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Absolved from Responsibility.

As the smoke lifts from the field, it becomes apparent that Abraham Lincoln was re-elected on Tuesday last, president of the United States. Believing, as we do, that this result is the heaviest calamity that ever befell this nation; regarding it as the farewell to civil liberty, to a republican form of government, and to the unity of these states, it is needless to say that his election has filled our heart with gloom.

But those who have contributed to Abraham Lincoln's success declare their conscientious belief that McClellan's election would have been followed by the permanent disunion of the republic. We cannot do otherwise than admit their sincerity, for if they are not honest and earnest in this belief there can be no possible justification of their course. As we are all fellow-citizens of our country, democrats and republicans alike, we must remember that we are all in the same boat, and will all be equally affected by the fate of the nation. If those who voted for McClellan shall prove to be correct in their opinions of the dire results which are to flow from the elevation, a second time, to power of an administration under which we have already been visited with afflictions so terrible, and which has made such fearful inroads upon the constitutional rights of the citizen, the fact that a man voted for Lincoln will by no means exempt him from the calamities that will befall our country. And if, as his supporters assert, the effect of his policies is to be a restored Union and re-established national prosperity and health, his political opponents cannot be debarred from participation in the blessings which all must realize.

Fearing much, therefore, and hoping little, the democracy must await the unfolding of events of which Providence alone can behold the issues. We have honestly believed the principles we have maintained, and that their success was absolutely essential to the best welfare of the country. Now that we are defeated, and those principles rejected by the popular decree, no matter by what means obtained, we can only pray, as good citizens, that we were wrong and our opponents right in the issues of the contest that has closed. God grant that it may be so, should be every patriot's petition. But we must acknowledge that our hopes, as yet, have not much foundation of faith to rest upon. We have done the best in our power; we have fought a more gallant fight than any political campaign ever witnessed before, and the result is now in the hands of a higher power in the next four years, no living creature can hold the democratic party responsible.