New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1866-09-27
rur PRESENT cANTASS.

There are many reasons WHY lht BlVa' P'i'''''"
campaign into which we are ushered should be IS II
is the most earnest and exciting ever known TO inc
country. Compared with this, the old contests were
but the struggles of parties and politicians Tor ONCE
though is true that important industrial questions
underlaid the old rivalries Of Wings and Demo
Gratis. Protection and Free Trade were the
main issues Of the Presidential elections
which preceded the anti-Slavery agitation which
resulted in the fight upon the WlmOt ProyiSO the
territorial question aud the division of the Democracy
into the Douglas and Breckenridge wings. Though
the Republican party first proved itself power in the
Fremont canvass of 1856 it not till 1860 that its
principles eclipsed all minor interests. In Mr. Lin
coins election the North dropping all other questions
of trade and finance, endeayored to settle forever
the question of Slavery extension, and asserted the
right of the majority Of the people to control the ma
tional course That contest was earnest enough, yet
it would have been dOubly had the threat OF the
South to Rebel been believed. In 1864, the canvass
was all one way. No Republican, however lulewarm'
dared to vote against the representative Of the
Union while the South was in rebellion, and there
were many Democrats who yielded their party prin-
cples to what they felt to be a national duty.
But this canvass has elements previously unknown,
which make it more complex and important than any
preceding. For 60 years We had merely the admins
tration of the Government TO determines in 1864 We
had its preservation imposed upon us; now we
are required to decide upon the Reconstruction Of the
Union All the old questions that led to the Rebel
lion are summed up in this new dilemma, an
matters Of infinite importance to a Republic which
men were afraid to touch during the days Of peace
81 II N,tA H.sa
rights must be decided now and finally for it is forced
upon the country in form even more dangerous than
that of ecession. We find the Southern leaders and
the Northern Copperheads claiming that rebellion
itself does not affect the relations Of a State
to the Union and that South Carolina may fight
for four years TO destroy the Union, and then
by the mere act Of throwing down her arms
take full part in its government. This hypothe-
sis if recognized as an element Of Republicansm,
would be perpetual incentive to treason, for if rebel
lion succeeds it is safe and if il fails II is ae the
more We must proclaim in this canvass that State
rights can by no possibility mean such national wrongs
as these The North, which alone the nation for it
alone is loyal is to decide the national creed. and the
South is TO accept it, This is the first great principle
the people impcratiyely required, by their duty to
the future TO maintain, and II must be maintained or
the Republic becomes an anarchy and it, peace rests
not upon the laws but upon the iorJcarauce Of ii'
foes Beside this the true theory Of representation,
the basis Of all Rcpublicanism is to be equally applied
to all the States For fifty years the South governed
the country for purely sectional Interests, upon fraud
ulent votes So far as absolute righ, was concerned,
it might as well have based is CouEe sioual
representation upon tie negroes in Africa as the
negroes in America, and the Northern farmer might
as well have claimed the three-i0hs privilege because
of his herds Of cattle as the Southern planter because
of bis herds Of slaves. The constitutional Amcnl-
men which eQualizes representation giving tie South
no more and 10 less than the North, cmbodies u!'
righteous reform. and SIC must enforce 1t. IL Is no
longer question Of what the Union has BEEN OF what
party shall govern IT, The politics OF the past axe
bo,tcd out by war; the gulf Of TIE Rebellion lls
rolls like an ocean between The past and the III
ture. What the Union shall be is row for tie people
10 declare.
The men who made the Rebellion and The party
which aided their efforts opposed to all reform and
all progress. They would return "a, 20 1850, and
make the war but drunken dream. so the Prci-
dent himself would consider il, if We may judge
him By his speeches and his acts. Every mlu
who hated the Union from l-6l to 1865 every man
who hates it now, every coward who prolonged toe
war BY his cowardice, every friend TO ars-
tocracy, and every foe TO honest labor, is with
the President in BIS policy Of surrender. That
the Southern States could forfeit no right by rebel
lion. that the unjust basis Of representation should
not be changed are the principles upon which he AMI
his followers would shape the future Of the Union In
this strife the whole country is convulsed. war Of
ideas. not less deadly than that Of men, is nccessa-
rily begun aud there is no power on earth that can
stop it. We begin in this the work # the
construction Of the Union and with fidelity aud
courage we should finish it in the Presidential canvass
oflsG-. It is not less important than the revolution
which established the Union, or the war which pre-
served IT. it is the third stage OF the great struggle
to make the American Republic the perfect structure
,r qh- oluta paualfv and freedom