Year: 1864

Old Ship-the same Old Ship-well nigh
restored from wind and wave! Shall we


forget the Pilot? Shall we rebuke the


Pilot? Shall we trust the Ship TO new


and untried, perhaps to bad, unskilied
hands? Shall we say to the world, at
! home and abroad, that this man has
abused his trust :? Shall we run counter
to what appears to have been the selection


of Providence? Shall we admit to all
of now abased Europe, shall we admit to
the South, by a condemnation of Mr..
; LINCOLN, that we have changed our views


and policy in regard to this war? That
we mean some miserable peace that shall
be no peace; or that we desire back again
which Through the Divine judgment)
the South themselves have abolished?


To us, and to the vast majority, as we
believe, of our people, there can be but
one answer to these obvious suggestions.
Mr.. LINCOLN should, by acclamation, re-
I ceive the endorsement of the Union men
of the nation He is the embodiment
| and representative of our policy and of
4 our purposes. Besides these overwhclm-
! ing facts, in favor of his re- election there
is yet another of very grave import
ance.


! Mr.. LINCOLN has just now arrived at a
! point when he is master of the situation.
Now, he comprehends both his work and
I md A N
material change must make material
fusion, must work delay; end, to say the
least of It, the risk of putting matters
back into a bad and complicated shape.
Friends to reward and enemies to pun
ish. these are bad enough in good times.
Shall we, by change in the administra-
ton, take the chances of initiating arm
les Of the devouring hounds of party to
invade the grief of the land?


II is our purpose, somewhat hurried
ly, to run over the leading features of Mr.
LINCoLN's character and administration.
To do this, even to any proper extent,
will require such space in our columns rs
we are sure that our readers will excuse.
Unhesitatinely, therefore, we invite them
to accompany us over what we shall pass
of this field


The National eye first sees Mr. LIN
coin rs one of the pioneers in the design
to break down the enormous exactions of
the South. Raising the mad dog cry of
,Abalitiap, tasne sons,l erm5 lssders has1
advancetls With tie aid of North
ern Doughfaces, repeating and despising
compromises, until, seizing on an in
formal saying of the Supreme Court of
the United States, they had virtually de
clared slavery to be national; they had
sought to sink its roots in the Constitu-
ton, and even in the holy religion of
CHRIST. They had advanced to the point
which maintained that Congress had no
power over the question in the terrific
ries, except to decree and perpetuate
slavery herein.-Finding n willing or
blind tool in Mr. Buchanan. they had got
from the then head of the Nation an
avowal which amounted, practically, to
the constitutional right of Secession;
(for the denial of the power of the Gov
ernmcnt to force a revolted State to its
allegiance amounts to nothing more nor
less than this proposition Through the
blindness or completely of that President
the Army and Navy were scattered and
made useless as against the, even then,
formidable conspirators.


Under such circumstances Mr. LIN
COLIN (who modestly and firmly had an
nounced that, in his Judgment, the time
had come to say to slavery, Thus far
shalt thou go and no farther; and here
shalt thy proud waves be stayed" You
must no longer absorb the Nation its Off
ces and power with that detestablc insti-
tuition and its influences, social and polit-
ical, cnervating, slothful, shameful, bar
barrie as it has turned out to be- } advoca-
ted the simple mission of Republican
ism. in his unsuccessful contest in Illi-
nois. In all the able clear and temper
ate speeches which he made in that
memorable campaign, he carefully stood
upon the one idea, of excluding slavery
from the Territories Everywhere he
then denied any design, or desire. or



right to interfere with the institution in
the States. In a clear and great speech
made after the close of that campaign.
at the Academy of Music in New York.
he reviewed the whole question: he stated
the exact end and aim of Republicanism
to be this assertion of the power of the
Government over the Territories-and
nothing more: concluding the speech
with the almost sublime seltiment-..Let
us have the faith that Right makes
Might, and in that conviction manfullv
do our duty, as we understand it,


Eminentiy man of the people. grown
on our soil. like our grand trees and
mountains, so distinguished had the Iili-
nois campaign made him Us bold, calm,
temperate wise firm cautions and able