The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-08-06

The Decentralization and Confusion Of
CPartses-Necessity OF an Independent
Nationsl Convention OF tho Peoples
The utter confusion and Generalization
which prevail among the different political par
ties at the present moment are without q par
sllel in the history Of the government. Neither
the leaders nor the people seem to know what
to do. The rank and Gle, regarding their cap
tains as blind guides, will no longer follow
them. and yet know not whom or what they
viii follow. The leaders, feeling that they can
not conquer without troops, have resort to all
kinds Of bungiing devices and contrivances,
which only make matters worse.
There appears to be no craftsmanship in this
hour Of difficulty and confusion, which can only
be compared to ship in gale at sea, laden
with passengers, which has sprung dangerous
leak, while the drunken captain is without abii.
ty, and has no self possession and cannot COM
mand the confidence or respect of his crew.
among whom there is no discipline, but every
one doing that which seems right in his own
eyes, and consequently making confusion worse
confounded and the passengers, participating
in the disorder, run here and run there without
a plan or purpose, or direction from com.
mander, jostling and pulling against each other
and interfering with the efficiency of the few
able and willing to work, and, worst of all, try
ing sel6shly to escape, leaving the women be-
hind and jumping all into the boats together
thus swapping them and scattering the fren-
zied shriekiDg mob In the waves, who might
have been saved had they not given up the
ship. This is an image of the generalization
in the great political parties which has been
brought about by the corruption, vices and
selfshness of the leaders, whose miserable shifts
to extricate themselves from the general wreck
render them the laughing stock of all sensible
men.
Some, in their delirium, propose to make their
party successful by setting forth one set of
principles for the North and another for the
South; and some think IT splendid tactics to ex-
hibit their candidate as saying one thing to
pander to the anti-slavery sentiment of one
geographical section of the country, while
his sentiments are represented to be the
very opposite by his friends in the
slavehoIding section of the Union. The
result, Of course, must be that neither
section can have any confidence In his
views. Then, again, the party is like house
divided against itself, which cannot stand. In
stead of being unit against the common
enemy, it is destroying itself by internecine
war, and offering an easy victory to the foe, if
he were only in condition to seize the ad-
vantage.
But the republicans are, to a great extent
demoralized and divided, as well as the demo-
Gratis. Their leaders are equally stepped in
corruption. In Congress and out of II the re-
publican, as we'll as democratic chiefs,
have been proved guilty of an amount of ras-
cality which has Disguised all the good men of
the party. The investigating Congressional
committees and the exposures by the lndepeu-
dent press have turned inside out those whited
sepulchres of the lobby cabals at Washing
ton, and have shown them to be filed with all
kinds Of uncleanness and pollution, including
corrupt men of all parties. The defalca-
tons and frauds Of the oficeholders under the
general government, the swindling by our
State Legislatures and officials, aud the bold
villany in our municipal corporations, in which
"a set Of conspirators make a ring" as they
call it, and pledge themselves to each other as
SO many banditti, to rob their fell
low citizens by wholesale-these things
have revolted the community, COMPOUNDED
political distinctions, and puzzled men to know
the ground on which they stand, or on what
side they will fight, or whether they will fight
at all. The same causes produce the same
effects in other parties as well as in the demo
cratic. The only two Offices over which the
republican leaders in Congress had any con-
trol-Clerk aud Printer to the House-became
bones Of the most disgracefu contention aud
sources Of scandalous bribery and corruption.
Disgust and apathy are the consequence in
the republican ranks, aud IL the Union party
should be decidedly successful in the North
Carolina election and other Southern State cleo
tons during this month, the effect would be to
completely demoralize the republican party
North by carrying of the conservative portion
of it to the support of Bell and Everett The
closeness of the contest in North Carolina, even
should Ellis be elected, will have its influence.
inasmuch as there will be two democratic can.
didates In the field in November, and there Is,
therefore, every prospect of the success of the
Bell and Everett ticket in that State
But the mere transfer Of two, three or half a
dozen Southern States from Breckenridge to
Bell will, Of itself, amount to nothing. The re.
suit will be the same unless there shall be O
Northern reaction sufficient to rescue the
Northern balance Of power from Lincoln, so as
to throw the election into Congress- process
which will be sufficient to demolish this sec
tional and slavery agitating republican party.
But how is this balance Of power to be secured?
The materials are at hand, in the New England
States and in the Central States; but how are
they 10 be combined. Neither the Breckin-
ridge managers, nor the Douglas engineers, nor
the Bell pipclayers. nor all these together. are