Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-08-28
O6lolI' lI',Stt;} ;Sttatteslloal11,,.. .ttls,;Il i H..
The: Prospects Of the Campaign.
Pcwerfnl Under- ent Of
ii Popular Dissaiisfac ton wish Z
n1iw LHs i iIsadicaIisn. oi 1nsiHvirp
The Election or the Dem ratio Can
didatcs Admitted by an Inde--$a
- pendent JoarnaI to, be a., -
s,,o "a =, EOregone Conclu-I IA erlt mi M,
= .,fff-- - sion. -, ,,as3gt a =

I THn fHaai
s,,os sa.it Z, Eoregone Conclu- a "a mi No.
10 srsflivfs, 1se sion. .sTs9y ass5lh 81
lfo vIs1liim sG------lDf.ai bna ,iou
boa IFfom the Round Table, August 2s9ab iis
The Presidential campaign SO far has
consisted of preparation rather than of
conflict The combatants have Been
sharpening their arms, measuring their
distances and daccumulating their re-
sources, but oneitheirl has yet actually
taken the field.e sTfumpets of defiance
and fish horns Of vitpperation have Been
sounded on both sides in q manner suf-
fciently discreditable,l and the respects
i've candidates have been SO satisfactori. !.
Ily proved to be the basest o., mankind,
that neither would seem to possess any.
moral advantage over the other. The
mouthpieces Of each fairly contest the
palm for pre- eminence in black guardism,
and Mr. Greeley's La Crosse Republican
is neck -andsneckl with Mr.. Pomeroy's
La Crosse Democrat. 2-5 f5i8 h3haueS'Iol
Specifically speaking, the chances of
the two parties may appear to be rela-
lively unchanged, and the probability,
therefore, would seem to be vastly in
favor of the election of Gen. Grant. Our
conviction was freely expressed at the
time of the New York nomination, that,
in selecting Gov. Seymour for their
standard bearer, the Democrats had set
the seal to their own defeat. Did we
Judge merely from indications on the
surfaee, this conviction might remain
unchanged. We have, however, become
persuaded that there is powerful under
current of popular dissatisfaction with
Radical rule and Radical measures,
which is gaining rather than losing
strength with the passage of time, and
that, consequently, the chances, which
at present we estimate as nearly even,
may incline in November, in a victori-
GUS degree, to the Democratic side. a.n
iItlis plain that-notwithstanding the
assistance of some of their old-time al
lies, the fre-eating zealots OF the South
the efforts of the Radicals to afix to the
Democratic cause the stigma of disloyal-
ty. or, in general, of attachment to dead
and gone unpopular issues, meets no
sympathetic response from the great
body of the people. The civil war is
not to be fought over again, neither is
slavery to be revived. There are repu-
diators among Republicans as we'll as
among Democrats, and the respective ad-
vocates of free trade and protection are
alike to be found in the ranks of both
parties. In a word, there is no distinc-
tive principle or measure on either side
which is likely to outweigh with the
bulk of voters their convictions on the
subject of reconstruction. Substantially
speaking, those who believe in and
would perpetuate universal negro suf-
frage will vote solidly on one side, and
those who disbelieve in universal negro
suffrage. or would leave it to the regula-
ton Of the States themselves, will vote
on the other. sflf a7t 9r.T t4 Jaers fI-Y
4 dAssuredly,5 no intelligent man can
credit that there would be less danger to
the national honor, so far as the public
debt is concerned, in the success of a
party which counts General Butler
among its most influential leaders, than
would arise from the victory of its rival.
But in point of fact, no immediate ques-
tion of finance will be determined either
one way or the other by the Presidential
election. Prospectiyely, there may be
looked for that mitigation of public bur-.
dens, Or that aggrayation of them, which
becomes respectively natural when man
trained in public affairs or a man ignorant
of them-both being admitted to be-
equally patriotic-accedes to a COM
manding and influential position. In the
absence ofispecifc pledges, or indeed, of
any definite or unchecked control bearing
upon matters of exchequer, so far as
preference attaches to either. the Demo-
cratic candidate should manifestly be the
favorite. But the outrageous blunders
of the party in power in all things relat-
ing to this momentous subject. their utter
want of anything like settled OF. perma-
nent policy, the enormous injury they
have inflicted upon nearly every busi-
ness interest in the country by their
proerastinations. their uncertainties, and
their ignorance, undoubtedly have per-
suaded thousands of sober-minded men
that on this ground alone any possible
change in administration would be a
change for the better. Most certainly,
no conceivable party or policy could be
worse than those =, that, by refus-
ing in time of unprecedented
public burdens to save the country
$65,C00,000 a year; and who, by their
connivance with whisky frauds, have
impoverished the treasury to an amount
equal to more than half the entire pres
ent annual revenue. Now, all this
cheating, imbecility and folly, may be
inseparable from loyalty and hatred of
Copperheads and disinterested love of
negroes; but if they are, being of very
palpable injury to the national interests,
while their inevitable. adjuncts are of
but theoretic advantage, it seems ex-
ceedingly likely that practical people
may prefer, apart from all other issues,
to rid themselves of the whole load of
good, bad and doubtful qualities to-
gether. ss a.
But the election hinges upon recon-
struction, to which all other questions,
however important, are evidently to be
reckoned as subordinate. The Republi.
cans, well knowing their most vulner-
able side, deprecate this view of the case
with refreshing simplicity. The issue
of reconstruction, say they, is closed by
events Reconstruction is thing ac-
complished. Hence it is sinadmissable,
or at least Improbable, to discuss the
wisdom of the process. In other words,
a premium should be offered for all
future time to encourage rancorous, pre-
n; pffataf opd upcon ctifufio,o ~ Io,-;.1.t