Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1864-11-17
Is our Government "a Failure I

We doubt not that the result of the cleo
ton will lead very many of the most Impair
tial and intelligent observers in our country
to conviction that our republican system
is failure. Certainly il would seem as il
the history of Mr.. Lincoln administration
should have convinced the people that its
longer continuance could be productive only
OF disaster Its failures were so patent, and
reached so directly to each individual, press
ing themselves upon his attention by con
nections affecting his business, his family,
and placing hisliie subject, in many instances,
to chances where the probabilities were two
against one for him, and menacing him with
near and frequent repetitions of the lottery,
that the recent popular decision must ever
be a subject of surprise and speculation.
Add to this the evidence which the most
prominent leaders and newspapers of the
administration party had given against Mr..
Lincoln, and which was conclusive against
his fitness for the position he occupies, it
being a withcring impeachment no less Of
his probity than capacity, and the result of
the election presents matter for conjecture
which the most contemplative may study
increasingly without reaching a satisfactory
conclusion. Nor are these the only reasons
which should have secured verdict the op-
posite of the one given. The sterling quail
| ltlcS Ol ubIl. lhCNlpidll ndu WON iOr Hl1ll tHc
thanks of President Lincoln, of the admin
istration party in congress- Of the leading
newspapers of the abolition press, and of the
most skilful and honorable officers in the
army opposing his election.
So far as the qualifications of the rival
candidates were concerned, aside from the
policies they represented, the abolition party
had condemned its own, and indorsed ours
What more sweeping denunciation of an
officer can be conceived than the one made
by General Fremont against Mr. Lincoln in
his letter of withdrawal? 1t was, in sub
stance, reiterated by Mr.. Chase in his circu-
lars, and was logically and clearly sustained
by Winter Davis and Senator Wade in their
pronunciamento against Mr.. Lincoln usur-
patton. What ifthcse gentlemen did, after
wards, support Mr.. Lincoln? Was not
their Inconsistency as palpable as the fact
that they were prompted by considerations
they were afraid and ashamed to avow p
Should people claiming capacity to govern
themselves have been deceived by such open
: demagogism.
The supposition that the people decided
: were pledged, regardless of their persona
characters and qualifications, affords no so
luton to the enigma presented by the yer
r dict. In fact, Mcclellan was pledged to thC
: restoration of the union, without reserve o
A contingency. Lincoln was pledged to th,
0 restoration Of the union, with the provis'
# that it could be effected with the abolition
G Of slavery. The proviso was carefully con
d ccaled, and in many instances denied, by tn
$ abolition press; the people, however, knew
& of its existance, yet they professedly con
e demned Mcclellan, because of a distrust o
r his 'unionsm." This, too, when he wa
1t acting with a party which had always ad
e hcrcd with answering fidelity, to TIN
a union" while Mr. Lincoln acknowledge,
is himselfsubjcct to the pressure ofthc mel
l. who had been for.years avowed disunionists
II and who now affirm that the union shal
not be restored except on the terms announc
|. ed in the ''To whom it may concern mani
e fcsto.
= The verdict is irrelevant to the pleading
st made, and contradiction of the evidence
g The pleadings were, by the democratic party
Is union, without contingency and by th
st abolition party, union, with the proviso thl
h abolitonism shall be enforced Professedl
&c deciding for unconditional, the judgmen
sustains conditional unionsm. What is left
z therefore, but an impeachment Of the intell
r gence or honesty of the jury? As it is tn
i interest of the public to be honest in deain
,e with itself, we are driven to the conclusio
+ that the people have been deceived by sophis
+ try and persistent, un5lushing misreprescr
p tation. Partisan pride and sectional hatre
@ have also largely Influenced their decision
a OF course the democratic party thinks
fearful, and probably an irreparable mistak
has been made one whose blightng eiie'
will be felt on all our future fortunes. Sue
l. mistakes, however, occur in other natior
q than republics, and as frequently under OF
n as another form of government The peop
to are not nfallblc. Are kings and cabinets
o, The democratic party was sustained for ha
nd Il hundred years; shall not we trust tt
n, power which so long confided in us, KNOWN
e- that the manner in which we discharged ii
of trust will bring, sooner or later return
&C. the old relations between the democracy al
in the people and the government? The latt
It's cannot be so entirely destroyed that we ca
so not rebuild it. I he enterprise may requi
Ie- time, and toll, and travail. Shall we disca
,c- hope, therefore, or shrink from any or all
is them. CMcogo Times.
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