Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-02-12

Abolition Admiration and smita.
tion Of the Rebel Policy
81 AS JEFF. DAv1s's term Of six years is
only about half expired, we hear as yet no
question raised as to whether he or his par
tisans intend that he shall retain his Office
after the close of the present term. But as
Mr.. LINCOLN will soon enter upon the last
wear of his term of four years, he and his
[. supporters are planning to make him his
own successor for another term or for an
indefinite period.
It is fact, which our readers cannot have
failed to notice, that the Administrator
leaders have been ardent admirers Of the
policy Of therebel Confederacy. They have
shown that admiration in the most sub
stantial manner by d close imitation, In
many important respects, Of that policy.
The Confederacy, it seems, has furnished
the Administration with what it has been
suspected of sadly lacking; that is brains.
An Administration organ, the New York
Times, of the sth inst, recommends the
taking of lessons from the rebcls-the very
thing the Washington Cabinet has been do
ing since the commencement OF the war;
sometimes, it must be confessed, with little
profit. Says the Times:
There is certainly one subject on which
we NAV well take lesson from them, the
rebelsi and that is the art of bringing into
play the whole resources OF country for
purposes of offense and defense. Which,
ever else they may have done badly, this
they have done well. They have certainly
blundered as to the extent OF their capacity,
as well as to the extent Of ours. but they
have displayed skill in the use of what
strength they have. in marshalling 1t and
using it at the right times and places, which
has probably never been surpassed. There
is certainly no case on record in which as
much has been got out of five millions OF
people for military purposes, as the Con-
federate leaders have managed to get out OF
their followers during the last three years.
So much for an Administration tribute to
the military policy of the rebels.
But not only has the policy Of the rebel
Government in regard to military opera
tions, a rigorous military rule, arbitrary
arrests, an inflated paper currency, con-
scription, &C., been the model for Admin
istration leaders, but they have made the
discovery, and are proclaiming the same,
that wherein the rebels, in forming their
Confederate Constitution, altered our Ma
tional Constitution, such alteration was an
improvement of inestimable value and inn
portance. On this point hear that influen-
tial Administration organ, the New York
Times, in the same article from which We
quoted above:
Such changes as they 1.-THE rebels made
in the Constitution of the United States be-
fore adopting 1t for their own use, were ev-
identity made with the view of consolidat-
ing and strengthening the Executive. and
thus making the Government better fitted
to bear the strain of great military emer-
gency. The most notable Of these was the
addition of two years to the Presidential
term, thus giving such incumbent better
chance for carrying out fixed policy, o.
getting used to his work, and bringing thu
strong points of his character into contact
with Il before being gousted-to say nothing
of decreasing the number of elections
which, as long as the population was small
the Government cheap, and the countr,
peaceful, were simply incidents in prog
ress which, without them, would perhaps
have been monotonous, but which, In pc
riod such as that through which we arr
now passing, are likely to take the charac
ter of immense convulsions, that shake so
ciety to its very foundations. Few peopl
at the North, when we first heard that JET
ferson Davis had been elected for term Q
six wears, realized what source of strength
this long term of Office might prove; ther
are few people at the North who do no
now begin to realize it very thoroughly
Wonder what the Journal of this cit
thinks of its Administration cotemporar.
and co-worker, the Times, for its high com
plment to the improved rebel edition of tn
us. Constitution? But the secret of thi
admiration is manifest. It's the long Pres
dental term that is so charming in the eye
of the Lincolnites. They want ''Old Abe's
present term heightened without the form
ality Of contested election, for says tn
Times: efi
If our Presidential election involved sim
ply change of Presidents, its occurrenc
In the midst Of great civil war, complicai
ed by the presence Of such question Q
slavery, would be we'll calculated to rous
anxiety; but involving as it may, a complei
change in the whole machinery of our &C
ministrative system which ischarged wit
the conduct of war, calling eight hundre
thousand men to the field, and which ha
to provide for debt of nearly two million
it is something which nobody can contem
plate without alarm.
Here is the keynote to the Administra
tion bugle, which is to be sounded all owe
the land the coming season: ABRAHAM LIZ
COLIN must be continued in office to settl
the slavery question, which is more con
plicated than when he began his Admins
tration; to bring the war to a close, whic
appears to be no nearer an end than 1t WI
three years ago, and to provide for tt
liquidation Of an immense national deb
which is increasing by millions daily.
other words, LINCOLN and his party mu
be continued in power for an inde1ni
period Of time, in order that they may ca
ry on their work Of pludering and ruinin
the country.
-aTudgc Of the supremc Court.