The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1873-08-28
From the Cincinnati Enquirer

to falsehood bnt it is not too early
for rs TO say to the organs of that
party that to lie about William. Allen
will not avail them. In the uAcon-
querable determination to fight the
war over again this fall, cne of the
Republican organs of this city pitt
fully DEVOTED itself the other dav to
the first installmeDt of that work
The stilted phrases touching the out
pouring Sby hundreds and by thou
sands from every city and village and
farmhouse" about the ''battles of lib
erty," about the s'armies arising like
magic" and about Ssthat dark hour of
danger"-phrases which have som
meaning when pertinent. but when
impertinent are sickening-Were made
to preface its falsehood, giving us am
pie reason TO believe that the time
will never come when the Republican
party viii not demand the right to
steal, $50 long as there is man left to
chant the empty diapasons about
stealing in the name of the bloody
battle-delds. This organ assailed the
position of the Hon. William Allen
during the war. Here is sample of
its taste and truthfulness. ftl
g In this hour of danger, when
mems souls were tried, where was
this giant in stature and in intellect?
Was VIM. Aliens six feet and three
inches at the call of his country p
Was this vigorous" man, who was
then dozen years younger than now,
lifting his eloquent voice in patriotic
appeals? Did his commanding pres
ence' tower above the smoke of any
battle-felds +? Was he near the hos
pitals of the sick and wounded, car
ing for those who had suffered and
were dying to protect him in his
" e2ith and in his life of ease? The
time has not so long passed as to be
forgotten, and the Hon. VIM. Allen
will have to answer to the patriotic
people of Ohio why his six feet three
inches of muscle was buried out of
sight all during these years of trial
and peril, and why that 'stentorian
and eloquent voice was not heard
He had been honored above most of
the citizens of the State by positions
of great honor and prolific was
looked to and was failure.
The whole land will condemn him. =
Times. -
We have a word to say, once for all,
concerning this contemplate line of
argument. We will answer the CO.
drum of the Times in relation to the
whereabouts of that eloquent voice
dozen years ago, and to do so will
summon a competent witness. 1t is
eleven years ago, almost to a day, that
faithful and able attache of the Cin-
cinnati Commercial, was detailed to
report a great war meeting at Chilli
cothe. It was held on the 18th day
of August, 1862. On that day bnsi-
ness in ChiIlicOthe was generally sus-
pended, and Ross county was gathered
together, for it was known that MA
ior" William Allen was to speak, and
the HNational troubles to which the
Times alludes were never more troub-
lous nor the "day" darker than then.
On the 18th of August following,
running report of Mr.. Aliens speech
appeared in the Commercial, from
which we make the following extract,
as keynote to the whole: #ag
g Major Allen next referred to the.
folly of the men who call themselves
Republicans stigmatizing Democrats
as traitors to their country. The
Democratic party is as much bound
by its history and the nature of it's or
gaDization to be the party of freedom
as you are bound to breathe free air
for your existence. At the same time
he rebuked the Democrats for charg-
ing all the Republicans as abolition
lists. He considered these the evil ten
denotes of strong partisanship. Nine
tenths of the men who voted for Mr..
Lincoln are no more abolitionlsts than
we are. We are all alike bound to
support the Union, a-< f
The report of the speech in nonpa-
reil would fill three columns of the
om1nerotal in its present shape, and
the editor of the Times might do we'll
to read it. Lest he may not, we COM
mend to his notice the following COM
ments upon it, which appeared as the
leading editorial in the Commercial of
the same date:
,'If there be Democrat in the land
whose taproets extend down to the
center of the earth, and who is mot
blown about by every wind of doc
trine and if there be one who has
preserved as carefully as an hermetic
ally sealed bottle, the spirit and essex
tial oil of Jacksonian Democracy,
with its favor and fragrance unim-
paired, that Democrat is the Hon.
VIM. Allen, of Ross county, familiar
ly known the country over as Bill
Allen In the wise order of ProVi-
dence he was embalmed and laid
away with all his political virtues
about him, to rise up at later day to
exhibit in his own person well pre-.
served specimen of the fine old school
-of politicians; of whom he was in the
old times no mean representative
Fixed as the everlasting rocks in his
political opinions passive observer
of the events which have taken place
since his retirement from public life;
undisturbed by the influences and
passions which have sWayed men
hither and thither on these stormy
days; expecting and wanting no of
flee, and we'll advanced in the serene
afternoon of a life not without its in
fiuence upon his countrymen, he has
traced the progress and observed the
development of the causes that have
led to open revoltagainst the govern
ment which he reYeres with an affec-
ton and devotion that no political
prejudice can extingQish, and now,
when the country is involved in peril
when she calls to her sons to cone
up to her support, he leaves his re-
tirement to tell his countpymen that
this is a Gauseless and wicked rebell-
ion, precipitated upon the country by
few restless and bad men, and that
it must be crushed and the last traitor
arrested and condemned before the
work of healing can be commenced:
that the rebellious States must be re-
dGced to obedience under the Consti-
tuition and their soil occupied by the
military power of the government,
untiI such time as fhe Oeonln ranaw
their allegiance to the Federal Consti-
tption.
at was worthy of the man and the
oncasiOn. If the Democrats of Ohio
will speak in such language through
their press, their orators and their res
clutions, we shall have no occasion to
quarrel with them. We care very lit
tie how closely welded man may be