New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-10-17
THE, THE LATE EI.EuTaoNs.

the field count the list of killed and wounded as
certain the number Of prisoners taken on each
side, and sum up generally the net results OF tae
| fight. The conclusion we have reached is, that
the conservative defeat is not bad as 1t AZ nrss
looked, and that there Is much in the result to gave
US encouragement and hope for the future.
AT first. we thought it was Waterloo business
that the campaign was virtually over, and Lincoln
as good as elected President. There are some
| facts which have since come out, from which we
extract no little consolation. sqssss4s -
In the FIRST place, there are many well-informed
persons who do not regard the vote Of Pennsylva-
MIA as Indicative of her vote in November. Penn
sylvana, before this, has voted way in October,
and another way at the Presidential election i'm
| mediatey afterwards and, what she has done
before, she may do again. There were issues in
the State election altogether different from those
which will be made and decided in November. In
mere State election there are, of course, few or
no issues of national policy. The question whe-
| Their the Federal Government shall be conduct
| ed on national principles or on sectional
whether by a national party or sectional one
| did not enter into the late State contest sim
ply because 1t bore no relation to it. 1t was, to
very great extent, local election, the great ques-
| ton Of nationality against seotionasm not being
involved, and not being as it will be in November,
| the chief issue to be decided. We can well con-
ceve that tens Of thousands Of voters might prefer
Curtin to Foster for local administrative office,
who will never consent by their votes in general
election involving the South as well as the North,
to commit the Federal Government to the hands Of
sectional party. There are many, in short, who
would vote for Curtin for Governor, who would
| not vote for Lincoln for President. The former
/ was candidate mainly upon issues of State pol
| icy. When they come to the Presidential election,
the character Of the contest will be changed, the
issues will be different, the consequences grander,
and the duty of a wise discrimination in disposing
| Of votes much more delicate When man votes
| in State election he looks only over the State.
When he votes for the Presidency, he casts his eye
over the whole Union The obligations Of duty, in
the two cases, altogether different. The people
Of Pennsylvania, proud as they are Of the honored
appellation their State has gained, of being the
keystone Of the Union, will falsify all their past
history and the character they have sustained,
il, for the first time, they now permit themselves
to be committed to the fortunes and the policy of
party purely sectional, and the success of which
will most assuredy endanger that Union which
Pennsylvania processes to cherish with so much
pride.
| Then there are other circumstances to be con-
1 sidered. We have heard it said that Foster, the
| Democratic candidate, repealed the support Of a
I large number of the Order of United Americans
astrong association in Pennsylvania--by series
| of bitter, abusive and malignant attacks upon
them. In retaliation Of the indignity, the Order,
| though thoroughly conservative and national in
matters of Federal politics, contributed to Fosters
defeat. They could not vote for man who had
exhibited such an unreasonable and vindictive
animosity against them, especially as it was
State election and they either held a1oof from the
polls, or voted for his opponent. AT the general
election in November, their votes will be thrown
in solid mass against Lincoln. Besides this, MIR.
Foster himself did not pursue proper course. To
this day it is matter of doubt whether he is for
Breckenridge or Douglas for the Presidency, and
he has permitted himself to be claimed by both
sides. The people naturally distrust candidate
who attempts to gain the support Of two wings of
o party by committing himself to neither. When
d Douglas man did not know but that he was vot-
ing for friend of Breckenridge, and uice uersd, it
cannot be accounted strange that Mr.. Foster fell
between the two stools that he tried to sit upon at
the same moment, and lost, by bad strategy and
timidity, that which more frank and outspoken
course would probably have gained him. Above
all, the entente cordiaae did not exist among Fos
ter's supporters. Forney, who assumed to lead
the Douglas men, was strongly suspected by the
friends of Breckenridge of being really in the inter
est Of the Black Republicans. The Douglas men,
on the other hand, had some fear that Foster was
at heart for Breckenridge and would so declare
himself il he should be elected. Is it wonderful,
then, that in this confused imbroglio, and in SO
tangled complication of affairs, the election
should have been lostg We think not. But when
the Presidential election takes place, the contest
will be relieved of all these embarrassments. 1t
will be a fatfooted, straight-out, hand-to-hand
fight between the sectionalists one side and the
national conservatives on the other. Recollect
that the majority is only about thirty thousand in
popular vote of nearly half million, and it is not
improbable that Pennsylvania may yet continue to
be. as she has been in the past, the keystone of
the arch Of the Federal Union. We will not yet
surrender all hope Of Pennsylvania
Much the same state of affairs existed in Indiana.
1t is State in which the plan Of the local elections
was laid down before the attempt was made to fuse
all the conservative elements for the Presidential
fight. It was too late to change this plan, and
adapt it to the new circumstances that had oc-=
ourrred. Indiana, which gave large majority for
Buchanan in 1866 over both the opposing candi-
dates cannot now be counted upon with certainty
for Lincoln, nor can the late election there be
considered d true test Of popular sentiment, when
the people shall come to decide in November the
great national issues of the Presidential struggle.
But there is, in fact, some positive, substantial
comfort to be derived from the late elections,
which the people of the South have not, perhaps,
sufficiently considered. There haue been several
Of the Congressional Districts arrested from The
Black Republicans. So far as members of Com
gress are concerned the sectionalists have lost
ground in both Pennsylvania and Ohio-lost enough
to render certain the fact that they will be IN a
minority III the aed House of Representatives.
This party will be powerless in both branches of
Congress for two years to come. Even il Lincoln
be elected President, it will be barren sceptre
that lie will WELD. The House of Representatives
will be opposed to him-the Senate will be OPP
posed to him. 1t will be utterly impossible for him
to carry out any policy of Government he may
| desire. The Executive "spoils and plundern will
be all that he will have. For two years Of his Adj
minstraon it exist at ALL his hands will be tied,
i'd respect of every measure of active, aggressive
policy Thus, we are not altogether paralyzed by
the result of the late elections. We extract some
consolation even from result apparently SO dis.
astrous. There is silver lining to every cloud
Il IL