Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-11-07
The New York Election and the war
Prom the y. Y. Times

Our State election is over. AT the bOuI
of writing this paragraph we know nothing
positive of the result. But the progress oi
the canvass has established certain facts
which may as well be stated now as by-and
bye.
The heaviest load which the friends o.
the Government have been compelled to
carry through the canvass has been the in
activity and ineficiency of the Admins
tration. We speak from a knowledge oil
public sentiment 10 every section of the
State, when we say that the failure of the
Government TO prosecute the war with the
vigOr, energy and success which the vast
resources at its command warranted the
country in expecting at its hands, has
weighed like an incubus upon the public
heart With every disposition to sustain
| the Goyerument-with the most profound
conviction that the only hope OF the couu-
try lies in giving il a cordial aud effective
suppOrt-its friends have been unable to
give u satisfactory answer to the questions
that have come up from every side: Why
has the war made such little progress r.
Why have our splendid armies achieved
such slight successes2 Why have they
laid idle so long, and why have the victo-
4
of decisive results2 The war has dragged
on for year and half. Tue couutry has
given the Government over a million of
men, and all the money they could pOSsi-
bly, usej yet We have made scarcely any
progress toward crushing the rebellion
The rebel armies still menace the capital
| Their priyateers defy our navy, aud spread
increasing terror among our peaceful tra-
ders on the seas. What is the use trying
! to sustain an Administration which lags so
! TAR behind the country, and seems so in-
I different and incompetent to the dreadful
tasS committed to its hands
It has Oeen impossible TO lift he public
heart out of the terrible despondency W bieh
such reflections, fortified by the inexor-
able logic of facts, have brought upon it.
The people of this State are thoroughly
| loyal to the Union and the Constitution.
! They desire and demand that this rebellion
shall be crushed. They desire no halfway
measures-they will tolerate no base aud
/ degrading comPrOmise-they will never
consent to any peace which involves the
disruption of the Union aud the overthrow
of the Constitution. They demand u Wig
orous prosecution of the war; aud the fact
that they have not had it, and that they
have seen no fair prospect of getting it,
has bred in them a degree of discourage
ment and despair which has left them an
easy prey to the demagOgues who are al
ways ready to profit by the calamities of
their csuutry. If the Government had
given them victor es-if it had even shown
any just appreciation OF the need of victO-
rieS, aud had taken the most Ordinary
means of exacting them Mt the hands of its
Generals in the field, the people would have
rallied as one man to its support. They
would have spurned with Indignation the
base attempts OF demagogues to sap their
faith in the Administration, aud to array
them in hostility against it.
What may be the effect of all this upon
the popular vote remains to be seen. We
trust il will not have been sufficient to
Withdraw the Empire State from the sup.
/ port of the Government. If is has brought
about this calhmi,ous result, the Govern
ment has itself mainly to blame. If not,
the Government has had very narrow es-
cape. In either case it will have received
n lesson from which, we trust, it will not
fail to profit The wisest men may be misIcd
1 by success, but that Administrations must
be weak indeed, which fails TO be instruc-
ted by adversely. President Lincoln is
represented to have said that he should be
| greatly discouraged in his attempts to
crush the rebellion, If New York should
vote against him. We hope he has said
nothing of the kind We hope still more
strongly that he will yield to no such IN
worthy and unmauly impulse. While an
adverse vote may be received as a rebuke,
it can never relax the efforts of ruler ft
for his place to save his inperiled country.
The vote in this State, as in Pennsylvania
aud the West, indicates a profound
dissatisfaction with the method OF
the Administration is carrying on this
war, = and peremptoEy demand
4 for the adoption of one better adapted 10
the awful emergencies OF the case. The
President must not hesitate an hour to re-
spond 10 this demand. Whatever may have
been the results of these elections, all the
powers of the Government are still in his
hands-all the fearful responsibilities OF
the crisis still rests upon his shoulders. he
mustnot suffer them to 1epress his eOur-
age or enfeeble his energies ;--he must the
rather meet them with fresh vigor and re-
doubled resolution. Let the popular Ver-
dict just pronounced dispel whatever OF
hesitation or of timidity may have hamper
ed his movements He must have more
| self-conCideuee,-mo of that reliance mp
on his own strength aud resources which,
though it might be reckless audaeity in q
private Individual, is only necessary and
becoming courage in the ruler of mighty
nation, in great and terrible crisis OF its
fate. -a -a a aa.ss
President Lincoln has now in his
hands everything which he can possibly
require for the completion Of the great
work that deyolves upon him. He has a
more powerful army under his command
than any monarch of Europe. The finances
of the country are on a safe basis, and he
has all the money he will require. Hehas
a navy adequate to-any service that may be
demanded oft. With these abundant and
OVERLOOKING resources at his command
sustained aud stimulated to the mJst Wig
orous efforts by the feFvid patTiotisnm Of
the people, and by every motive which can
animate loyal heart, he can make no tx
cuse to his conscience or his country If he
fails to push this war TO a speedy and sue
cesssUl eud. Tie must instantly put in mo-
tion every arm Of the national power.