Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1876-09-21
Colonel Milton Barnes.

u
This gentleman is now the object ofa
concentrated fire from the Democratic
mud machines, chiefly because he hap
pens To stand at the head of the Repub-
lican ticket. If he is personally offen-
sive to the machines, it is because he is
personally too worthy and decent a
man to suit the taste of his slanderers.
The fact that he is a gentleman of high
intelligence, citizen of blamelesS
character, and a soldier of honorable
record, is enough, of course, TO excite
the envy of the corner grocery Demo-
cratic organs, and arouse their low am
bition TO bespatter him with filth. 1t
is only necessary that the people OF
Ohio should fully understand who Col
onel Barnes is, and what he is, to COM
prehend the inner motives for the
fusilade OF dirty water which is being
squirted at him.
His principal crime seems to be that
he is too decent man to suit the DEM
ocratic mud singers. He is temperate,
sober and industrious, and these honor
able traits are made the groundwork
for the bulk of the abuse that is heaped
upon him. The plain inference is that
the vilifiers of Colonel Barnes want a
Secretary of State who is iEtemperate
and profligate, and such being their
preference, they must of course look
elsewhere for candidate to their lik-
ing. They strangely presume upon the
good sense of the people of Ohio, how
ever, when they assume that character
istics of street loaferdom are the prefer
red qualifications for public trust. Pub
lis.l 81 i,,n 10 IL, in n n
demOraliZed condition yet as to debar a
man from public responsibilities be-
cause he has habit of keeping sober,
and attending diligently to his duties.
I such irere the case, of course the
Democracy could be relied upon to fur
niSh the kind of timber with which the
mud-slngers and lOafers would like to
fill ali the offices, and all decent men
would be obliged to withdraw their at
tention from politics.
Another thing that draws the fire of
the Democratic mud-machines is the
fact that Colonel Barnes was a brave
and faithful soldier, and performed a
brilliant part in helping to quell DEM
ocratic insurrection. The outbreak of
the rebellion found him going to the
front as private in an Ohio regiment,
and the end of it found him Colonel
commanding one. Excepting brief
periods when disabled by wounds or
severe sickness, he was in the field con-
tinuously, and his promotions were
earned ty faithful and gallant service.
He shared in nearly all the great bat
ties of the Army of the Cumberland,
concluding with the desperate but vic
torious fighting before Nashville. In
Thomas grand assault on Mission
Ridge he led his regiment, and had his
horse shot under him. His command
was part of the line which swept over
the Ridge near Bragg's headquarters,
driving the rebels pell-mell before it.
In the assault on Kenesaw Mountain
Col. Barnes was severely wounded by
a fragment of shell. In the battles
before Nashville he was again wounded
severely. During Rosecrans' grand ad-
vance into Northern Georgia the bri-
gado of which Colonel Barnes regi-
ment formed part was the first to oc-
cupy Chattanooga. For his gallantry
in the Kenesaw Mountain fighting he
was promoted, on the recommendation
of his superior officers.
Such is the man whose good name
the Democratic mud-machines are try
ing to befoul by volleys of dirty lies
and Inventions, without shadow of
foundation or pretext, by saying, for in
stance, that he did things as a member
of the Legislature, whereas he neUer
,0as a member of the Legislature; that
he took prominent part in meetings
that he did not even attend; that he
signed petitions that he never did sign
or even see, and challenges any man to
produce; that he was an active partici-
pant in movements that he had moth
ing whatever to do with, and so on for
quantity. 1t is not necessary to under
take any detailed answer to these false
hoods. Strangle one, and two more,
equally mean and malicious, will spring
up in its place. 1t dignifies such lies to
even mention them, and they cannot
injure Colonel Barnes in the estimation
of any candid or intelligent citizen.
The soldiers of Ohio will stand by their
comrade with all the more fidelity for
his being wantonly lied about, more
so when the lies are retailed
by men whose mouths are still foul
with epithets heaped upon soldiers
generally. And the people of Ohio
will stand by the soldiers, assured that
if Colonel Barnes shall be elected Sec
retary of State he will not fill his Office
with political dead beats, or issue a re-
port so full of statistical blunders as to
make it a subject of ridicule and practi-
cally worthless.-O. $. Journal.