New-York tribune., 1867-09-27
SIDE ISSUEG.


The Main Question which now divides the
American People concerns primarily the 1uture
political status o. that portion OF our country
men who have jrss been redeemed from chat-
tel Slavery. Shall our -Four Millions OF Amer
leans, who arc wholly or partially OF African
lineage. be regarded and treated by our con-
stitntioDs as men or as brutes? Shall we
count them among the "all men" whom our
Declaration of Independence has proclaimed
"created equal ?" or shall they be dealt with
as an inferior race or caste, with no rights
which others need respect born to obey laws
which they have had and shall have no voice
in. making or mOdfying2 This question must
inevitably dominate until it shall have III some
way been settled.
But our people are also divided and at vari-
ance on many other questions, and consplcu-
ous,y on that of Free Trade rs. Protection, and
that of License rs Prohibition for the Iraihc
in Intoxicating Beverages. Men who think
alike with regard to one OF these Issues as
agree pOintedly as TO another; and 1t Is utterly
useless to try to coerce them into uniformity.
VIGOROUSLY, most of the PrOtectlonists ana OF
the Prohibitionsts are also Republicans, while
most 0f the Democrats are Free Traders ana
for License; but You may find Democrats who
are Protectionists and ProhibitiOnists and Re
pnblicans who are neither, with individuals oi
either party who favor Protection but not Pro-
hibtion, while others support Prohibition anu
oppose Protection.
What is iust fair. and practicable IN the
premises is simply this-Leave every one free
to act in accordance with his own convictions.
Let each Republican and each Democrat be
Protectionist or Free Trader, for License or Tor
Prohibition. as his own Judgment shall dictate.
Thus we have supported Republican candl-
dates whom we knew to cherish convictions
antagonist to ours touching the Tariff and
Liquor questions. and shall do so hereafter
claiming from Republicans no conformity to
our views on these side issues, and only asking
that they allow us the liberty we freely con-
cede them.
This does not satisfy the Free Traders nor
the Liquor men. They insist that the Rcpub-
lican party shall adopt and be guided by their
peculiar tenets, though this should compel
three -fourths of its members to stifle their
own convictions. They cannot be gratiiied
At the Republican State Convention of 1855,
when the Republican party presented its first
made to insert a Prohibition plank in the party
platform. We opposed it as strenuously, and
were denounced therefor as subOrdinating
Temperance to Politics. The party was threat
ened with the defeat which it soon aftcrward
encountered if it did not make Prohibition a
Republican principle: still, the Convention
stood firm. 1t left every Republican free to be
or not to be prohititiOnist, ard to act upon
his own conviction. And in this it did exactly
right
Now the party is menaced and assailed from
the other side. The Liquor men say, virtually,
1--WE are not content with being allowed to
"favor or oppose Prohibition as we see TT. We
"insist that yOa shall act as are think on this
question; if not, we shall turn against and
"upsct the Republican party And this they
have just done in California, and vainly tried
to do in Maine. They tried it and failed in
our State last year. Yet one of them crowded
a resolve embodying his own views through
the late Republican State Convention at Syra-
cuse, in the confusion of its dying moments.
Such resolve is not worth the paper on
which it was written. 1t will bind nobody, sat-
isfy nobody. When the German citizens of
California see fit to vote solidly the Democratic
ticket because Of their love Of Liquor we need
not tIy to secure their votes. The better por-
tion of them will vote with us anyhow, and the
worst against us, no matter by what efforts
and professions we may seek to cOncliate the
latter. Their instincts and daily associations
will override all our prOtestatiODs and pro-
fessiOns.
We have in this State a very liberal License
law. The Liquor men ought to be satisfied
with and help uphold it. They may lawfully
keep their bars open more hours than arc
deemed sufficient by the followers of almost
any other calling. IL is a more thrifty as well
as far more decent business to sell liquor in
this City to-day than it would be if such sale
were as free as that Of bread. But this does
not satisfy the Liquor mcu, and nothing we
can do ,cH satisfy the n. 1t is unwse, there
fore, to try. Better keep olrght on in our
proper path, and let men come and go as they
will.
Maine has a stringent net of Prohibition: so
the Liquor men vote the Democratic ticket -
California has nothing of the kind yet her
Liquor men rally to the Democratic standard.
Thus we lose some votes in the dali Ofl-yoars
but Presidential contest brings every one to
his bearings. Let us each firmly assert his
right to act on every side issue precisely as
his own judgment shall dictate, concedng a
like liberty to others; then, if any choose to
leave lis, we may confidently await their re-
turn, gl1ver and wiser than when they left us.
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a conflict OF authority has just taken place
IN Philadelphia between the civil courts and the
United States military, in which we find An
drew johnson sustaining nrnnni1;nn 10