of dispute has been confined to
, a mere question of constitutional in
+; depreciation; but now, after the con-
, vulsion of q q eat civil war, and as
1 one of its retributive results, the Con.
: stitution itself is put upon its trial
and the right of self-governmeDt and
: of local representative liberty, is again
presented as a political problem, as
sharply marked, if not yet as sharply
disputed as it ever was in Rome OF
,Atica two thousand years ago. In this
modern repetition of the struggle, We
, are not called upon to illuminate any
new doctrine in political ethics. Ev
!, cry utteranee of the Democratic party
whether in storm or sunshine, in vic
tory or defeat. is reaffirmance of tht
. +" divine right" of the people to gov
: ern themselves, through the agency O
:. just laws made by themselves undel
written constitutions. Nor does th'
crisis which is now upon us, in any O
> its dire necessities, demand of us an,
new pledges of action not recognized
in the great original and Fundamental
principles upon which the American
: government is based. We have n,
new road to travel, no former heres.
:. to repudiate, nor any doubtful part,
= problems to solve, Our pathway i
J. plain before us. The light of many
!; similar contest is shed upon it. w
!, are engaged in cause as old and a
}. sacred as civilization itself. Their
!, stand around us, and are pressing up
{. have ever characterized the never-end
r o%, 10 hot
= Despotism! It is the same old battl
?, between Prerogative and Privilege
i; the same unnatural conflict betwee
I Capital and Labor--the same cover
and indirect but palpable struggle be
tween the great body OF the peopl
and those arrogant and selfish fey
T. who claim to be booted and spurre
[. by the grace of God," to ride owe
|. and subordinate the rights and inter
F. ests of the people, in the ,oldens tim
J. by force, now. by the usurpation c
N power in the infamous monopoly {
n, special and class legislation. 1t is NJ
) !: alone that the government is admins
h, tered in the exclusive interest of
d party, or the public patronage distr
u buted for the sole purpose OF perpe
v, Mating partisan political power; thes
n are evils lnSepaPaDle from CIVIL SON
a 1; ernment, so long as selfishness sha
J. be o part of human nature-but it
that the cleaPest and most positivel
ss guaranteed rights, whether of State
or of citizens, have been trampled III
der foot-the plainesto provisions ,
the Constitution openly violated, an
N the sweeping ostracism of whole con
~ munities of men, not from. Off
merely, but from the common al
-, inalienable right to exercise the hig
on est privilege of citizenship at the ba
t. lot-box, present to the people Il
e. naked, rugged issue of liberty or de
;st potism, Constitution or no Censtit
- - ton. Is this fiction, or is it fact? !?
ca Gu Why, it was unblushingly announce
on the floor of the House of Repr
he sentativcs, once the forum of g legi
"a lation's solemn power" that the te
az of patriotism and loyalty to the go
" ernment was the shiboleth of the Ra
M; ical party, in the discussion of a b