The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-09-27
Clement Laird Vallandigham
BY SAvOYARD.


and Irish. The Western Reserve was
territory acquired by Connecticut, and
| it was peopled by families from New
England. a hardy race, who builded
| powerful and prosperous State in that re-
gion. In that part of Ohio the Democratic
party never got Judgment. Thence
came Giddings and Wade and Garfield
and Mckinley The rich valley of the
Ohio, where the Muskingum, the Scioto.
and the Miami water valleys as fat as
Goshen, was settled principally by Vir
ginia and Maryland-soldiers of Washing
ton who were given these lands be-
cause their country had no money to
give them. They were divided in politl-
cal sentiment. and perhaps majority of
them adhered to the preachments of
Hamilton rather than to the doctrines
of Jefferson.
The Backbone" was settled by the
Pennsylvania Dutch, and they possessed
great area and multiplied prolifcally.
| and they and their sons and daughters
| were Democrats. The Germans were
| mostly in cities and towns. They were
| OF several tribes. Those Of them who
held III the Catholic Church were Demo-
Gratis, while the Lutherans were Republi-
| cans. The Free Thinkers among them
were also Republicans. The Irish may be
classed among the Democrats. The clergy
were, for great many years, a powerful
| factor in Ohio politics-the Protestant
clergy. AS a class, they hated the
| Catholic Church and the Democratic par
| ty. They persisted in dabbhng IN things
that belonged to Caesar, and repudlated
what was owing to Caesar. Frank Hurd
said he visited every Protestant church
| in Toledo, devoting a Sunday to each,
and every occasion was Republican cam
| paign rally and every sermon a Repub
| lican stump speech. That was during
| the war OF 1S61-65. In 1857 thrty-tWo
young women, dressed In the habiliments
| of woe, paraded the streets of Columbus,
| following coffin that they supposed was
Bleeding Kansas Possibly at that very
moment Jim Lane was contemplating
murder, and John Brown was doing muir
der, in that same Kansas. Those were
strenuous times, and while Pope Angelica
| is not yet come to whip simony from the
church. most of the politics has been
| banished from the pulpit in the great
F, and commanding State of Ohio. that has
| furnished more brains to the Republican
party than any other State, and at the
same time has contributed more than her
| full share of brains to the Democratic
party. Not the least of the ills with
which this country is afflicted-and has
been afflicted for forty years-is the. lack
| OF homogeneity of the Ohio Democracy.
! There were Frank Hurd and George Con
verse, no more in accord on the tariff
| question than the tune of Greensleeves
and the one hundredth psalm. There are
John A. Mcmahon and A. J Warner, as
far apart on the money question as the
East is from the West 1t is not too much
to say that Clement l.. Valiandigham was
the greatest man, if not the most pow
erful mind, the Ohio Democracy has pro-
duced.
in Congress Vallandigham got in the
front rank at single bound. He was an
orator and a debater and he believed
something. That's the stuff--he believed.
He might have been wrong-his princi-
pies might have taken hold on damnation;
but he was like the Luther tlrat was bent
on going to worms. He supported Doug
las in 1860, but he was not in full accord
with that great leader and never hest
tated to disagree with him. He was
Thrice returned to Congress, and did all
that man could do to avert the war be-
tween the States He might have done
as John A. Logan and Daniel E. Sickles
did; but he was made of sterner stuff
There was no man of that epoch more
devoted to the Union than Clement L.
Vallandlgham, but it was the Urion of
the Constitution that he loved 1t is not
done IN way OF criticism, but stating the
PLAIN truth, to say that by 1868 the Re-
publican party preferred disunion to the
Union with slavery at the South That
was Vallandighams objection to Lin
ccln's administration. He was willing
for the South to be whipped back into
the Union, but he wanted it done in
constitutional way His great mistake
was that he did not realize that war leg
islates The army had task to do. If
| the Constitution was in the way of that
work, so much the worse for the Consti-
tuition. II the citizen went about mutter-
ing about habeas corpus and the bill of
rights, so much the worse for the citizen
! he was sent to Fort Warren. The coun-
try was IN CONFUSION and recognized
no law but that of self-preservation.
| Gen. A. E. Burnside was a stout soldier
and a poor commander He had rude
| courage and crude generalship. 1t is re-
| lated that when he was whipped at Fred
ericksburg, Stonewall Jackson proposed to
Gen. Lee that he be permitted to take the
offensive, strip his stoldiers to the waist
that comrade might recognize comrade,
and make night attack on the democrat
izer Federal army. Lee refused, with the
remark that he knew Burnside and that
he was sure Burnside would make anoth-
er charge. Jackson answered that there
was no charge left in that army Both
were right. Burnside did order another
charge, but the army refused to be MUIR
dered. AS great a failure as Mcdowell
and among all Federal commanders sec
ond only to John Pope in the failure line
Burnside was sent to the Department of
the Ohio to catch deserters and overawe
copperheads He issued orders No. 80,