year later,
when the supporters of that cause won a series of brilliant political
victories in the very States which had either pronounced for the
Democrats in '62, or had given but small Republican majorities. The
loyal majority in Ohio in 1863 was something that approached to the
fabulous, because then the violent members of the Opposition, encouraged
by what had taken place a year earlier, had the audacity to place Mr.
Vallandigham in nomination for the office of Governor. Had that
individual been elevated to the post for which he was nominated, Ohio
must have been arrayed in open opposition to the Federal Government,
almost as decisively so as South Carolina or Virginia. Had he been
defeated by a small majority, his party would have taken arms against
the State Government, and Ohio, compelled to fight for the maintenance
of social order at home, would have done nothing for the national cause.
But the majority against Mr. Vallandigham was upward of one hundred
thousand; and to attempt resistance to a Government so potently
supported as that of which Mr. Brough was the head was something that
surpassed even the audacity of the men who had had the bad courage to
select Mr. Vallandigham for their leader, in the hope of being able to
make him the head of the State. That which was done in Ohio, not seven
months since, should be done in the nation not seven months hence, if we
would have peace preserved at home, and all our available means directed
to the work of destroying the armies of the Southern Confederacy, and to
the seizure of its ports and principal towns. The national popular
majority should be so great in support of the war as to prevent any
faction from thinking of resistance to the people's will as a
possibility. The moral effect of a mighty political victory in November
would be almost incalculable, both at home and in Europe; and in the
Confederacy it would put an end to all such hopes of ultimate success as
may rest upon the belief that we are a divided people.

The Democratic party should not be restored to power, happen what may in
the course of the present campaign. This we say, not because we believe
the Democratic masses wanting in loyalty or patriotism, but because we
are of opinion that there should be no change either in the position of
parties or in the _personnel_ of the Government. There ought to be no
doubt as to the soundness of the views that are held by most Democrats.
They love their country