The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-10-18
SPIRIT OF THE NEW YORK PRESS,
Leading Editorials from the New York
Papers This Morning,
'' THE UNION As II WAS, AND rHE
CONSTITUTIONS AS IT Is"

From n. T,na
There IL no end to Coppcrbsad charistanry
Look at the front Of Tammsny Hal, or at
almost Gny Of the Copperhead banners swung
over the street, and you sec beneath the Jsuus-
faced portraits Of Mcclellan and Pendle,or the
inscriptiou-"Ihe Union "a, 10 was, and the Con
,tituton as it is" This party device is given to
the winds in the very face OF tbs Chicago plat
form, the most prominent feature Of which is
''an ultimate Convention for the amendment Of
the Constitution and reconstruction Ofthe Union.
ltwculc seem as If these Coppolhead managers
take the Americas people % he idiots without
sense enough 20 heed these shuflinc tricks.
Tho Chicago platform, SO far IS il extended,
was consistent. In making "a cessation of hos
tilitcs' party measure, it, OF necessity, had 30
propose either recognition Of Confederate inlo-
pendence, or some peacCable mode OF bringing
the CCntederates back to the Union. Something
more than an offer Of universal amnesty wsq
necessary. Additional guarantees for slavery
aud for Stale rights must be rendered. lI was to
secure these that anow Constitutional Convention
proposed for amendments to the COustitu-
tiun Will bo necessary 90 give them any perma-
nent force. What should be the final resort in
case such convention could not agree upon
amendments that would satisfy Southern de.
man0s, or in ease the amendments so agreed upon
shoHld not be ratified by three-fOurths OF tho
States, without which, according to the present
Constitution, they could have no effect, the plat
form failed to specify.
Inasmuch as Il pronounced the war a "failure"
the fair inference is that the only alternative con
tempated by its trainers, In such contingency,
was positive and final recognition of the JEFF,
Davis Government. But we repeat that, So far as
i went, the project of can ultimate convention"
for amending the Constitution and reconstructing
che Union was In full keeping with the Copper
head policy, and is necessary feature Of the
party platform.
If the party had the least moral earnestness, it
would stick TO the measure il has deliberately
8nOntp0. WOul1 tba
people this tiagrant contradiction of Ii, "The
Union rs II was aud the Constitution as Il is"
which means nothing else than No Convention.
party is lost to all principle, and is past shame,
which can thus advertise It's dupucity so that Il
shall be stem and read of all men.
The principle of "the Union as it was aud the
Constitution as 1t is" so far as it has any real
import, belongs to the Baltimore, and not 70 the
Chicago platform, and can be realized only BY
the success of the Union party. OF course
strictly speaking, the UnIon can never again be
what 1t has been. Il has been in constant state
OF change since its original formation The
members which compose il have been constantly
increasing in number; the area which it covered
has, at intervals received vast additions; the
relative proportions Of the free States to the
slave, and the relative representative weight of
one section over another, have altered again aud
again; the material interests and the political
POI; which have controlled the Government
OF the Union have continually fiuctuRted.
No man who talks accurately will say that tho
Union of 1860 was, in all points, the same US that
of 1880 or 1870. It would he like saying that the
man was in all parts tue same as the boy and tho
infant. No human art could make even a single
man what he was five yeurs ago infinitely less
could i 20 make nation. What is meant is,
that the essential iGentRy of the Union should be
preserve d-tuat the Union Of 1865 and 1870 shall
be the Neritable body polite which was known to
the wCTld in 1865 and 1860.
1t is precisely this thing which the Union party
intent to secure. The party came into existence
for no other object, and lt supports this war for
nthnT nhipCt ~ fin NJ nal md IL fh.,N
the Union cannot be preserved but by the main
tenance of national authority; and that there is
no way of maintaining this authority but by
crushing all resistance TO II. Our opponents are
for abandoning the war and trying peaceful ex-
perments, which they will not even themselves
vouch Will preserve the old Union. II is their
Consciousness of that inability that prompts them
60 The constant use of the word reconstruction.
1t is 70 obtain this rcconstTuctou-tO make an
end of the old Union, aud put new one in it,
place-that the "Ultimate CoLveston' is pro.
posed. The Union party opposes al! such
schemes, and will ever remain fAtbful to the old
Union
II it be said that the Union party is agains
slavery, aud intends, ii possible, TO make an end
thereof this makes nothing againet the fact tha
It is still for perpetuatng the old Union The den
tty Of the Union is not taken away by purgng it
Of slavery. In fact, those who brought the Union
ito beiCg had no conception that slavery would
long CO. tinue in it. They believed, as all con-
semporaneous history shows, that slavery was at
variance with the spirit of the institutions they
were founding. and that 1t would gradually yield
aud die out The removal Of slavery will not
transtclm NJ the Union, but simply purify it,
All OF the old Constitutional organs and func-
tioIs will remain, but only operate with more
heslthiul vigor. Even If Constitutional amend
mert be finally resorted to in order to make the
removal OF the curse more speedy and complete,
i will be done strictly according 60 the method
provided by the Constitution itself and it will
involve only the addition OF a single brief section,
pg ne body of the instrument untouched.
his mt hdment would be secured through the
sci arate action Of the States, not through the
n,re distllb bing and petilOus mode Of a general
convention.
such a convention of all the states as proposed
in the Chicago platform, would undertake 10
r6irdme the whole instrument, ia oTuer to AXE it
n Gel the demands of the Rebellion. Ii would, in
fact, resolve the Union into its original elements,
jus. MS A, II, Stephens advocates, aue reconstruct
sn ther on some such basis as that OF the Mont
gomery Constitution. Even then, there is every
reason 10 believe, the Rebels would not accept it,
CLless New England were excluded, and also a
dual Executive were provided for, one Southern
and the other Northern, each TO have a veto upon
all Congressional enactments, In other words,
the work of that convention would be 10 change
the cardinal principles of the Constitution, aud
the essential elements of the Union. The party
which gees for such a convention knows that il
could lead 70 no other result It's cry OF she
"Union as II was, and the Constitution As it is"
is the most impudent Of mockcries