Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1868-11-17
THE RESULT.

used the humble power we could conN -
-dsfaat sncb . contamination. We beiie'eu'
and still believe, that if there e'el 80.
epoch in the national history when i'pe So
manship was demanded to meet -
exieencies that time is the Prese"'' "D
.bore was offered for our cholcc' oh Tue ono
hand a mere military chIetta'n, Win cruue
~ nnmotured views on the great questions
of ,nblc policy, with which the incoming
administration must grapple; and on the
other hand an eminent civilian whose whole
life aud extraordinary abilities have been
denoted with sound judgment AID marked
acceptance, to political service, we could not
for a moment hesitate as to the course it was
our duty to pursue We labored, therefore,
with whole aud hopeful heart for the cleo
ton of Horatio Seymour. Our wishes and
those of two millions and a half of staunch
democrats scattered throughout the land have
been disappointed, How many thousands
and hundreds of thousands of other voices
would have been added to those millions had
they not been stifed by the tyranny which
States, we cannot tell but this we do venture
to express as our belief, that of the aggre-
gate, sound political wisdom and trustworthy,
saving political honesty of tie country more
than one-half was excluded from any partcI-
patton in the late election of the chief magls-
trate of the nation.
1.-THE times have been
NH .La hrain he man
And there an Lud,''
says Macbeth, but it is neither our purpose
to compose a Jeremiade. nor caste the fortunes
that henceforth await the American people.
We shall neither resign ourselves to useless
complainings over defeat, nor elate ourselves
with the cherished idea which seems to have
exhilerated the spirits of SO. many of our demo-
cratic cotemporaries that the President elect
will be more conservative than the party that
elected him.
We believe much injury has been done to
the interests of the country, and much more
is likely to be wrought by the freedom of
speculation in which the press, recently array
ed in opposition to the election Of Gen Grant,
has INDUCED, in reference to the line ofpolicy
he is expected to pursue. Whilst it is true
that no sane man can suppose that the Rad
ical party selected Grant as its nominee because
he was the fittest representative of its views,
or that the thousands of conservatives who
voted for and elected him, did so because he
was the candidate of the Radical party, and
was expected to carry out its ruinous measures;
1 oES Lo, hron ola o6
as party triumph, and all attempts to construe
it other wise will but serve to excite the
jealousy and distrust of those who claim to
have clothed him with power, and VINO will
be the more exacting as to the manner in
which he shall use it as it sees the hopes of
the conservatives Of the country centeripg
upon him.
a breach thus early made between the
party aud its recent standard bearer cannot
but enure to the general injury. 1t would
be but renewal of the Congressional and
Presidential war which has been waged with
SO much ferceness during the past three
years, and from which, We believe, has sprung
many of the sore evils under which the af-
ficted South is grooming to-day. Beginning
doubtless with an honest intention of reliev-
ing US from oppression and restoring US to q
position Of equality in the Union, Andrew
johnson found himself almost on the thresh-
old of his term powerless to do us any good.
Regardless of the Constitution, and following
the instincts of its blind passions, Congress
invaded the rights of the high Office to which
he had been called, stripped it of its ancient
aud guaranteed powers, and, in the curt LAM
guage of Wendell Phillips. made the Presi
dent of the United States the mere ConSta-
6le of Congress. The Executive powers
then absorbed by the Legislative department
have never been transferred, and until re.
possessed, however pure or patriotic the mo-
tives or purposes of the new President, he
has the power neither to redress the wrongs
nor inaugurate the reforms SO essential to the
enduring peace and prosperity of the whole
country. Nor can we expect that there will
be any haste to re-invest the Presidential Of
fee with its Constitutional prerngativcs whilst
the organs Of the Democratic party are so in.
dustriously engaged in the task of convinc
ing their opponents that their recent triumph
is to be a fruitless one, that their confidence
has been misplaced, and that they have put
ga barren sceptre in an unlineal hand, no
son of theirs succeeding" The Conserva-
tives, in their defeat, have had thrown upon
them almost the same responsibilities that
would have devolved upon them had they
been victorious. Theirs, in great part, will
still be the work OF restoring the government,
if ever it is to be restored to the condition
in which its founders established il Tn nn