The candidate of the Administration party is reported to have spoken recently at Columbus, in a public meeting, in substance as follows:

"What will be the effect of electing Mr. Vallandigham Governor of Ohio? I will tell you what the effect of it will be. It will inaugurate civil war in your State. It will bring civil war to your homes, upon the soil of your own State; for I tell you there is a mighty mass of men in this State whose nerves are strung up like steel, who will never permit this dishonor to be consummated in their native State. Another effect will be that it will be an invitation to the rebels in arms to come up and take possession of our soil."

Now I have so often myself been made the subject of false statement and misreport, that I will not hold Mr. Brough responsible for either the sentiment above expressed, or the presumptuous silliness of referring to the election by the people of his opponent, as bringing "dishonor" upon the State. But I know that the proposition itself is beginning to be urged by many of his friends as a menace to the freemen of Ohio; and I choose to meet it flatly.

First. The "invitation to rebels in arms" which my election will signify, will be to lay down their arms and return to the old Union and to obedience to and protection under the Constitution, laws, and flag, secure from Abolition intermeddling and agitation, as before the war, and from conscription, confiscation, execution, emancipation, negro equality, and all exertions of arbitrary, despotic power since.

Second. There will be no "civil war" in Ohio if I am elected Governor, unless Mr. Brough and his party inaugurate it; in which event we will "crush out the rebellion" in a very much shorter space of time than they have employed in putting down the "slaveholders' rebellion." If, however, he means that they will "secede" from the State by voluntary exile to Canada, or elsewhere, there will be no "coercion" in that event. But the threat, if intended to intimidate, is as the idle wind: if meant seriously, it is time that the people should know it, that they may affix the mark of Cain upon the foreheads of these new conspirators against the ballot-box. In any event, he whom a majority of the "qualified electors" of Ohio may choose for their Governor, will be inaugurated, and the vast mass of the people, without distinction of party, will aid, if need be, in the work of keeping the peace of the State, and carrying out the fundamental maxim of popular governments, that the "majority must govern." For let Mr. Brough, and all others who would defeat the will of the people, take notice that "there is a mighty mass of men in Ohio whose nerves are strung up like steel," who mean that the man who is the choice of the people shall be the people's GovShould that choice fall upon me, all the duties of the office shall

ernor.

be faithfully and fearlessly discharged. I would myself obey the Constitution and laws, and see to it that all others obeyed them within her limits and jurisdiction. The courts should be open, and restored once more to their rightful authority; justice administered without denial or delay, and the military in strict subordination to the civil power. Habeas corpus should be respected, no citi zen arrested except upon due process of law, or held except for trial by the civil tribunals, and none kidnapped from the State.

But while the rights of the State and the liberties of her citizens should be thus strictly enforced, the constitutional and·lawful authority and rights of the Federal Government should be obeyed and respected with scrupulous fidelity, no matter who administered it. Whatever the Administration have a right under the Constitution and laws to demand or expect from the State Executive, should be promptly and exactly rendered. In short, I would adopt and thoroughly carry out the two maxims upon this subject laid down by Mr. Jefferson in his inaugural in 1801:

First. "The support of the State Governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations of our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies."

Second. "The preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad."

And in this way would I strive, by the quick and decisive exercise of will and authority whenever necessary and proper, and by cheerful. and ready compliance wherever de, to restore the peace, the quiet, the economy, the good order and harmony which, in former years, marked the States, both in their relation to their own citizens and to the Federal Government, and thus, in better times, made the Union secure, and the people prosperous, happy, and contented. This, and not "civil war"— for my "crime" is that I am opposed to civil wars-is what my election would "inaugurate" in Ohio. And now, men of my native State, are not these just the blessings which you and your wives and your chil dren, with longing hearts most earnestly desire? Defend, then, and hold fast in every extremity to, the ballot-box, and labor night and day, I invoke you, to secure these blessings, through that, the appointed potential weapon of freemen.

LETTER TO DEMOCRATIC MEETING AT CARTHAGE, O.

WINDSOR, C. W., September 17, 1863. To the President of the Democratic Mass Meeting at Carthage, Ohio: SINCE writing to the Mass Convention at Dayton to-day, the monstrous proclamation of the President has appeared, suspending the writ of Habeas Corpus, and thus declaring martial law throughout the United States, in every one, and every part of every one of them, and in all their territories. It comes without previous warning. It is announced at a time when the successes of the Federal armies and the reverses of the Confederates are greater than at any period since the beginning of the war; at a time when the lines of the former are more extended, and of the latter more contracted and further removed from the original frontier, than ever before; and at a time when, according to the Secretary of State, the rebellion is at last almost crushed out. It appears in the midst of no riot, tumult, or other popular convulsion anywhere in the States always true to the Union, and no preparation for any; and when even the odious "conscription" is being executed quietly and without resistance wherever announced. It is to continue "during the rebellion"-the President being the sole judge and arbiter of how long the rebellion shall be deemed to last.

At such a time, and under such circumstances, it can have but one object—the pending elections this fall, but especially the Presidential canvass of 1864. It is, indeed, the full development of that of which I have so often warned the people of Ohio and of the United States-the great conspiracy against constitutional liberty and free popular government the establishment of a “formal and proclaimed despotism" in your midst. Oh, that the warning voice had been heard, feeble though it was, which two years ago, in the beginning of this great struggle, in accents earnest as ever issued from human lips, cried aloud to the people that, one by one, their liberties were about to perish, and that anarchy first and a strong government afterwards, no more State lines, no more State governments, but a consolidated monarchy, or vast centralized military despotism, must all follow in the history of the future, as in the history of the past they had centuries before been written. But that voice found no echo then, save in the columns and corridors of the Capitol. To-day it is lifted up again. And hereafter let no man tell you-least of all the sentinels upon your watch-towers-that there is no danger, no ground for alarm or apprehension. To-day your President is in form, as for two years and more he has been in fact, a Military Dictator. The most incredulous may see at last that the issue is, ir need, whether there shall any longer be Constitution and law in the United States, other than the will, unknown or expressed, of the Presi

dent; whether freedom of person, of the press, of speech, free political assemblages and a free ballot, shall any more exist among us; and whether the people shall hereafter, as heretofore, choose the Legisla tures and Chief Executives of the State and Federal Governments. Shall there be free State elections any longer, or another Presidential election of any sort? Shall popular government or a despotism, unlimited by law and uncontrolled by Judicial Courts, henceforth prevail in the United States? This now, men of Ohio, more than ever, is the issue before you. The revolutionary purpose of the Administration to perpetuate, by intimidation or force, its power in the States and in the General Government, stands now fully revealed. Next, after this declaration of martial law, will follow the armed seizure and occupation of your State by Federal troops, to intimidate or overpower you at the polls. But this monstrous purpose will not and cannot be executed, except the people cringe or cower before the threat or the attempted execution. The time, therefore, has now arrived for the renewed, solemn, inexorable declaration and pledge, by the people to each other, through the press and in public assemblages, that they mean to main tain their liberties at every hazard, and to have and to hold free elections, peaceably if they can, forcibly if they must. By the Constitution of Ohio, no soldier or marine of the United States can gain a residence or become a citizen and elector of the State by being stationed within her limits. By the law of England, and by a provident statute of Pennsylvania, all troops are required to be removed a prescribed distance-not less than two miles-from the place of holding an election; and this, too, is the spirit at least of our own laws. Every qualified elector of Ohio has the right freely, and without molestation of any kind, to vote the ticket of his choice; and if Federal or State troops be present to molest or intimidate-no matter under what pretext-it is the right of the citizens and the duty of the civil officers and of the militia to disperse or arrest the offenders, and to use whatever force may be necessary for that purpose.

I counsel you, one and all, to stand by the Union, maintain the Constitution, support the Government, and obey the laws. But in the name and by the memory of your fathers, and as you would secure the blessings of liberty to yourselves and your children, I invoke you to defend the right of election and the ballot-box by all the means which the exigencies of the case may demand. The hour of your trial has at last come. Be firm and be ready. And God grant that the spirit of the patriots and freemen of other ages and countries, of the heroes of Greece and Rome, the spirit of Bruce and Tell, of Hampden and Sydney, of Henry, and Washington, and Jackson, may be found to survive yet in the men of the present generation in America; and thus

that both the form and the substance of constitutional liberty and free popular government be still preserved and made secure among us.*

ADDRESS AFTER THE ELECTION, 1863.

WINDSOR, C. W., October 14, 1863.

DEMOCRATS OF OHIO:-You have been beaten-by what means it is idle now to inquire. It is enough that while fens of thousands of soldiers were sent or kept within the State, or held inactive in camp elsewhere, to vote against you, the Confederate enemy were marching upon the Capital of your country.

You were beaten; but a nobler battle for constitutional liberty and free popular government never was fought by any people. And your unconquerable firmness and courage, even in the midst of armed military force, secured you those first of freemen's rights-free speech and a free ballot. The conspiracy of the 5th of May fell before you. Be not discouraged: despair not of the Republic. Maintain your rights, stand firm to your position; never yield up your principles or your organization. Listen not to him who would have you lower your standard in the hour of defeat. No mellowing of your opinions upon any question, even of policy, will avail any thing to conciliate your political foes. They demand nothing less than an absolute surrender of your principles and your organization. Moreover, if there be any hope for the Constitution or liberty, it is in the Democratic party alone; and your fellow-citizens, in a little while longer, will see it. Time and events will force it upon all, except those only who profit by the calamities of their country.

I thank you, one and all, for your sympathies and your suffrages. Be assured, that though still in exile for no offence but my political opinions and the free expression of them to you in peaceable public assembly, you will find me ever steadfast in those opinions, and true to the Constitution and to the State and country of my birth.

* Under the Constitution, the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended only "when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it." The proclamation of the 15th of September, 1863, recites that, "in the judg ment of the President, the public safety does require that the privilege of the saiq writ shall now be suspended throughout the United States." And yet, on the 3d of October, 1863, less than three weeks later, Mr. LINCOLN set his hand officially to another, a Thanksgiving" proclamation, reciting that throughout the whole year, "order had been maintained, the laws respected and obeyed, and harmony had prevailed EVERYWHERE, except in the theatre of military conflict."