Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1874-08-27
Antiquity of Gov. Aliens Plat
form.

form.
In view of the Presidential possibil-
tiles of Gov. Allen, his party friends
will be interested in knowing that he
is still sound on the Mexican war
Those Of them who read his speech of
last Thursday at the Soldiers Reunion
at the Home, are reassured that what
ever revolution may have taken place
with other statesmen of that period,
Gov. Allen is still living in the atmos.
phere of Polk's administration, when
aspirants for the Presidency were re
quired to do homage regularly to a
Southern cotton bale grown by slave
labor. The fact that he took occasion
to tell all about his zeal in the fight
with Mexico for the acquisition of ter.
ritory to extend the area of slavery,
at the Reunion of soldiers of more
recent war which resulted in the abol-
ition of that institution, is of no con-
sequence. He reiterated, in effect, his
allegiance to the old regime, and that
is sufficient to commend him to the
Democratic admiration, if not sup
port.
1t is certain, however, that Gov AL
len retained some recollections of the
late war, for in the midst of a deal of
gush about the patriotism of the peo-
pie in responding to President Polk's
call to arms, he gave one paragraph to
the war in which his hearers had
fought. There was, he said, ques
ton of difference between the two
great sections of the country as to
which was in the right, and that ques-
ton was turned over to the God of
battles who decided it against the
South, and that settled it that the
Government could not be overtime wn.
The God of battles decided that the
North was in the right and the South
in the wrong, but Gov. Allen failed to
tell us whether or not the God of battles
had his sympathy and assistance in the
fight. At any rate, from what the
| speaker said, no part of the response
bility can he laid on Gov. Aliens
shoulders it all belongs to the God OF
battles. A modern Democrat would
have dealt in pleasant generalities
about the war of the rebellion on such
an occasion, but our venerable Gov
ernor is made of more uncompromis-
| ing stuff. He lives in the dead past,
and is as incapable of adjusting him
self to the new order of things, in
word, as his party is in deed.
But since Gov. Allen must needs
deal in the wars of antiquity while ad-
dressing the soldiers Of the late civil
conflict, it. would be better for him to
confine himself to the campaigns ot
ancient Greece and Rome The
American people are very generally
we might say universally, in sympathy
with Leonidas and his little band o.
Spartans, who made the heroic defenst
at Thermopyle. This affair at tht
pass might be dwelt upon at length
and if any auditor should intimate
that the story of ThermopylR was al
fiction any way, he might be pu
down as a malicious iconoclast engag-
ed in the destruction of the beauties
of history Then there are the Punic
the Jugurthine, the Sabine and q mul-
titude of other wars in which illus
trations of fine soldierly qualitie:
might be found and which would no
be suggestive of any differences o
opinion that had ever existed betweer
him and his hearers. He might, at the
close of his speech, venture to maxi
few remarks about the war of tk
Revolution, and give the British Min
i, istry thrust on account of the stam]
act, bat for so ancient u gentleman a
Gov. Allen, the entrance upon evel
such a modern subject should be al
tended with great caution and eircum
spection.
The Governor was not SO happy
his speech last week, as he was on
late occasion ON Change, in Cincir
natl. Then he commenced five cent?
, ries before the Christian era, when th
ancient Greeks founded Marseillei
France, and traced the history of tbs
l city down to the present time. Th
: so occupied the speaker that he ha
no opportunity to say anything abol
the currency, a question in which h
hearers were supposed to be much il
terested. But then Gov. Allen is IL
uncle of bis nephew, and the nephew
, position on the currency question b
ing pretty well defined, it was prudel
: for the Governor not to mix in
modern a question. He did we'll
confinlng himself to the ages of anti
uity, and it is only matter of regr
that he verged SO nearly on the pre-
: ent in his Soldiers Home speech.
dayton Journal.