Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1864-10-21
Ths Vote OF tho sdIdiers.

There is nothing in the recent elections
more instructive and suggestive than the
vote Of the soldiers and all the facts asso-
ciated with it. The proposition to permit
| the soldiers to vote has never been pop
ular one with the democratic party. The
only opposition to it that we nave heard
of, in any quarter, has been made by the
democrats. AS party, they have always
been afraid of it. Why2 Their papers
have claimed that there was majority of
democrats in the army. They have indig-
nautly denied that the republicans have
contributed more men to the prosecution
of the war than themselves, but they have
never liked the idea OF the soldiers voting.
1t has been notorious, from the beginning
of the war, that the entire West Point in
fuence is democratic, andit Is equally mo-
torious that the armies of the United States
are in the hands of West Point men. All
the leading generals were democrats at the
opening of the war; yet, with the military
influence and the social influence that
grows out of the military, all upon the
democratic side, the army has always been
looked upon by the democratic party with
distrust. There is good reason for this,
somewhere, but what is it2
The recent vote of the soldiers is COM
ing in, and it justifies the worst fears OF
the democracy. 1t is five to one against
them. Why2 Have these soldiers voted
freely, or not2 Evidently freely, because
there are votes enough against the ad-
ministration to prove the fact. Have they
been bribed7 Have improper influences
been brought to bear upon them2 Evil
IDENTIFY not. They have been too busy to
listen to harangues, or to be subjected to
personal manipulation. Besides, it has
been evident, for months, that the result
\ Of their vote would be just what it is.-
Democrats and Republicans alike, coming
4 from the army, have feretold the result
with certainty. 1t has long been settled
thing.
The witty remark of western paper
tells the whole story: the soldiers vote the
same way they shoot-at and against the
rebels. They have been fighting and bleed.
ing, and suffering untold hardships, in the
great work of putting down the rebellionr
and they know that in this work they have
not had the sympathy of the leaders of the
democratic party. They know that those
men who have the predominant influence
in the democratic party hate the war, and
those who are prosecuting it, from the
lpresideut of the United States to the pri-
vate in the ranks of the army, They know
/ that these men do not rejoice in the vic.
tories they win by so much sacrifice, or
mourn over their defeats; they have known
and felt this all along; and when these men
met at Chicago; and uttered no good word
for the government, and no word of con-
demnation against the rebellion and its
guilty authors, and expressed no sympathy
for the struggle in which our armies are
Engaged, and advocated, at time when
the rebellion is demonstrably on its last
legs, an arrnistice and q patched up peace
they were only confirmed in their conyic'
tions. They know that the convention a
Chicago hated them and the work they
were doing.
Besides, these soldiers have very instruct
i've interviews with the rebels themselves
They have seen them swinging their hat
for Gen. Mcclellan, and heard them de
clare that Mcclellan was " their man,
They have seen the hopes of the rebels ris,
with the prospect of Mcolellau's election
and have seen those hopes decline as thOs
prospects have grown dim. They have
seen, as we at home have not, how mucl
the rebels have relied upon democratic
success in this election for their own sue
cess until they have come to identify thI
cause of the democratic party with thI
cause of the rebellion. The Chicago con
Tentiou presented to them, to attract thef
votes, the most popular general that eve
commanded the army of the Potomac, bu
ne has lost his charm foe them, because b
has consented to be the tool Of a partl
which they know to be in sympathy Will
9 rebellion that they are sacrificing anC
riskiug so much 70 crush. Their risks anC
sacrifices have made them loyal; and be
lieving that rebels should be treated a
rebels they give their voice against thosr