Year: 1864




The most ardent Of the loyal eaguers
must be to day regrstting the position he has
occupied; if he be a true American patriot.
The history Of the Administration Of our
public affairs for three years begins to be
read now with unclouded eyes, and if regret
and sorrow amounting even to shame, can
overtake man who has lent himself to the
support of the follies and wrongs enacted by
Mr. Lincoln, now is the time for bushes.


1t is not only the question "what has been
been accomplished" which men are asking,
but the other question, going deeper into the
philosophy of things, "how could any sane
man expect the policy which was adopted, 10
produce any other result" 1t has been q
grand deluson which seized on the minds Of
men, - great deception which overlook them.
A calm review Of the past brings deep sor.
row for every true heart. We might have
saved all this terrible sacrifice. We might
have avoided the war entirely, and cemented
the Union more firmly than ever; and after
war began we might have conducted it ia
such way as to divide the enemy, rouse a
Union and Constitution party in the very
heart Of the Confederacy, and shake the
rebel building to pieces by studying its own
weakness and exciting internal contests.--
There were opportunities again and again
offered for peace and peaceful victory over
rebellion which have been wilfully thrown
away. The negotiations, which with ons
voice the whole country now demands,
might have been had with certainty OF Union
and peace long ago There have been twelve
times in each year when the war might have
been brought to a successful end. The mis-
erable history is now plain to all eyes. The
present condition of the nation appals the
stoutest heart; and to this condition we are
brought by the utter incapacity Of the Ad.
ministraton.


But the review, while it brings shame,
does not bring despair. 1t is not time to
write Ichabod on our walls, for the glory is
not yet wholly gone. If all who love their
country will consent to sink partisan sssocia..
tions, political antipstbes. party alliances, to
forget personal prejudices, and act together
in the one grand object Of placing in power
an Administration which possesses the wis.,
dom, the energy, the ability and the faithful
ness to Constitution and law which Mr.. Lin.
coin SO lamentably lacks We may and will
save the old Union and restore the old peace
and grandeur.


On all sides men say, we must have a
change. In the very haunts of radical poll
ticians the confession is most distinctly
made. A CHANGE, A CHANGE, ANY
CHANGE, is the demand. Nor could we
change for the worse. But if the citizens Of
this great nation act together, there will be
change which will at once bring hope and
confidence into all hearts. A sound consti.
tutonal Administration must be elected.
The laws must be restored here at the North,
and then they will be restored at the South.
The Constitution must again become our
law, and then it will be made the law of the
whole land Instead Of inviting rebels to
submit to the lawless demands Of radical
platform, we must hold out TO them the Com
stitution, firm, unshaken, inviolate, and limit
our demands to that, and that alone. We
believe that the Union may yet be saved.
There is abundant reason for the belief. But
if the policy of Mr.. Lincoln is perpetuated,
the future is hopeless Never was there
time in a nations history when the demand
for united popular effort was so great. When
the war began, the party in power besought
the opposition to forget all differences and
unite in one grand effort to save the nation
by war. The answer was instant. The
whole North was rs one man. Democratic
rushed to the field. The armies were two
thirds or three fourtbs made up of Democratic.
1t is impossible for any Republican to say
that the call for united North was not an.
swered to the letter. The Administration
violated all its pledges, violated all ts
pledges. violated the Crittenden resolutions,
betrayed the trust committed to it by an en-
thusiastic people. Now the conservative
men invite the people to unite with them,
and. by one grand effort, overthrow the Ad
ministralon which has guided us into the
dangers that environ us. They have every
right to make the demand. Let them be
heard. Let the people rise as one man
again, to save the nation ON old constitu'
tona! principles, and our word for it. this
uprising will have vastly more glorious re-
suits than that of 1861.


Journal of Commerce.