The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-04-04
The Connecticut Election the FOrorun-
ner or sbe Great Contest.


ner or sbe Great Contest.
The recent canvass in Connecticut and its
results prove conclusively' that the political
campaign upon which we are about entering
will be one of The greatest as well as one of
the most holly contested the country has ever
experienced, and it may also be one Of the
most momentous in its consequences.
An abstract idea, productive of no good to
any one, and fruitful of evil to all, has been
agitated by fanatics and urged on by political
demagogues, till 1t has become mania with
the people of the Northern States, among
whom it is now raging with all the virulence
of moral epidemic. 1t springs from the old
Puritan stock, and is characterized with all
the Standardization the idiosyncrasy and
the intolerance Of that peculiar sect Refusing
to live in England under government which
they could not rule, the early Puritans migrat.
ed to Holland in search of what
they called religious freedom. Becom.
ing Disguised there, because the people
were tolerated in their peculiar manner of
amusing themselves on the canals on Sundays,
they crossed the ocean and founded in the
wilderness Of New England government after
their own hearts Through syIogism pecu-
liar to themselves, which declared that the
earth was the Lords, that He had given it to
the Saints and that they were the Saints, they
entered with selfsatisfaction into possession
of their new domain. The Indians were sub
dued and exterminated the Quakers were sub
sequently driven out with Roger Williams, the
Baptists and afterwards the Methodists were
declared to be heretics that should be ducked
out of their irreligious belief, and the witches
were executed, while the Rev. Cotton Mather
stood by and saw the devil whispering at ME
ear of the victims when on the scaffoh No
thing that cid not bow before their intolerance
was allowed to exist in the community.
In this same spirit, crusade against the in
stitution of domestic slavery in the South
ern States was begun twenty-five years ago,
and recently the political demagogues
and disappointed politicians have taken
it up as promising political specula-
ton. The fanatics and the demagogues
differ somewhat in principles, though
uniting in the protested object The creed of
the first proclaims the constitution to be "a
covenant with hell" VIM. Lloyd Garrison and
Wendell Phillips are the apostles and John
Brown is the martyr of their cause. The poll
ticians advance different belief. Lysander
Spooner, who is the St. Paul of their church,
proclaims the constitution to be perfect abo-
lition instrument, and that under it the Federal
courts can free every slave by habeas corpus,
of the right kind of interpreters of the law are
appointed judges and sherifs, and William H.
Seward is their candidate for the political
papacy or martyrdom. Both Of them preach
the same object-the abolition of negro slavery
in the Southland, for the coming campaign,
the fanatics have united with the demagogues,
in order, if possible, to elect President and a
Congress that will give abolitionism trial for
the attainment of its ends through the process
of law. The abolition of slavery and the pre-
servation of the Union by force are the
professed objects of the black republi-
can party. These ideas can only have
the local support of the Northern States, where
little is practically known of the nature
of the negro, or of the institution of negro
slavery. In these, end particularly in the ru-
raj districts, it has taken possession of the
minds of many people with all the power of a
mania. If defeated in the coming contest, the
union between the fanatics and the demagogues
will be dissolved, and the mania will die from
its own excess.
Against this intolerant and destructive mad
ness the conservative spirit of the country is
being reused, and will rouse, to combat it,
Binded by an indiscreet and unwise zeal, it
meoaces every interest, even its own, with de-
by the union vi ali upon the one common ground
of self defence The result in Connecticut
shows that the third party scheme is out of the
question. There the issue has been fairly
made between destructives and conservatives,
and the latter, fighting squarely the battle for
the institution of slavery, have cut down the
anterior majority of their antagonists to a
merely nominal existence. This result shows
us how and where the coming battle must be
fought. The personal claims of men must be
set aside and principles only inscribed upon
the banners. These must be carried and de-
Tended through the commercial and industrial
States in the centre of the Union. There lies
the heart and beat the pulses that mark the
flow Of the life currents of the confederacy.
There they can be soonest and most directly
touched. The Connecticut election has shown
to the whole conservative interest that it must
rouse its members and unite its forces, and that
by so doing it can subdue the mania and save
the country in the coming crisis.
WHERE IS THE THIRD PARrY?-In the exciting
Connecticut election which has just come of.
there is no trace of the third party, which has
hitherto shown itself In similar contests.
What has become of it? 1t is completely alb