Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1866-08-16
The Result in Kentucky.


in Kentucky is significant in many
respects. 1t was closely contested
on both sides, and the State
thoroughly canvassed and the full
strength of both parties brought out
at the polls. The result is the cleo
ton Of Duyall, the rebel candidate,
by the large majority of forty thou
sand. That fact cannot be disputed,
but the differences drawn from it by
our Democratic friends we do most
emphatically deny. 1t can in no
sense be regarded as a defeat and
reputation of the principles held
and advocated by the great Union
party of the North. Nor can it in
any sense be regarded as a triumph
of President johnson and his new
party over Congress and its suppor-
ters. The issue, upon which Con-
gress and the President divided, did
not at all enter into the contest in
Kentucky, on the contrary, Hobson
and the party who support him,
have far more affinity with the policy
of the President than with that of
Congress, they are conservative
Union men. rather than radicals
The real issue, upon which the cam
paign was conducted, was strictly q
local one, and so avowed by both
parties, and that the issue was simply
this-whether the men Of Kentucky
who fought to preserve the govern
ment or those who fought to destroy
it, should rule the State-whether
the administration of State and local
affairs should pass into the hands of
returned Confederate officers and
soldiers, or be entrusted to those
true Union men of the State, who
stood by the government during the
whole war, i'll spite of rebel threats
and bribes. Itwas in a word Ken
tucky "gray- back against Kentucky
s'hlue-coat." It was not 4 question
of proper policy to be pursued in
the reconstruction Of the Southern
States, but the same question that
has been fought over and decided in
Tennessee, Missouri and West Vir
ginia-the question whether the
State government shall succumb to
rebel rule, and upon this question,
Kentucky, unlike the States above
mentioned, has declared by 4 large
majority, that men who voluntarily
entered the Confederate army and
devoted all their energies to the de-
struction of their own government.
are more worthy to be honored with
positions of trust and power, than
those who fought TO save the gov
ernment. Such was the issue in
Kentucky, and thus has she decided
1t. 1t was not defeat of the Union
party, but triumph of rebels.
AS to the effects ofstllis election
upon Kentucky herself, we sincerely
regret them, for rebel rule is ruin;
but viewed in the light OF national
politics, We cannot wish that the re
suit had been otherwise. For. that
result effectually dissipates many ol
those delusions into which extreme
conservative men in the North were
fast falling. It demonstrates be.
yond the possibility of doubt that
the rebels Of the South will never be
content with anything less than en-
tire and complete control of the gov
ernment. By rebellion they lost it
but will never rest until they have
regained it. And in accomplishing
that object, the Democratic party ol
the North are pledged to lend them
all the aid in their power. They nc
longer ask for pardon, they now de-
mand power. They no longer ask
to be freed from the pains and pen
alties of their treason, but that they
should be rewarded for the same,
and the poor old Democratic party
of the North, ever ready to do the
bidding of its old master, straitens
ND once more its tottering form. and
with what little strength yet remains