The New York herald., 1864-08-20

AL a, tbe celebrated tenor TO trivial ques
tions pu, 10 him by Mr. Graus COUNSEL nothing interest
| ing tTanspired
Avery destructive IRE occurred in Quebec Friday
night the entire loss beng estimated at abou, 500 COO
about forty buildings consumed bes .des an m'
| nense quantity Of timber.
Trade matters substantially the same yesterday,
thou. business trile active and prices st,er
general thing There some speculative demand
fr low srtces but there was no general actVhy'
Every nrmer however the high prices OF soia
enhancing the views OF holders considersoy Cotton
| steady, Petroleum sctive, aud nmnai'y lo
&c hzher. On Change aour armer, snd wheat was
| 10. a 20 higher. Corn was trae d'mer Oats were
dun and scarcely so lrm. Pork duh and lower
4 Bee dull. Lard higher, and whiskey drmsr Freishs
| Qaet
| Tho oAppronchinG Presidentiai Election.
| Many persons profess to believe that the
| coming Presidential election will be accom-
panied by the most extravagant excitement
There is talk Of armed secret societies and
riots and Northern insurrection. We hear
vague predictions that blood will flow in our
streets, and that the election day will be cele-
brated by faction fights and possible mas
sacre. Uneasy rumors are current th t either
Of the two parties in the field will contest the
| election by arms if it goes against them at the
ballot boxes. Men soberly prophesy that the
nation will be broken up by the political cam
| paien, and that the ship Of State will 60 down
in November with her mutinous crow mad with
excitement and cursing each other like Gends.
! For these rumors and predictions we eau find
| no basis Of fact.
SO grave are the Issues involved, so import
ant tie Interests to be affected by this election,
that we can scarcely doubt that it vii! be as
olemn IS funeral. Tie fate Of the nation,
and perhaps Of tie world, hangs upon the de-
cision of the election day. We may search
sncicnt and modern history in vain TO find
day 50 pregnant for good or i'll to all mankind.
The suspense OF those twen!y-four hours will
be awful. The excitement will be too
i intense for utieraLce or demonstration.
| When the nominations are all made,
and the candidates are placed before the
| world the people will be LETT 10 decide upon
their own dcstinies. Then that great problem
Of seif.government, which Las perplexed the
wisest men OF oil ages, will be finally and
| definitely solved. We shall then see whether
the people are able to govern themselves,
and whether freemen know how to preserve
their own liberties. From age to age this puz
zling problem has been passed onward, until it
has come to us. In the zenith Of tho worlds
! progress, with the experiences of the past to
| warn us, and the unequa!led Intelligence of
this brilliant epoch to guide US, we are to set
tie question which has never yet been salts
factorily answered. The responsibility is great
but the opportunity is sublime. A few votes
may change the whole course Of the worlds
future. Can any man, however Needless, how
ever ignorant, think Of these things and not
vote with as much gravity and soleninity as if
his own life, as well as that Of the nation, de-
| pended upon his single balloig
| We look back upon the fathers Of the repub-
| lie and reverence their wisdom and their
patriotism. We admire the grand souls that
| could rise with the dignity OF tie occas on,
| until few statesmen and few heroes filed
their era with glory, and left a continent and
| country TO their descendants. But what will
| our children and our childrens children think
when, from the standpoint Of tie next century,
they look back upon US? We have an
opportunity more sublime even than
| that Of the Revolutionary fathers. 1t
is in our power to check the pro-
Kind at least a century backward, and ruin the
hopes OF humanity everywhere; or it is in our
power TO give dcspotism its death blow, inau.
gurate the era Of popular governments, and
advance the world thousand years in the path
OF tie highest and truest freedom. Upon the
consultation Of the people in their meetings and
at the polls these momentous issues turn; for
the people will either save or destroy the re-
public, aud with the republic popular institu-
tons all over the earth must stand or fall.
Thus brought face to face with the events of
the past, the present and the future, our voters
will be sccomplices in the murder of the ma
tion and Of the rights Of the people II they
allow any clamor about candidates, any parti-
san pratings about party, any prejudices in
regard 10 minor saa subsidiary subjects, to
divert their minds from the tremendous busi-
ness before them. Candidates are nothing
except as the representatives of the principles
at stake. Parties are nothing, and should fetter
no American in this crisis. Prejudices for or
against any side issue should not weigh mo-
ment with any reasonable being when such an
| election is at hand. All comparisons fail to
express the inmeusity Of the occasion and the
grandeur of the duty which devolves upon
| every citizen.
We can readily imagine the splendor Of
! restored Union. We can see our bright fag
floating over happy, prosperous and reunited
people; our sails again whitening every sea;
our power respected and our Influence feared;
our citizens once more protected by the broad
agis OF the Union, no matter whittier their
wandering steps may lead them Again Europe
lays her richest products at our feet Again
| this great metropolis begins to eDgross the
business and the capital Of two continents