The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-10-22

though the manner in which that war was
conducted was violent and sometimes out
rageous. They were right in setting aside
the gallant and gifted Clay, identified as he
was with issues extinct as erroneous. They
were right in voting to defer the final con-
test for the supremacy of the Union until the
Union was strong enough to endure it. They
were right in frustrating the inconsiderate
ambition of Douglas. They were right in
accepting the issue of battle when it could no
longer be postponed, and gloriously right in
perssting in the fight under discouragements
and disasters without parallel in the history
of the world
The duty Of electing President is again
before us. The task ought to be easier than
it ever was before since the days of John
Adams. That insolent and determined band
OF men who represented the planting interest
will never again be the disturbing and dis
tracing element which they once were. Their
power is broken, their wealth is consumed,
their prestige is gone. Those of them who are
not by nature unteachable will reflect upon
past events and become wise through suffer
ing; the unteachable will be compelled
to submit to a state of things which no
power of man can reverse Nor will the ex-
cessive influence of the President interfere
with the choice of his successor, because
a President severed from the party which
elected him is a thing of naught in the politics
may pack a convention, establish newspapers,
and hire orators, but all his efforts cannot pro-
duce one Presidential elector. The linea heir,
too, of the administration shares both the
odium and the impotence of his chief; and in
Short there appears nothing to prevent the
selection of candidates who will have a legti-
mate claim to the confidence and esteem of the
parties they will represent.
The South will again, as so often before,
T,rOvida tbn nation with an ieaua Tho r,rasf
mass of the Northern people yearn for a cOun-
try once more united and satisfed-the whole
of it. Not the less determined are they that
the abolition of slavery shall be real,
complete, and final, and that no other
peculiar institution" shall arise to take
its place, and call into existence a class
whose interests will be opposed to the general
interest, and whose motive of action will more
resemble the sentiment of a clan than a patri-
otic love of the whole. These are the real
desires OF the people of the Northern States
And hence the conduct of the South during
the next few months will exert a powerful
influence upon the nominating conventions of
1865. If the South is orderly and reasonable
candidates Of moderate and conservative
opinions will be in request; while another
New Orleans massacre would give supremacy
to the most radical wing of the ruling party.
Must the next President be a soldier
The desire to honor and reward the men
associated with the final triumph of the
nation over its enemies is natural But
could the Presidency be a reward to
them Their fame is now assured, and
their position eminently desirable. In
trenched, as they now are, in the love
and gratitude of all their fellow citizens,
without distinction of party, would it be be-
coming in any party to subject their lives and
good name to the relentless scrutiny of
Presidential campaign They take them from
sphere which they adorn, and lure them into
one for which their past lives and their set
tied habits may have untitled them. Let our
generals rather enjoy the honors which the
country has awarded them, and go down to
their graves wearing the uniform which they
have assisted to make illustrious. Let us be-
ware of subiecting them to a trial from which
scarcely any character issues without the
revelation OF some blemish before unseen.
We have had one professional soldier, and
only one, in the Presidential chair for
Washington, Jackson, and Harrison were
citizens who only became soldiers when their
country needed defenders, and resumed the
arts of peace when their services in the field
were no longer required. General Taylor alone
was professional soldier, and the history of
his administration does not warrant repeti-
ton Of the experiment.
People sometimes complain that the choice
OF President does not take a wider range in
stead Of being confined to the little circle of
men prominent at Washington. But this ap-
pears to be a necessity of the case, and it is
perhaps fortunate necessity. No man would
be so likely to make injurious mistakes, or fall
into unworthy hands, as aPresident unfamiliar
with the mon and ways of the city of Wash
ingtOn. The best intentions might not pre-
vent his being continually misled, and, like
Harrison and Taylor he would be likely to
fall a victim to the distracting excite
ments and intense anxieties of his place. The
captain of ship should be an honest man
but he must also know the ropes. We want
for President man and a patriot, but one
who is also enough of politician to know
politicians and their ways. "The tools to him
who can use them.'
The public is little aware of the activity
with which the business of President making
is carried on at present. A public man, who
is within the circle of possible candidates,
scarcely performs public act which is not
either prompted or influenced by his Presi-
Dental aspirations and there is scarcely
vote given in Congress upon an important
question which is not given with view to its
supposed effects upon the prospects Of the
voters favoTite candidate. Does prominent
person write a letter favOring the device for
swindling servant girls which goes by the name
of ofFenianism 1t is a sure sign that he hopes to
be voted for in November, 1868. Is a public
man of great eminence and popularity silent
on public topics and is he never mentioned in
connection with the Presidency by leading
newspapers known to be devoted to his in
terests 1t is an indication that he is moving
heaven and earth for a nomination. Is a man
of real merit assailed by slander, and are his
public services systematically underValued or