Smyrna times., 1862-11-13
The Recent Elections.
A NATIONAL CONVENTION.

The recent elections prove beyond doubt that
there exists deep and general impression unfavor
able to the conduct of the war, and profound dis
satisfaction with the waste Of human lif.
and of the hard-carned wealth of the country to
achieve results of no practical value und totally in
adequate to the prodigal expenditure.
1t has been said that the Northern people are
peculiarly patient, enduring long suffering slow to
anger and easy to manage. So they are but it is
also the attribute Of such cha.Lctcr to be sweeping
and vehement in its wrath. For nearly two long
and weary years the loyal masses have struggled
painfully against adverse fate They have voun-
teercd to fill the ranks of the army never people
volunteered before. and they have thousands of
their friends, brothers, and fathers slain in baltic
or perish by disease from the malaria Of camps
But victories without fruits and marches without
objects have exhausted their forbearance.
Nor is this strange, for there is good reason to
believe that their discomfort is shared most heartily
by decided majority Of the members Of the Ad-
ministraton, by many Of the commanding generals,
and large number Of Senators and Representatives
in the present Congress- This feeling, too, is not
concealed, but has been openly and constantly made
known by all these Personages, and las contributed
in no small degree to produce the present result 1t
is not possible for any of the newly elected members
| Of Congress to embody a more decided sentiment of
disgust at the lingering Of the war than is
felt and expressed everywhere by some Of the MEM
bers Of the Cabinet. BY some of the generals and by
most Of the members of Congress.
! At the close Of the canvass in Pennsy Ohio
and Iadisna expressed the popular feeling in the
paincst terms, and asked for some measures more
likely be productive Of good results than those we
have thus FAR witnessed. Again the public voice has
made itself heard from New York and New Jersey
and the demand for a change of policy swelIs up.
ward far and wide. This is not a Democratic tri.
umph, and those who treat it as such mistake the
public sentiment For although the people availcd
themselves Of the Democratic organization to effect
their purpose, they have no more confidence in the
mon or measures of that party now than the had
when, in 1860, they hurled them from power. Two
methods presented themselves TO the public, and the
mass Of the voters had TO choose between them. On
the one hand, the election of the Republican candi
dates seemed to involve the sanction of the conduct
of the war, and the other hand, the Democrats
protested to be opposed to the manner in which il
had been conducted. We say professed, for in real
ty they have been thorough obstructives from the
very beginning of this war. Nevertheless they &C.
cupied the position of antagonism to the governing
policy, and the people desired to dissent from tn,
slow and tedious process which has been adopted
This very Democratic party, which has now beer
used to smbody the public discomfort at ths linger
ing of the war, is in no small dogrss respon
sibis for that policy: by the dubious sttitass weI