Year: 1868

we aie ou the eve OF an .electlOn. On the
Sd of November next, you will be called up
on to exercise the most inestimable privilege
vouchsafed to free and Independent people
the right of suffrage; right which our
forefathers fought to win and which we have
struggled to MAINTAIN. The elective fran
chise is the great Distinguishing mark be-
express their will silently at the ballot box
despots proclaim their edicts from the can
mons mouth. Rulers, under a republican
form of government. are the servants of the
people; with monarchies, the reverse is the
case. The ballot is the great conservator of
the rights and liberties of the people IN whose
hands it is placed, and its voice is mightier
than the sword.


At the approaching election, questions Of
more vital importance to the American peo-
pie than any which have heretofore arisen
during our existence a nation, have to be
settled; whether favorably or antagonistcal-
ly to our nation remains to be determined.
L W. POI stCcs tliC dbtiPOutS Vi tdcil OtieT III
their platforms of principles. have placed
their representatives in the field. and are ap-
peaiing to the people for their suffrages. The
momentous questions at issue between the
parties have been brought before the bar of
public opinion for a final settlement; the
people are the jury, and the press and speak
fl,ao 7 at ba
cedents of the lltigants. We contend that
the Democratic party of to-day, as well as its
opponent, dates its existence from the out
breaking of the rebellion. The booming of
the first gun trained on Sumter, loaded by
Democratic hands, and sighted by Democrat
ic eyes, was the announcement of the birth
of both parties. They had two distinct and
avowed purposes-the one to destroy and
the other to preserve our nationality. A
lapse of Sven years has not materially
changed the designs and intents of either
party. The contest upon the field Of battle
was nominally conflict between the Gov
ernment and the seeding States in reality
it was war of principles-the solution of
the question whether man is capable of self
government. The appeal to the sword result
ed in a verdict favorable to the perpetuity of
free institutions. But at what a sacrifice
was it gained. What deeds of heroic valor i;
what self sacrificing devotion to country, hu-
man rights, and the cause of freedom, were
necessary before the Federal compact, sealed
with the blood and drenched with the tears
of the nation. was declared indissoluble. All
recollect the action of the Copperhead party
of the North during the war. Their sneers
at Union successes and shouts of triumph at
rebel victories their resistance to the draft
and declarations that the war was an "unho-
ly crusade against the South" Without
daring to take up arms in defence of the
cause which they openly espoused, the whole
weight of their votes and moral influence
was thrown into the scale on the side Of re-
bellion. Upon the surrender of Lee NOM
inal peace was restored-a peace which ex-
tended to the arms, but not to the hearts of
the traitors and their northern allies-a hol
low truce to enable them to recruit their
wasted energies and adopt new system of
tactics. Advised and encouraged by the ac-
ton of Johnson and his supporters, the reb
els of the South have refused to accept their
defeat as anything more than en- unfortunate
turn in the tide of armed conflict, and the
American people are astounded at the reap
pearance of the old, battle-stained issues of
the war, at the ballot-box. We contend
that the success of the Democracy at the
coming election would be virtual recogni-
ton that the South demanded nothing more
than her rights in 1861. That party is now
in favor of repeating every Act of Congress
passed since the termination of the war.
which in anywise affects the status of the
States which seeded. In other words, they
hold that the Southern States lost none of
their rights and privileges ~ secession. This
is the true doctrine of the Democratic party.
The full knowledge of the fact is before the
American people. The enormities which are
daily being committed upon Union men in
the South, by Democrats, and their scornful
rejection of every method of reconstruction,
except upon their own terms, as well as the
defiant tone of the party platform, are also
too widely disseminated to admit of plea OF
ignorance in regard to their intentions, if
successful. Seymour and Blair, nominated
by Convention in which were ninety ex-
rebel officers, are as much the leaders of a re-
bellion as ever Lee and Johnson were the
only difference is in the arms of the hosts
ballots instead of bayonets. The issues in
volved in the war are not settled-on!y
| transferred from the field Of battle to the
ballot-box. VIII the people vote as they
fought:


San Francisco Correspondence.