The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-09-27
washington Post.)

delighted in him and made a hero of him.
For the right, as he saw the right, he
would have been one or the glorious
caravan of martyrs. The Regent Murray
the unfortunate Mary's brother, with the
bar-sinster, said of the dead John Knox:
Here hes man who never feared to
look on the face of man" That, too,
was Clement Laird Vallandigham He
was Hugenot and Scotch-Irish, of the
blood that defended Rochelle, mingled
with the blood that defended London
derry. 1t followed the white plume of
Henry of Navarro, and wlthstood the
impetuous courage of Graham of Claver-
house. The first Vallandigham to cross
the waters settled in Virginia on the
Potomac, not far from Mount Vernon,
the last decade of the seventeenth CEN
fury, and it was a descendant OF his.
Presbyterian clergyman, who married
Rebecca Laird. of York County, Pa. and
70 them was born, July 20, 1920. at New
Lisbon, Columbiana County, Ohio. son.
Clement l.. Vallandigham.
The boy was father OF the man-open.
resolute, diligent, studious, manly. He
was prepared for college by his father,
and when seventeen years OF age he en-
tered Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, Pa.
Always methodical, in college he followed
certain rules for the regulation of his
moral conduct, and one of them was
this: Cultivate decision of character
moral courage, independence Here an
ether: BE honest, be generous. be open
hearted, be polite, be a good neighbor."
One more: Have an object in view. Aim
high And here is yet another that every
youth should have stamped on his mind
do1
acter is power, is influence" 1t is a curl
Gus coincidence that he left college in
his senior year because of a heated dis
cussion he had with the president of the
institution On the subject of States
Rights. He returned to his home in
Ohio and entered the law office of his
elder brother as a student, a slender,
hawk-nosed, eagle-eyed, handsome, en-
gaging young gentleman. Years after
the president of Jefferson College, with
whom he had engaged in discussion,
wrote him letter of explanation and
apology, and offered him a diploma on
the sole condition that Mr.. Vallandlgham
would apply to the faculty for it, but he
would not.
Young vallandigham began the study OF
politics at the age of sixteen, and he
brought to the task a superior lntellect
and a hunger for the right. But he
brought more; he was both honest and
brave in the three great estates-mental,
moral, physical. He might have been
wrong, but if he was it was misfortune,
not a fault. He was no time-server.
Wien he was twenty three he wrote GER
tain rules to guide his conduct as states
man, and here IS one of them Always
to pursue what is honest, right, and just,
though adverse to the apparent and pres
ent interests of the country, well assured
that what is not right cannot in the long
run be expedient." Again: I'm all things
coclly to ascertain and with stern indie
pendence to pursue the dictates of my
Judgment and my conscience, regardless
of the consequences to party or self.
These be brave and noble words. If every
public man lived up to them the problems
of government would be about solved
The country would be safe in the control
of either political party; laws would be
equal for high and low and justice the
same for strong and weak. Privilege
would sink away and hide its hideous
head and truth would have fair field
and fair fight against error, and there
would be hope that time might come
when the State should be purged of cor
ruption and incompetence.
In 1845 Mr.. Vallandigham was elected
to the State legislature. He had just at
tanned to the constitutional age and was
the youngest member of the body. Again
he formulated certain rules for the regu-
lation of his conduct as representative
and here is one that it Is pre-eminently
fit to quote: ITO speak but rarely. and
plete and thorough master of the subject.
No error is more fatal to influence
in deliberative assembly than the vio-
lation of this plain truth, Verify we are
not heard for your much speaking"
When one contemplates the vast mass of
verbiage that is in the enormous volumes
of the Congressional Record for single
short session of Congress he can appreci-
ate the wisdom of that rule laid down by
this extraordinary young man. During
his service in the Legislature he made
speech in which he drew the character
as he conceived it of the true statesman.
It is a splendid passage, truly eloquent
and breathing in every word a lofty and
patriotic sentiment. The mans ideals
were simply sublime.
Again he was elected to the legislature,
though he had voted to restore salaries
to a higher grade, always an unpopular
thing to do. 1t was during the Mexican
war, and he supported the war in an ex-
ceptionally able speech, which was not
very well received in Wing legislature
True to his principles, he moved to lay
on the table certain resolutions indorsing
the "Wilmot proviso.' In his speech
against that measure he predicted that
the agitation of that very question would
inevitably lead to civil war, and it was
prophecy. He declared that he was
Union man and unalterably opposed to
it's dissolution. and that same session he
voted to reject two Wing petitions to the
Legislature to declare the Union dissolved
and withdraw the Ohio Senators and Rep
resentatives in Congress because Texas
was admitted as slave State.
Vallandigham now took up his residence
at Dayton. opened law office, and be-
came the editor of the Empire newspa-
per. which he made powerful organ of
the Democratic party. In 1852 he was
nominated for Congress in the historic
Third district-Montgomery Butler. and