The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-12-03

The Electi0n-Its Bearings-Tho
Union Party.
On Tuesday, December 9Th, the Electoral
| Colleges will be organized at the capitals OF
the several States, prepared to cast, On the
following day, the votes which are 70 con,
stitnte ABRAHAM LINCOLN President ano
ANDREW JOHNSON Vice President Of the
Of March next. The formal counting OF
the votes by Congress and proclamation Of
the result by Vice President Hamlin will
not take place till the second week in Feb
ruary; but the election will to all infents be
cOnsummated on Wednesday of next week,
dered at the polls on the 9Th inst. And this
opens q new and eventful chapter In the
history OF the Republic.
/ The party which has just won the most
decisive triumph ever achieved in q stub
bornly contested Presidential Election as
sumed the name Of UNION in no prescrip-
tive. no intolerant spirit. It has never
doubted that the great mass Of the Ameri-
can People, irrespective Of party lines, de-
sire the restoration and acknowledgment
Of the National authority throughout the
whole area of the Republic. Those Amer
leans who opposed the vindicatiOn by arms
Of the insulted flag, the defied authority Of
cate hostility to the Union. Even those
Northern politicians who gravely proposed
that their respective States should join the
Southern COnfederacy are Unionists after
their fashion. But the Union party is COM
posed Of those American citizens, without
regard to former differences, who affirm
and maintain the desirability and the duty
Of putting down by force all forcible resis-
| lance within the United States to the Con-
| stituti0n and laws Of the land. He who
holds this ground belongs properly to the
Union party, and has rightft4liy no place
| in any other. He who holds that the Fed
eral Government ought to have exhausted
| ''ali the resources Of craftsmanship" in pa
cifis and pleading overtures to the Rebels
after as well as before their treacherous
capture of our army in Texas and their
bombardment of Fl. Sumter, belongs right
fully 70 the Opposition.
The canvass between these opposlng
hosts opened by the Chicago Convention
and Platform was, though brief, the most
thorough and earnest that this country has
known. The meetings Of either party we're
not merely bOunteous in the numbers at
tending; they were generally distinguish
| ed by sObriety unusual on such occasions,
and the Election that closed the struggle
was distinguished by a gravity that APP
closed at night on majorities, generally
large, sometimes overwhelming, for the
Union ticket in twenty-One Of the twenty
four loyal States-leaving Tennessee and
Louisiana out Of the questionable verdict
WAS the most conclusive ever yet rendered
the preponderance Of character, of intelli-
gence, of property. was on the same side
with that Of numbers and Of votes.
The result being ascertained and an
nOunced, the acquiescence of the minority
throughout the loyal States was instant,
perfect, and I'VE doubt mott sincere. Of
course, there are secret traitors in the loyal
as there are open traitors in the revolted
States; but We are greatly deceived ii these
can again attempt, with any prospect of
success, to control the action Of the Demo-
cratic party. The public condemnation Of
their past plottings is too decided, their
ruinous influence over the fortunes and
prospects Of that party too signal and man
ifest. The Democratic leaders know per-
fectly, though the truth is SILL withheld
from the masses. that their unexpected
and terrible rout in Indiana and Illinois is
due, not to illegal voting, nor to any thing
else than a Popular uprising against the
secret conspiracies known as 'sOrder of
American Knights" s.Sons OF Liberty"
&C., which sought to inaugurate North
ern revolt in the interest Of and in secret
utilization with the Slayeholders' Rebel
lion.
In acquiescing so generally and heartily
In the election Of M. Lincoln, the Opposi-
ton do not surrender their distinctive
views of the manner in which the war
ought to have been conducted, nor retract
their affirmation that it might have been.
might still be, happily closed. They SIM
ply say: 'The People have decided against
US; Jet those TO whom they have again en-
trusted power use it as they shall deem
best. We defer to the popular verdict, and
await the teaching of events" And this
secures great gain Of moral power to the
National cause. The Opposition will not,
as party, stand committed to hearty
support Of the war; but neither will they.
as party, obstruct and embarrass 1t 40
they did during the year preceding thee cleo
tom. 81 fAs9=ssssg
Meanwhile, within the ranks Of tho un-
ionjparty ie..lf, q kindred and equally be-
uefcent result has been attained. The dis
function of Conservative aud Radical, NJ
characterizing antagonist views within our
own ranks, has been practically effaced. It
has no longer any basis. any meaning. The |
honest differences IN which itorigina;ed no
longer exist. At the National Convention
held at Baltimore last June, whereby Lin
coin and johnson were nominated, the fol- |
lowing resolve, regularly reported from
the Platform Committee, was unanimously |
and enthusiastically adopted:
HeSOtOe0, Inat, az slavery was the cause, |
and now constitutes the strength, of this |
Rebellion, and as it must be al ways and ey. |
erywhere hostile to the principles Of Re- |
publican Government, justice and the ma
tional safety demand its utter and complete |
extirpation from the soil of the Republic; |
and that we uphold and maintain the acts |
and proclamations by which the Govern.
ment, in its own defense, has aimed a death
blow ut this gigantic evil. We are in favor,
furthermore, of such an ameDdm ant to the |
Constitution, to be made by the people, in
conformity with its provisions. as shall |