The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-10-05
The DISASTROUS Career Of Party
Leaders.

Leaders.
The different parties now in the field running
for the succession to the Presidency present
curious anomaly The black republicans,
whose object ia q revolution, from which dis.
union OF the States must inevitably follow, are
nevertheless thoroughly united among them
selves They are agreed upon the main issue,
thus giving the best possible refutation to their
own doctrine, and showing the vast difference
between theory and practice. While they are
working division in the country at large, they
have thorough appreciation of the value OF
union as regards themselves. The course OF
the conservatives is the very opposite. They
profess to fight under the banner OF the Union,
and the constitution is the political gospel by
which they swear. Yet they are divided
among themselves, and one says, Il am
for Douglas" another, :" i am for Breck
inridge," and third II am for Bell But
who is Douglas who is Breckenridge, and who
is Bell, that they should become instruments
Of discord and not Of harmony? Instead Of
defeating Lincoln, settling their own differences
amicably, the conservative leaders are pulling
against each other with more bitterness than
they exhibit towards the common enemy who
is united in solid column against them. Nor Is
it as regards candidates alone that they are di
vided-they are divided and bewidered about
the issue-tbey either do not comprehend its
nature, or they don't want to understand it, ALL
none are so blind az those who will not see"
They are like men cropping in the dark, or with
scales on their eyes whose vision is go indis
tinct that men beside them appear only las
trees walking"
How different is the course OF the republi-
cans. They have boldly presented their issue to
the country, and they have but one voice upon it.
Lincoln and Seward, and Wilson and Wade, and
Adams and Sumner, and Giddings and Greeley.
all harp upon the same string, and all 60 for
one ticket. These chiefs all declare war against
negro slavery in the States as we'll as in the
Territories, and they proclaim their determine
ton to carry on the war till they have achieved
the ultimate extinction" Of the institution
They will do II by moral force If they can, but
by physical force If they must. They will
Of the courts of law, with judges of their
own choosing to interpret the constitution
and If that is not sufficient, then the millions OF
Northern republicans with arms In their hands,
will march on the South.
This is the plain and simple issue Of the re-
publicans, and it is met BY the champions Of
conservatism with political jargon and glib
berish which none but Office holders or Office
seekers understand. and which is utterly unin-
telligible to the people. The speeches of the
conservative orators can only be compared to
the confusion Of tongues at Babel. They are
raising senseless personal Issues with each
other and side issues which are Of no manner
Of Importance while they ignore the great
question which Is forced upon the country. II
is q sectional issue, set forth by q sec
tional party-an issue to destroy the domes.
tic institutions of the South by the fede-
raj power, and q party situate, lying and
being wholly In one section Of the
country-a party which, In its nominating
Convention at Chicago, contemptsously over
looked fifteen States, from none Of which II had
any representatives, and disregarded their inte-
rests and opinions ss II they were conquered
colonies or provinces, instead Of co equal
States This time the nomination Of the Presi-
dent fairly belonged to the South, since for the
laet two terms and hall Northern men have oc-
cupied the chair Of the White House. Contrary
TO former usage, the republican party have not
only selected their candidate for President. but
their candidate for Vice President also from
their own section-the North which Is depart
ure from all precedent The party, their candi
dates and their issue, therefore, are wholly Sec
tiona; and by their deliberate act, ss far as
they are concerned, they have virtually severed
the Union into two halves. They have severed
1, just as much as the Methodist Church Is Sc
vered. Had all the Christian denominations
North come to the same conclusion as the Me-
thodist Church North, there would not be now
even the shadow Of a federal Union; and did
all other political parties In the North hold the
same sentiments as the republicans, the Union
would be formally dismembered before the
lapse Of one month.
What would the people Of the North say OF
party at the Sowtb, numerically the s,ronges,
in It's fifteen States, which held Convention a.
Natcbez 10 nominate national President TO
preside over the whole Union, and yet excluded
all representatives of States north OF Mason and
Dixon's line, aud selected their candidates for
President and Vice President from the s Juth and
nominated them upon apurely sectional issue, to
the effect that they were opposed 70 iree labor Ia
the Territories and at the North, and would
never rest contented till they had planted the
slave institution in every Northern state, aud
abolished BY law, or By force Of arms II neccs.
sary, the labor Of free white men, as degrading
to the Caucasian races If they elected their
men on this issue, how long would the Union
last' But, mdatis mutandis, this Is just what
the republican party are doing as regards the