THE

HE Democrats inaugurated the campaign of 1857 with their annual festival at Columbus on January 8th. Among the most prominent speakers were Allen G. Thurman, Stanley Matthews, Samuel S. Cox, William Lawrence (of Guernsey) and Joseph J. McDowell. The candidates named for State officers were: Governor, Henry B. Payne, of Cuyahoga; Lieutenant Governor, William H. Lytle, Hamilton; Judge of Supreme Court, Henry C. Whitman, Fairfield; Secretary of State, Jacob Reinard, Franklin; Member Board of Public Works, Abner L. Backus, Lucas.

During an exciting debate in the House, January 14th, John P. Slough, a Democratic member from Hamilton County, assaulted Darius Cadwell, Republican, of Ashtabula County. For this act Slough was expelled, Thursday, January 29th. The affair was taken up by the partisan press and the politicians, and the election of Slough's successor became a matter of bitter State politics. The expelled member was renominated and Robert Hosea chosen as his Republican competitor. The election was close and exciting, each candidate claiming a small majority, but Mr. Hosea was seated.

As was then the custom, the Republican State Central Committee held at caucus with members of the General Assembly, State officers and other prominent Republicans, at Columbus, on January 14th. At this

meeting it was decided that the State Convention should be held at Columbus, Wednesday, August 12th. The call was not issued until June 22d, however, and was purely formal, providing for 377 delegates. Some eight or ten counties were entitled to but a single vote each in the Convention, on the basis of one delegate for each 500 votes cast for General Fremont for President in 1856.

On March 7th the famous Dred Scott slave case was decided in the Supreme Court of the United States. It startled Ohio, as it did the entire North, and had great influence in that campaign, as well as those of the years immediately following.

Great excitement followed the announcement on June 13th, that State Treasurer Gibson had resigned and that a deficit of $550,000 existed in the State Treasury. Governor Chase designated Alfred P. Stone, of Columbus, to assume charge of the office, and also appointed Thomas Sparrow, a prominent Democrat, of Columbus, and Francis M. Wright, State Auditor, as a commission to investigate the alleged defalcation. They subsequently reported that the total deficiency in the State's funds was $574,112.96, all of which occurred during the administration of John G. Breslin, Mr. Gibson's Democratic predecessor and brother-in-law. er-in-law. The report censured Mr Gibson

for not immediately exposing the condition.

of affairs upon assuming charge of the office, but showed that he had not himself misappropriated the funds. Still with the facts but partially known, and with distorted statements issued for political effect, the bearing of this incident upon the campaign was exceedingly embarrassing to the party in power. In fact, it well nigh resulted in the defeat of the entire Republican State ticket and was the cause of the Democrats carrying the Legislature. From beginning to end, this campaign is memorable for the fierce struggle between the two great parties.

The Republican State Convention met at ten o'clock Wednesday morning, August 12th, at the only theatre then in Columbus. Hon William Dennison, Jr., called the assemblage to order, by virtue of his office as Churman of the State Central Committee, and on his motion David Heaton, of Butler, was selected as President pro tem, and he acknowledged the compliment in a short but pertinent address. John K. Green, of Hamalton, H. T. Brown, of Athens, Isaac Hazlett, of Stark, and S. C. Riter, of Miami, were chosen Temporary Secretaries.

A delegate from each Congressional district was appointed on the Committees on Permanent Organization and Rules, Credentials, Resolutions, to Nominate a State Central Committee at Large (now known as the State Executive Committee), and the regular State Central Committee, as follows:

Permanent Organization: 1. George B Hollister, Hamilton. 2. Isaac E. West, Hamilton. 3. Felix Marsh, Preble. 4. E. B Taylor, Darke. 5. Erasmus D. Peck, Wood 6. George K. Snyder, Brown. 7. William H. P. Denny, Warren. 8. Willham H. West, Logan. 9. John J. Willlams, Marion. 10. Chauncey G. Hawley,

ton.

Credentials: 1. Albert Lewis, HamilFrancis Jobson, Hamilton. 3. John W. Sohn, Butler. 4. M. G. Mitchell, Miami. 5. W. A. Brown, Defiance. 6. J. H. Rothrock, Highland. 7. Nelson Rush, Fayette. 8. A. C. Deuel, Champaign. 9. D. W. Swigart, Crawford. 10. J. V. Robinson, Jr., Scioto. 11. Joseph L. Kessinger, Athens. 12. David Humphrey, Licking. 13. Thomas S. Bunker, Morrow. 14. John M. Vincent, Lorain. 15. Smiley Harbaugh, Coshocton. 16. F. W. Wood, Morgan. 17. William Steele, Monroe. 18. H. W. Howe, Summit. 19. C. L. Rhodes, Cuyahoga. 20. G. I. Young, Mahoning. 21. Allen C. Turner, Harrison.

Resolutions: 1. James Elliott, Hamilton. Richard M. Corwine, Hamilton. 3. David Heaton, Butler. 4. Matthias H. Nichols, Allen. 5. Richard Mott, Lucas. 6. William Ellison, Adams. 7. Joseph G. Gest, Greene. 8. Samuel Shellabarger, Clarke. 9. John C. Lee, Seneca. 10. Hezekiah S. Bundy, Jackson. 11. A. A. Thompson, Meigs. 12. William Dennison, Jr., Franklin. 13. Joseph M. Root, Erie. 14. Harrison G. Blake, Medina. 15. E. Spooner, Coshocton. 16. T. W. Ewart, Washington. 17. Benjamin R. Cowen, Belmont. 18. Benjamin F. Leiter, Stark. 19. Reuben Hitchcock, Lake. 20. Benjamin F. Wade, Ashtabula. 21. John A. Bingham, Harrison.

gressional Convention was held, unless otherwise agreed upon by the local committees, on or before May 31st.

A. P. STONE,

L. G. VAN SLYKE,
WM. DENNISON, JR.,
O. FOLLETT,

J. H. COULTER,

State Central Committee.

The Convention assembled in the hall of the House of Representatives in the State Capitol at Columbus, at eleven o'clock, Thursday morning, May 29th. David Fisher, of Hamilton County, was elected Temporary Chairman. He enjoyed the unique distinction of having been a friend and colleague of the venerable ex-President John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, by whose side he sat as a member of Congress; and of having roomed with Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, afterward President, during his brief service in the House. When Mr. Adams fell at his post of duty, fatally stricken with paralysis, it was David Fisher who quickly caught and tenderly laid him upon the floor. Always an opponent of slavery, it was his good fortune. to enjoy the confidence of both these great men, the two most effective anti-slavery leaders of the age. He was fifteen years the senior of Lincoln, yet he survived him nearly a quarter of a century. Unlike Adams, he Unlike Adams, he lived to see the accursed institution of human slavery banished forever from American soil by the proclamation of Lincoln; and, more favored than Lincoln, he lived to see equal suffrage and equal rights everywhere acknowledged, if not firmly established, by the people of all the States of the Union.

Hiram Baldwin, of Trumbull, and John K. Green, of Hamilton, were elected Temporary Secretaries, and the following committees were announced:

7. Ed

Credentials: 1. Arthur Hill, Hamilton. 2. E. H. Johnson, Hamilton. 3. Felix Marsh, Preble. 4. Barton S. Kyle, Miami. 5. William E. Rose, Van Wert. 6. George H. Punteney, Adams. ward F. Drake, Greene. 8. John S. Henkle, Clarke. 9. David S. Smead, Sandusky. 10. William G. Gephart, Gallia. II. Joseph M. Dana, Athens. 12. Nelson Franklin, Pickaway. 13. J. J. Penfield, Morrow. 14. Josiah A. Locke, Ashland. 15. Joseph Devin, Knox. 16. Daniel Applegate, Muskingum. 17. Jared Taylor, Belmont. 18. John E. Wharton, Summit (Chairman). 19. Samuel P. Carleton, Geauga. 20. A. D. Webb, Mahoning. 21. Andrew G. Deshler, Columbiana.

Permanent Organization: 1. Thomas Spooner, Hamilton. 2. John A. Gurley, Hamilton. 3. William Beckett, Butler. 4. William H. Harper, Miami. 5. Samuel H. Chase, Clermont. 6. Addison P. Russell, Clinton. sell, Clinton. 7. Jere M. Deuel, Champaign. 8. Edward Stillings, Hardin. 9. Robert S. Wilcox, Ross. 10. Joseph P. Plyley, Vinton. II. John A. Sinnett, Licking. 12. Joseph Kennon, Huron. 13. William W. Taggart, Richland. 14. John C. Tidball, Tuscarawas. 15. James R. Harper, Morgan. 16. Leroy T. Ellsworth, Guernsey. 17. 17. Cyrus Prentiss, Portage. 18. Thomas Bolton, Cuyahoga. 19. James J. Elwell, Trumbull. 20. J. Van Brown,

Carroll.

Resolutions: I. Fred Hassaurek, Hamilton. Caleb B. Smith, Hamilton. 3. Samuel Craighead, Montgomery. 4. Samuel E. Brown, Miami. 5. A. Sankey Latty, Paulding. 6. Charles F. Campbell, Brown. 7. William H. P. Denny, Warren. 8. James R. Hubbell, Delaware. 9. John J. Williams, Marion. 10. Henry S. Neal,

Lawrence. 11. Nelson H. Van Vorhes, Athens. 12. Richard P. L. Baber, Franklin. 13. Thomas Bunker, Erie. 14. Francis D. Kimball, Medina. 15. Martin Welker, Wayne. 16. Davis Green, Washington. 17. Benjamin R. Cowen, Belmont. 18. George P. Ashman, Summit. Rufus P. Spalding, Cuyahoga. 20. Robert W. Tayler, Mahoning. 21. Jonas D. Cattell, Jefferson.

The Convention, on motion of John K. Green, was favored with an address by Caleb B. Smith, of Hamilton county, who during the war was for a time Secretary of the Interior in the Cabinet of President Lincoln. He made an able and impressive speech, in the course of which he said: "We make no war upon slavery. We are not disposed to interfere with it in the States where it now exists; but we can never consent to the monstrous heresy that slavery should be National and liberty sectional.

The South

will not tolerate the teachings of Washington and Jefferson, or Patrick Henry, and if either of them were on earth now and should

row. 14. Cyrus Spink, Ashland. 15. Paul Weatherby, Tuscarawas. 16. Davis Green, Washington. Washington. 17. Thomas H. Ford, Richland. 18. David Upson, Summit. 19. John H. Vincent, Geauga. 20. George W. St. John, Ashtabula. 21. Samuel Stokely, Columbiana.

Secretaries: Hiram Baldwin, Trumbull; John K. Green, Hamilton; Charles F. Campbell, Brown; John S. Herrick, Portage; Robert C. Wilson, Columbiana, and William B. Allison, Wayne.

Rufus P. Spalding, of Cuyahoga, Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, submitted the following platform, which was received with demonstrations of applause, and unanimously adopted:

Resolved, 1. That the Constitutional Government of the United States was formed by our fathers to "promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty" to themselves and their posterity.

2. That the people of Ohio are determined to uphold the National Government, so that the "blessings of liberty" may be perpetuated.

3. That the Constitution of the United States

would be tarred and feathered."

In the afternoon, John A. Gurley, of Hamilton, Chairman of the Committee on Permanent Organization, submitted a report, which was adopted, designating the following as officers of the Convention:

President: Oliver P. Brown, of Portage. Vice-Presidents:-1. Fred Hassaurek, Hamilton. 2. E. H. Johnson, Hamilton. David Heaton, Butler. 4. George D. Burgess, Miami. 5. John Hardy, Defiance. 6 Gideon Dunham, Brown. 7. Robert G. Corwin, Warren. 8. Joseph B. Underwood, Logan 9. Moses H. Kirby, Wyandot. Elias Nigh, Gallia. Vorhes, Athens. 12. William Dennison, Jr, Franklin. 13. James J. Penfield, Mor

10.

11. Nelson H. Van

gress "freedom of speech;" and that any violation of this guaranty should receive the emphatic denunciation of every American citizen.

4. That the recent outrage on the floor of the United States Senate upon the Hon. Charles Sumner, a staunch and noble defender of the principles of freedom, by Preston S. Brooks, a Representative from South Carolina, is an act of atrocity which we unqualifiedly condemin.

5. That Kansas is entitled to freedom from slav ery as her birthright, and that Congress ought to recognize her Free Constitution, and admit her into the Union as a Free State without delay.

6. That we can only expect to stay the hand of the ruffian and extinguish the torch of the incendiary in the border land by making a radical change in the administrators of the General Government, and to this great end we will direct our whole energies in the coming contest.

7. That Congress has power under the Constitution to prohibit slavery in the Territories, and that

in the nomination of Mr. Smyth by the following vote: Smyth 197, Canfield 47, Deuel 26, Heyl 19, and McCloy 7.

For Member of Board of Public Works, the following were announced: John Waddle, of Ross; John A. Ackley, of Cuyahoga; E. N. Gates, of Lorain; Jacob Egbert, of Warren; and Richard Howe, of Summit. Mr. Waddle was nominated on the first bal

Resolved, That the thanks of the free men of the North are due Hon. Benjamin F. Wade for his manly defense of the freedom of debate in his recent denunciations in the Senate of the United States of the brutual assault by Preston S. Brooks, of South Carolina, on the person of Hon. Charles Sumner; and are also due the Hon. Lewis D. Campbell for his fidelity to the country in introducing resolutions in the House of Representatives, demanding the most rigid investigation into the circumstances attending said attack upon Mr. Sumner.

Nominations being in order, the following candidates for Supreme Judge, for the short term, were presented: Charles E. Goddard, of Muskingum; Ozias Bowen, of Marion; and George Hoadly, of Hamilton. The first ballot resulted: Goddard 127, Hoadly 95, Bowen 87. Thomas Spooner, of Hamilton, withdrew the name of Judge Hoadly, and a second ballot was taken, resulting Bowen 167, Goddard 132.

Josiah Scott, of Butler, and Milton Sutliff, of Trumbull, were presented for Supreme Judge, for the full term. The ballot resulted: Scott 201, Sutliff 97.

Candidates for Commissioner of Schools were announced as follows: Anson Smyth, of Franklin; Herman Canfield, of Medina; Abraham C. Deuel, of Champaign; Lewis Heyl, of Franklin; and Daniel C. McCloy, of Miami. A ballot was taken and resulted

46, Gates 27, Egbert 20, and Howe 11. The following telegrams were read, and greeted with much applause:

BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS, May 29, 1856.

To the President of the Ohio Republican Convention, Columbus: The delegates of the free men of Illinois in Convention assembled, send greeting to the free men of Ohio. William H. Bissell is nominated for Governor, with the most enthusiastic acclaim, by the largest delegate Convention ever assembled in Illinois. Governor Reeder and Mrs. Robinson are here. They have appeared before the public and been greeted by the wildest applause. The excitement consequent upon the late outrages at Lawrence is sweeping like wildfire over the land.

JOHN M. PALMER, President.

COLUMBUS, OHIO, May 29, 1856. To the Republican Convention of Illinois, Bloomington: Ohio to Illinois responds. The announcement of the gallant Bissell's nomination was received with tumultuous cheers. The names of Governor Reeder and Mrs. Robinson were greeted with three cheers from the thousands assembled here. Judge Hunt and General Lane, of Kansas, are here and speak this evening. All is enthusiasm.

OLIVER P. BROWN, President.

The Convention proceeded to the election of six delegates at large to the first Republican National Delegate Convention, which was to assemble at Philadelphia on. June 17th, with the following result: Thomas Spooner, of Hamilton, 206 votes; Rufus P. Spalding, Cuyahoga, 185; William Dennison, Jr., Franklin, 167; John Paul, Defiance, 154; Ephraim R. Eckley, Carroll, 120;