The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1868-08-21

can not oily urge their views of policy,
but where they can enforce them.
| When others shall be admitted in this
manner from the remaining soathern
States, although they will have in
| truth no constituents, they will have
more power in the Senate than ma
jority of the people of this Union liv-
ing in nine of the great States. In vain
the Wisest members of the Republican
party protested against the policy that
| led to this result While the chiefs of
! the late rebellion have submitted to
the results Of the war, and are now qui-
etly engaged in useful pursuits for the
support Of themselves and their fami-
lies, and are trying by the force Of their
example to lead back the people of the
South to the order and industry, not
only essential to their welI-being, but
to The greatness and prosperity of our
common country, we see that those
who, without ability or influence, have
been thrown by the agitations of civil
convulsion into positions of honor and
profit, are striving to keep alive the
passions to which they owe their ele-
walton. And they clamorously insist
that they are the only friends of our
Union--a Union that can only have a
sure foundation in fraternal regard and
common desire to promote the peace,
the order and the happiness of all sec
tions of our land
Events in Congress since the adjourn
ment Of the convention have vastly
increased the importance ofa political
victory by those who are seeking to
bring back economy, simplicity and
justice in the administration Of our ma
tional affairs. Many Republicans have
heretofore clung to their party who
have regretted the extremes of vio-
lence to which it has run. They have
cherished a faith that while the action
Of their political friends has been mis-
taken, their motives have been good.
They must now see that the Republ;-
can party is in that condition that it
cannot carry out wise and peaceful
policy, whatever its motives may be.
1t is misfortune, not only to a cOun-
try, but to a governing party itself,
when its action is unchecked by any
form ofOpposition. 1t has been the
misfortune of the Republican party
that the events of the past few years
have given it so much power that it
has been able to shackle the executive,
to trammel the Judiciary, and to carry
out the views of the most unWiSe and
violent of its members. When this
state of things exists in any party,
it has ever been found that the
judgments of its abest leaders do not
control. There is hardly and able man
who has helped to build up the Re-
publican organization who has not
within the past three years warned it
against its eXceSSseS, who has not been
borne down and forced to give up his
convictions of what the interests of the
country called for, or, if too patriotic
to do this, who has not been driv-
en- from its ranks. If this has been
the case heretofore, what will be its
action now with this new infusion of
men who, without a decent respect for
the views of those who had just given
them their positions, begin there legis-
lative career with calls for arms, with
demands that their States shall be re-
garded as in a condition of civil war,
and with a declaration that they are
ready and anxious to degrade the
President of the United States when
ever they can persuade or force Con-
gress to bring forward new articles of
impeachment?
The Republican party, as we'll as we,
are interested on putting some check
upon this violence. 1t must be clear
to every thinking man that adivision of
political power tends to check the vio-
lence of party action and to assure the
the peace and good order of society.
The election of a Democratic executive
and majority of Democratic members
to the House of Representative would
not give to that party organization the
the power to make sudden or violent
changes, but it would serve to check
those extreme measures which have
been deplored by the best men of both
nniitinaI 'Hhn ra-nlt
would most certainly lead to that peace
ful restoration of the Union and re-es-
tablishment of franternal relationship
which the country desires. | am sure
that the best men Of the Republican
party leplore as deeplyas do the spir-
it of violence shown by those recently
admitted to seats in Congress from the
South. The condition of civil war
which they contemplate must be alb
horrent to every right-thinking man.
| have no mere personal wishes
which mislead my judgment in regard
to the pending election. No man who
has weighed and measured the duties
of the Office of President of the United
S ates can fail to be impressed with
the cares and tolls of him who is to
meet its demands. 1t is not merely to
float with popular currents without a
policy or a purpose. On the contrary,
while our Constitution gives just
weight to the public will, its distin-
gushing feature is that it seeks to pro-
tect the rights of minorities. Its great
est glory is that it puts restraints upon
power. 1t gives force and form to
those maxims and principles of civil
liberty for which the martyrs of free
dom have struggled through ages. 1t