The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1867-10-17
The Late Election.


. '"o ""u Jenr preceding The
great Presidential campaign. Il
, will be proclaimed in peoples faces
! that it is "a mighty revolution
which has now attained the resist
less force Of an avalanche" A par
ty full Of hungry, famishing dema
f gogues can hardly be blamed. per-
baps, for making the most Of their
little local gains" Admit all that
can be claimed, what docs it amount
to? They have elected Judge or
a constable here. and reduced a
Republican majority there. Their
votes, added to fragment Of pre-.
jndiced, unmanly Republicans,
have refused to confer suffrage mp
on handful Of black men in Ohio.
Give them the full benefit of it. and
throw in the judge elected in Penn.
sylvania, and Of what practical
consequence will it be four weeks
hence? These seeming gains con.
sist OF what? The transfer Of the
floating vote" from the Republi-
can TO the COpperhead side. Next
year, when a President and Con
gress arc to be elected, they will
float back to the ranks Of the par
ty to which they belong.
The Republican party has ex.
pcrlenced reactions" before. This
is a very mild and light visitation
to that which it endured in 1862
IL was struck with u blast in that
year, which its opponents claimed
would send tito the bottom, but il
quickly righted up, and sailed tri-
umphantly into po:t.
Did the mighty reaction" Of
that year stop The war, or change
the purpose Of the Republicans to
cmancipate slaves and enlist them
as soldiers in the army ? That was
the issue. The great work of eman-
cipatlon was not by any means as
tar advanced when the elections CT
1862 were held as the work of re-
construction is now. 1t was the
tall when a new Congress was to
be elected. The object O the Cop
perheads was to force the President
to recall the emancipation procla-
nation; they argued the uncon-
stitutional!iy oft, and drew dismal
pictures OF the war of races"
which must ensue, and of the
wholesale butchery of innocent
white women and children BY saw
age, ignorant niggers, that incvi.
tably would result from that incen.
diary Abolition decree" The 0in.
dePendont noalers- were prodigi-
ous'y alarmed by these evil prog.
nostications, and frightened at the
bIoodshed, and discouraged by the
defeats sustained by Mcclellan,
Buell. aud other Conservative Dem.
ocratic Generals; and so badly
were these timid souls scared that
they bolted their party and voted
the Copperhead ticket.
Just recall the result of that
years election. Maine gave but
COPS Republican majority, and one
Copperhead elected to Congress.
New Hampshire gave 3,79S Demo
cratic majority for Governor, and
one Democrat elected to Congress.
New York went Copperhead on the
State ticket by lO,752, eIecting
Seymour Governor, and seventeen
members of Congress of the same
iIk, against fourteen Republicans. |
Pennsylvania went Copperhead
by 1924, and elected thirteen Cop
perheads to Congress, against clov-
en- Republicans.
New Jersey voted the same way
by 1857 majority, and elected
four Copperheads to Congress, to
one Republican.
Ohio went Copperhead by 5577, |
and elected fourteen Copperhead |
Congressman against FIVE Rcpu bli.
cans.
Indiana went Copperhead by o.
543, and elected seven Copperheads
against four Republicans.
Illinois also went Copperhead by |
1886, and elected nine Copper
heads to five Republicans.
In Michigan the Republican ma
jority was cut down TO G,6l4 ma.
jority, and one Congressman was
lost.
Wisconsin went Coppcrhead by
l,l67 votes, and elected three Cop
perhead Congressman against three
Republicans.
The Copperhead organs and dem,
agogues were perfectly wild over
these tremendous gains and popu-
lar revolutions. But what benefit
did they derive from them? Were
they able to stop the war? or ar
rest emancipation ? or prevent the
employment of negroes us soldiers?
or revoke the habe1S corpus sus-
pension? or restore the Conserva-
tive Generals TO the command OF
tho armies? or stop corscriptions
or volunteering? No, not one OF
them. The war was prosecuted
with mere vigor than befO e.,
Emancipation was perfected, and
black soldiers were enlisted; the
draft was enforced; and trcasona-
BILE Copperheads were arrested and
put into Forts Warren and Laiay-
cite, At the subsequent Presiden,
tial election there was swing.
back of the political pendulum, and
the Copperhead party were crush
ingIy defeated. Every State which
was lost in 1862 was recovered in
1864, except New Jersey.
This so.called reaction of this
fall is no more TO be compared with
that of 1862, than fresh breeze
to hurricane which prostrates
everything in its march.