Year: 1867

Judge Th"rmnn's Columbus Speech.


We are enabled to lay before our read
els, to-day, the address of Judge THUR
MAN, delivered at Columbus, Mt "the
Great Democratic Jollification," on the
evening of Saturday, November 11th.
The publication of this address has been
unaN oidahly delayed. We have the sat-
isfaction of knowing, however, that it
is = production which cannot grow old.
In that distant future, which few now
living will see, it will still be fresh and
forcible us powerful sketch of the
Radicalism of te day, rs a mastery
summing up of the results Of the revo-
lntion through which we are passing,
and rs grand enunciation Of many
weighty political truths, whose value is
not for the present only, but for all ages
in which free government shall endure,


Its outline of political history for the
last six years is brief, striking and COM
prehemsive. Its only ornament is the
rugged majesty of fact. A fair and per-
tinent illustration may be found in the
few words which picture at once the
experience, the motives, the aspirations
and the struggles of Dem ocracy through
the darkest days of our great peril.


"In the gloomiest hours of our history
we clung TO the Constitution, though
TO do so brought down Gil our heads the
bitterest denunciation. We clung to
it, because we knew that with it's de-
structiOn Liberty would also be de-
strOycd. And We knew that when 1t
should cease TO exist, the Union of our
fathers would he forever gone"


sentence recalls what volume
could not contain. Less than para
graph sketches history whose intiu-
ences time will scarcely limit.


Judge THURMAN's summing up of the
popular demands, as indicated by the
recent elections, is universally admit
ted to be a model of terseness and force.
1t has been largely copied throughout
the country, and its extraordinary con-
ciseness and power have everywhere at
tracted attention.


But it is not our purpose to make a
critical analysis Of this production. 1t
is before our readers, and we prefer not
to anticipate their judgment. We
know that the name of its author will
Ia, IN. -, for rfAn
sive perusal.


The late political canvass in Ohie,
the progress and results Of which were
watched by our people with such intense
interest, has made the name CT Judge
THURMAN the subject of comment in
every West Virginia household. He is
the central figure of the political circle,
and around him are grouped all the
great results that have made 1867 a
marked year in the annals of politics.
We wonld not disparage the Democratic
triumphs elsewhere, but the moral in
fuenoe of the victory in Ohio, is great
er than that in any other State. We
would not depreciate the exertions of
his co-laborers in redeeming the great
Buckeye State. but universal consent has
assigned to Judge THURMAN the lead
ership in the Ohio campaign, made his
naue the synonym, as his work was the
guarantee, of victory and so intimately
associated his labor with the general
result, that each appears to bear an
essential and vital relation to the other.


In our State, especially, was the effect
Of the late Ohio election seen and felt.
The magnificent gains made at our bal
lot box, by the Democracy, without
leaders, without organization and with
ont effort, are to be referred more to the
influence of noble example set us by our
neighbors over the river, than to any
other cause. Reaction" is contagious,
and West Virginia caught it from Ohio.
We would not be grateful did We not
acknowledge the obligation under
which the Buckeye people have placed
us, and we would be blind to distin-
guished merit, if we failed to express
our gratitude to Judge THURMAN for his
personal agency in bringing about the
final result in his State.


The National Telegraph and the