The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1868-04-22

DfS fOT prOiOnRiDs tue kfluatlOn.A
general feeling of distrust, vague. per
haps, but not the less uneasy, pervades
the public mind. The Republican,
party has lost much of the prestige and
cohesion which the struggle for nation
al existence gave to it during the war.
and no longer marches to the battle in
the sue confidence. OF victory. As yet,
il has not been able fully to hold its
own in a single State election of the
present year. Notwithstanding the
capital it has derived from the very bad
behavior of the President, and from the
almost assured prospect Of his speedy
removal from %ofice, it beholds the
American public strangely apaihetic 10
party exigencies and partisan appeals
The great historic event of the i'm
peaehmeat, unprecedented and start.
ling as it 10, produces no excitement
whatever, outside the narrow circle of
Imaginative newspaper correspondents
and interested politicians. The Issues
which the Republicans haTe of late
made in the Northern elections have
either been carried hy greatly reduced
majorities or hays been decided against
them. Ohio, by forty thousand major
ity and Michigan, by twenty thous
and, decide. that the strict political
equality of The black and white races
IS not ye. fit to be established. es1
What do thesse things meana It is
easy to talk about local issues and un-
popular candidates, and to ring the
changes upon Democratic frauds, and
SO forth. But there is paloably some.
thing more the matter with the people
thanzcan be thus easily accounted Eaf'
Evidently the mass Of the people are
thinking Of other issues, which the pol
iticians- may find out to their cost, if
they do not take the warning betimes.
We may regret profoundly Gas we GER
tainly dO) that the PEOPLE are not yet
ripe for the application of the princi-
Piles of impartial justice to the politi.
cal relations of men, and to recognize
the equal right of every citizen to a
participation in the government. But
our convictions do not blind us to the
TACT that other questions are nanifestly
now uppermost in the public mind.
The late President LINCOLN, In his
long and memorable contest with STE
PHEN A. DoUdBAs upon the issues of
ten years ago, repeated everywhere his
conviction that it was the just and prop
er object of the Republican party to put
human slavery in a situation "where
the public mind would rest ia the be-
lief of its ultimate extinction" Now,
we are ami: ell at a point at that time
undreamed of alike by Douglas or Lin.
coin, when, slavery being extinguished,
the public mind desires to rest in the
assurance of its extinction, The great
curse which prodacee the wal being
remoued, the people have sought to
discharge their minds of the slavery
question aud all its concomitan*s, and,
to go forward in a new career. no Ion.
ger haunted and disturbed by the ghost
of that dead issue.
II is very apparent to men not will
fully blinded, or not hide. bound by
party traditions, that the great ques-
lions now uppermost in the minds of
the people are not negroes, nor recon
structiou, nor the impeachment of An
drew johnson. Nor is it the great and
issue whether General Grant or
his na1celess Democratic competitor
shall be the next President of the Uni
ted States. fhe one over shadowing1
interest that comes home to all mems
business and bosoms is, what and how
great is to be tho burden laid upon the
shoulders of labor and capital in the
years2 The financial problems
sntailed upon US by the war are fast
eugrossing to themselves all the atten-
ton ard scrutiny heretofore bestowed
thoughtful minds upon the prob
ems of political rights and the equali
of races. The business of the count
-ry after a season of abnormal and uns
prosperity, has collapsed into a
most unsatisfactory state, and the bur.
lens of taxation, almost unfelt in times
every body was flush are press
Dg with ominous severity upon thes
and unwilling subjects who
must continue to bear them. The 'pock-
't-nerye,' proyerbialIy the most %sensi.
i've in the average human organism, 2
keenly to the touch of the tax
,atharer, and the partY which does
thing at suchcactime as this to in
rease fhe public burdens, will have a 5
eavy account to settle with the pub !
10.
/, 1t is easy for our compliment Repub
5caa Senators and Representatives, {
ure in the enjoyment of their comfort 1
BILE five Thousand dollars a year, be- /
idsimileage and other perquisites, to
orget the disagreeable subjects Of tax
lion economy and finance, and to fan {
y that the displacement Of johnson t
ill make all ght, and that they eau I
ak over the course with Grant 10 the I,
all without trouble They are doing .
heir best to ignore the unpleasant facts G
{ the situation, and are spending the T
ublic money, in the intervals of i'm G
with a looseness which is .
ldicetive of any thing but caution or :
( wisdom. By their neglect of fna 8
.alquestiens and their failure to read e
i~se4akation, they are laying up unless il
G are greatly mistaken, a huge arsenal /.
weapons to be used against them iat..
le next election, We assure them. tl4af I
lie people regard it as of much less b
.nse91eDee who is" President of the 3
'nited States, than what is the rate of !.
le income tax which all must pay -
heRgh it may be very Improper to say Q
, it is nevertheless true, that the mass e
elf fellow citizens are far more enx O
as about equality of, race. However d
lady they may be to 6eplore the un- !
constructed condition of the {. ufh, :,
ley have a more intimate conviction 4
: the evils that are rife in the North, II