New-York tribune., 1868-04-24
THE SOUTHERN ELECTIONS.

We have q dispatch from New-Orleans "mch
seems to place beyond doubt the fact that the
State of Louisiana has voted to resume her
place in the Union and start anew in loyalty
and progress.
South Carolina is first and foremost in the
emphasis she has given to the grand reaction.
She, above all others most responsible for our
past seven years of desoatiOn, is most en-
phatic in remuneration of error and most cordial
and complete in the manner and the heartiness
of her return
Arkansas has made her calling and election
sure, and it should not be many days before
her restoration is completed. She has heartily
and unanimously adopted the Fourteenth
Amendment, has elected Senators and Repre-
sentatves in Congress- and fulfilled all the
conditions precedent to full restoration.
North Carolina is just closing her election,
and the result is not doubtful. She, too has
seen the error of her ways, and replaces upon
our national banner the star Obscured In 1861
by her reluctant following of her impetuous
neghbOr. We hope to record 10000 majority
for the right side in the Old North State.
Georgia's fate is not so clear yet we have
strong hopes of a favorable result. AT this
writing the returns do not warrant predic-
ton we can only wait and hope for the
best. The extreme Rebel element in this
State has managed to draw away a large
number of naturally Republican votes, and
this in addition to the reduction In the colored
vote made by threats, has worked greatly
to their advantage. The orders of Gen.
Meade indicate but do not explain some pecu-
liar circumstances likely to have a serious effect
upon the vote but what this is, and how far
influential. we do not know The canvass has
been active and somewhat bitter, but, perhaps,
not more so than should have been expected.
The crowning act Of Rebel infamy, and, we
may add, folly, was the murder of Ashburn at
Columbus. That act ought to cost the perpe-
traitors dearly, and it is reasonable to expect
the vote will show as much.
OF Alabama our readers know as much as
we do Had her vote been taken on the basis
applied to the States now electng, she would
have been two months ago in the Union, with
her Representatives and Senators in Congress,
and loyal State government in full opera
tion. The mistake in her case Is not to
he repeated. That she is entitled to
immediate restoration is attcsted by the
votes of $1,000 loyal citizens against
less than 1900 traitors-votes, too, cast
under circumstances of threat and actual
peril that prove each voter hero. If not very
soon restored by some special act, the State of
Alabama will be foul spot on the South
ern map. Surrounded by loyal South Caro-
lina Georgia, Louisiana, and, we hope, Missis-
sippi, she will be isolated from the sympathy,
though not from the protection, of her sisters.
Florida will vote early in May, and we have
no reason to doubt that she will come joyfully
back 10 the fold. The little differences arising
i'm her Convention are settled, and the election
of loyal officers is no longer n matter of doubt.
Away on the South Western border the great
State of Texas waits only the appointed day to
indorse anew her fealty to the Union By-and
by we shall have two or three States in her
vast territory, and by just so much increase
the power of loyalty in the Senate When
Texas was dragged into the Union by the main
force of the pro-Slavery Democracy. aided by
the Northern doughfaccs, the knights of the
whip and coffle shrewdly provided for cutting
up old Sam HOuston's Republic into
haf-a-dozcn States, each to be slave territory,
thereby hoping, of course, to preserve in the
United States Senate the balance of power then
seriously menaced by the rapid growth of the
great North West. Now the case is somewhat
changed, and the division of Texas will favor
liberty instead of bondage. We shall make
each separate fraction free State instead of
the hell-upon-earth provided for by the men
who worked so hard and so successfully to
drag her into a Union for which she had little
liking.
The last, and. we imagine, the hardest bat
81 tl,o for atru uoti tn ha
fought in Virginia and Mississippi. The Con-
vention in the former State has Just adjourned.
1t has perfected constitution which is. in the
main, just and proper It's labors were per-
formed under serious discouragements there
was no Infamous annoyance that was not flung
at the members that blood hound of the press,
The Richmond Examiner, rehearsed all the ma
lignant bitterness of its earlier years, and kept
up, day by day, series of savage attacks
that might have provoked the patience of
job. At the heels of the leader of the pack
came a brood of ours whose noise was quite out
of proportion to their bite, but they served to
keep up the irritation, and did their very best
to hinder and thwart anything in the shape of
loyalty and restoration Yet constitution
has been made which not one Of these mali
cous enemies dare criticise, and we sincerely
hope to record its adoption by the people.
Should it be rejected, the proud old State of
Virginia, the Mother of Presidents the home
Of the chivalry, will enjoy the distinction of
being the only satrapy (as they choose to call
it) in the country. We hope her solid citizens
will think better of themselves and their State,
and make up their minds to keep step to the
music of the Union.
The Mississippi Convention is still in session,
but their work is nearly done. The restoration
of Arkansas and Louisiana must have favor
able effect upon the home of jefferson Davis,
and we cannot doubt that she will indOrse her