American press has not the power to declare war, nor the means to furnish "the sinews."

Let the strong and friendly hands of France and England hold out the Flag of Truce, and gently wave the combatants apart. The sight of the olive leaf will be welcome in the midst of the red deluge to our bleeding brethren over the sea; and whatever result may follow so kind an act, inspired by so good a motive, every Frenchman and every Englishman will have the high satisfaction of feeling that France and England have done their duty.

BLESSED ARE THE PEACE-MAKERS.

THE BATTLE OF THE BALLOT-BOX.

THE signal victories recently won by the democratic party of the Northern States, in the great battle of the Ballot-box, must be taken as the verdict of the people against the war policy of the Lincoln Administration. The Republican journals insist that this great political revolution, or revulsion, is simply an expression of popular discontent at the slow progress of subjugation; that the Federal generals do not move fast enough. The "shades" of countless victims "complain that we are slow;" and ghosts innumerable "walk unavenged among us." The defeated Lincolnites declare that the people are impatient and clamorous for a more "vigorous prosecution of the war;" and that now surely, the great rebellion will be "speedily crushed out." But we cannot regard the general result of the late elections as anything less than a conservative, constitutional triumph; or rather a series of triumphs, beginning with several State elections in October, and culmi

nating in the glorious victory of the 4th of November, when the Empire State of New York elected Horatio Seymour governor; a majority of democrats to the State legislature; and seventeen of the thirty-one members of Congress, making a change in the popular vote of the State since the election of Lincoln of some 120,000! And this, too, in spite of the great army of contractors, speculators, spies, and agents of the Government who, acting on the principle that "all is fair in politics," resorted to all sorts of trickery, treachery, and cheating to defeat the candidates of the Opposition. The great cities of New York and Brooklyn, with thousands of Republican policemen and Federal office-holders arrayed against them, gave a joint majority of 40,000 for the Anti-Lincoln ticket! And this vast army of voters went defiantly to the polls with the following "Resolution" bravely blazoned on their banners:

That we, having confidence in the loyalty of the citizens of the State of New York, reiterate the sentiments heretofore expressed by the Democratic party-that the illegal and unconstitutional arrests and imprisonments of citizens of this State are without the justification of necessity, and we denounce such arrests as a usurpation and a crime, and that the freedom of the press, equally protected by the Constitution, ought to be maintained.

From this specimen plank in the democratic platform," we may judge of the timber and the temper of the whole. The "arrests alluded to, of suspected citizens, and of citizens "suspected of being suspected," who have been dragged from their beds at midnight and thrust into loathsome prisons, "without due form of law," and in direct violation of the sacred guarantees of the Constitution, were made by order of President Lincoln, who, in the above "resolution," is plainly denounced as guilty of "usurpation and crime." This was the great issue of the canvass; and the political party thus denouncing the acts of their President is triumphant throughout the North! Even in Illinois, the President's own State, the verdict of the people is against him; while in his own little town of Springfield there is a majority of 400 against him; and a majority of the Congress elect, from the 4th of March, 1863, to the 4th of March, 1865, is also anti-republican. This is a great, an overwhelming fact; as full of encouragement to the friends of liberty and peace in America, known as "the unterrified democracy," as it is disheartening to that miserable failure, the Black Republican party in power at Washington. It affords a practical vindication of the democratic dogma-"the sober second

thought of the people is always right;" and confirms the old saying, that even in the darkest hour of political trial, "no true patriot should ever despair of the Republic." Mr. Lincoln, who even "jests at grave-making," and who seldom speaks except in anecdotes and parables, illustrates his own feelings at the defeat of his party, by comparing himself to a "fellow out West, who, in running to see his sweetheart, stubbed his toe; but felt too big to cry, and too much hurt to laugh." One feels a sort of mingled pity and contempt for this poor old joker, who, forsaken by all good angels, has been left to "dash his foot against a stone;" but who, in the hour of his agony, can neither cry nor laugh for relief.

We have now indubitable proof that Abraham Lincoln, after a bloody reign of twenty months, is no longer sustained by the party, or the section, that elected him President. Even in the North he has been " weighed in the balance and found wanting." Where would he be if the entire vote of the thirty-four late United States were to-morrow to be cast between him and Breckenridge; or even were he to run against Jefferson Davis, the "arch-traitor" himself! Does any one doubt, that if free choice were given to the whole American people, in a con