Franklin Repository

Before this issue shall be placed in the hands of our subscribers, the voters of Pennsylvania will have decided which party shall bear the honors of the election. We confidently expect that the good old Commonwealth will prove true to her fame, and will bestow her gifts upon the men who were true to her, and who won for her the renown she has enjoyed among her loyal sister States. If indifference or false security has kept her patriotic masses from the polls, she will have inflicted upon the cause of good government, peace and national prosperity a wrong that will shadow her bright record. Pennsylvania has nothing in common with the Democratic party. Her interests have always been opposed by that corrupt organization. For many years, she was deluded by their professions, and was unwavering in her devotions, to them, casting her vote almost uninterruptedly for their candidates. The return she received was always treachery. She turned her back upon her best friend and placed one of her most pretentious sons in the second place within the gift of the people. With vile ingratitude, he falsified his pledges to her, and accepted the base distinction of casting the vote which struck down her industry. The Democratic politicians she sent to Congress always betrayed her interests in low subserviency to their southern taskmasters. They consented to all these arrogant masters demanded. It mattered not to them whether her labor was rewarded or discouraged; she was dear to her unfilial sons, only for the vote she could give. They treated the sensibilities of her people with disdain and scorn. Her broad domains they made the hunting ground for miserable fellow beings fleeing from a bondage whose remembrance makes the heart sick, and compelled her proud sons and gentle daughters to withhold the hand of charity from the starving slave, and to join in the chase after the panting fugitives. They made her help to hew down one after another of the barriers, which had been erected to hedge in this ever-encroaching crime against humanity. They persuaded her to applaud every wrong that was perpetuated against equality and justice, and good will to man. But her humiliation was not yet complete. Again one of her sons--aye, her favorite son--was chosen to the highest position in the land, and another of her pets was made his chief advisor. The hour which the traitors had longed for, since the brave days of Jackson, had come--an hour when imbecility and wickedness held the executive power. At once all disguise was abandoned, and open, impudent, daring threats against the government were freely indulged in under the very shadow of the Presidential Mansion; and the property of the people was stolen, and their arms winked at by the President, nay apologized for, while his venomous Attorney-General bewildered the infatuated dotard with miserable legal speculations and subterfuges, until the trembling old man believed he would injure the constitution by preserving a country for the constitution.

And when the nation aroused itself for the struggle for its existence, giving the lie to the Democratic assurances to the south that Pennsylvania would go with them in their rebellion, who opposed the arming of our State? Who voted against the advance of pay to our armies? Who objected to granting the right of suffrage to our gallant soldiers in the field? Who sheltered and encouraged deserters? Who denounced the volunteer as a hireling? Who pronounced the war as unjust, and a failure? Who sought to depreciate our currency and bankrupt the government? The same men who now glorify rebels, who strike hands in political fellowship with the traitors, and demand their admission into Congress to legislate upon the reestablishment of the Union and settling its policy? The same men who dishonor the heroes of the war, and enshrine as the objects of their idolatry the criminals whose mad ambition steeped our continent in blood, and bowed us with the heavy burdens of taxation. To give our noble State to the rule of this party would be her last calamity. Such a disgrace would be intolerable. All her instincts are loyal. To find herself in such a bondage would be a stain she could not endure. She would arouse herself and shake off the shame. We do not fear that she will suffer this mortification. But we urge upon our friends to strengthen themselves for the future. To organize afresh; and to renew the contest; to prepare for future victories, and not to rest until the Union is fully restored, until the rights of all its citizens are secured. Then and not until then will peace and prosperity come upon the country. This is the mission of the Republican party. This it only can accomplish. When this consummation, so devoutly to be wished, is attained, new issues may create new organizations. Until it is attained all other issues should be held subservient. All other issues are subordinate and trivial. The party inspirited by such high aims and purposes must be sustained by the people. It is their party. It is the party to which and for which the hopes and prayers of the friends of mankind everywhere centre. It is the party of the present, it will be the party of the future. It is the party which is crowned with the unfading laurels of the holiest war that the pages of history record--the party which has furnished the loftiest examples of statesmanship--the party which has crushed out the greatest crime that has existed among men, and brought liberty and happiness to millions of oppressed and sorrow-laden fellow beings.

Let us all be proud of such a party, and labor with renewed energy to preserve it until it finish the mission to which it has been called.

The fall fashions in bonnets are thus described: The coquettish Fanchon and other summer varieties have given place to stately and elegant chapeaus, the distinguishing feature of which is the diadem. The diadem may be set upright across the front of a close fitting shape, or will require a sharp rising in front to admit the bandeau, which is generally trimmed with sprays of rich flowers of satin or velvet box plaits. Crowns are quite flat and broad, and many of the shapes are much larger than have been worn for the last two years. Gold is introduced profusely among the ornaments of the early fall bonnets. The most beautiful hues of the fall woods, convolubois vines, branches of oak, maple and rose trees, sprays of fern and drooping tassels of willows, acorns and berries, form a rainbow over some rich shade of imperial velvet or satin. The return of amber has passed away, and all attempts to introduce it have failed.