The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1885-03-19
The Principie. of the Fathers.
NUMBER 81

Mr.. EDIToR.-The vote of 1900 abol-
ished the sedition law-the nascent
Inuuisition of the Federalists. The
vote of 1850 restored it. The vote of
1900 invested the States again with
their well-earned diadems of authority
and dignity. The vote Of 1860, scat
tered by the factions, made possible
the tsunt, What is state M re than
\ County 2" The vote of 1900 made
fruitful the Declaration of Independ-
ence and gave assurance to individual
liberty. The vote of 1850 muzzled the
Press and mobbed aud imprisoned its
editors, aud consigned free thought to
iungeons. The vote OF 1900 spoke for
3. simple, uunstentati0us government
add All uutaxed people. The vote of
1860, whatever may have been its list
luleniinn, has resulted iu political
prohiga"y, enormous wealth for the
few, aud ciamorous necessities and
want for the many. All that was done
worth d"i h> J Il rson, Madison,
M"hr6e, AID thSir able cnunsellOrs,
from l8n throug Il iii. IL entire sventful
era of ascen,ianty, was erased aud de
clared hersticsl 10y tue vote of 1850, 10y
which q minority constitulionally y
seized the scepter, aud with promises
of office, bribes, hounties, pensions.
Plunder. and promises, seated them
selves In power
1t took the Romans about SOC years
to lose what they had gained by the
expulsion of TaIquin. and ripen for 3
Cesar. In sixty years we fell off,
rotten. Jeffersonisnism was super
seeded by lacksOnianism, and then by
Imperialism, poisy aud bloody in
wars, aud loose aud liberal in life and
treasures. The people were fed on
such tonics rs the crafty usually pro-
vide. 1t may not be wondered at if
the Lincolniau era is not for awhile
written down as the " golden age" of
our republic. Augustus Cesar gave
name to the "Augustan age" ALI
contemperaneOus oratOry, poetry and
history contributed to his fame. Yet
be it observed, during his entire reign,
he never dared to put on the imperial
purple. He was q fraud. Nero, his
successor, was more honest and logical.
He wore no disguise, and simply used
the power the people had surrendered
to one man. Our Nero is born.
In 1856 The Republican party was
formed, and there was some propriety
in its taking the name originally as
| sumed by the friends of Jefferson.
During the first four yeals Gf its growth
its orators and editors, throughout the
Northern States, everywhere, an
nounced their attachment and allegi.
ance to the Virginia and Kentucky
Resolutions of '9s and '99. Ben Wade
told Taonbs that he stood as squarely
Oh them as he did, or aay other south
erner. Salmon P. Chaae declared foT
them in such terms as utterly disqual-
ified him from sitting OH bench to
try Jefferson Davis, or any body else,
| for treason. There was not a Republi'
can lawyer in Ohio, Perhaps not any
where, who could draw Rp an indict-
ment for treason without indieting
himself. Eleven Northern States had
made by statutes of their own, federal
statutes imperative within their bor.
ders, Portage county had sent peti.
tions to the Ohio Legislature to take
immediate steps TO c"i.ie opt OF the
| Union, and the petitions were highly
! hOnOred afterwards. Even after South
| Carolina had seeded, the New York
Tribune, the greatest political organ
Oh earth, the Ohio Stats Journal, the
Cincinnati Commercial, the lndianap'
oils journal, aud many Others, con
ceedei the rig lat of Stale to Withdraw
il she chose 10 do so. IN Ohio. a most
excellent Judge on the supreme Bench
lost his political life by refusing u
give Gov. Chase warrant TO take
prisoners out of the hands of Unite,
States Marshalls. Wolcutt's speech in
favor Of this judicial nilIificaiion il
much the longest, and one of The
ablest ever made before the Supreme
Court of the Stale. He wus. in 1861
made Attorney General by Lincolu
and had he lived aud held his position
until the war was over, it would hav'
been amusing to have seen him indie
aud try Jefferson Davis. When Hor
ace Greeley went bail for Mr.. Davis
he showed some heart and wisdom
The memory of the position he AM
his putrons hsd held in January AIT
February 1861; the memory Of tn
hurried repeal of laws by eleven State
before they dared to cali for volunteers
, the quandary in which the Presiding
Justice of the United States Court wa
placed, and the inconsistent attitude il
which impartial history must ulti
mately place all his friends aud asso
cIates in the scenes just then about t
, close, Overcame his passions, and re
stored, to some ex tent, his inbOrn trutl
and honor. Those who We're not bOrl
with either of these qualities hOwle
then and yelp yet. They still refns
Davis q vote. Can't they remembe
that the writings and orations of Cicer
, now put into the hands of every schOt
I boy to learn from, were forbidden
2 be read In Rome, under severe pena
ties, for more than fifty years after hi
r death?
: Cesar must die, as well as you an
: l." Suppression furnishes no measul
# for the duration of any name or thins
1 Even Guiteau has doubled the heigl
r and number of Garfield's monument
: The glory of some administrations hs
), consisted in their brevity.
B Iregret that have not had MOI
leisure and better opportunities to CO.
rect. il they have been wrong, til
opinions / have heretofore held as |
the character of the administration
F. John Quincy Adams. / am now il