After a bitterly fought campaign, Mr. Lorenzo Brentano, publisher and editor of this newspaper, was elected state representative from the 61st district of the state of Illinois by a large majority.

The principles which Mr. Brentano and his friends advocated during this campaign, and which they will always support are: suppression of the Slave Rebellion, the abolition of slavery, the enactment of state laws in Illinois for the protection of laborers, especially of those German workers, farmers, and merchants who recently immigrated to the United States and are not yet acquainted with American conditions, against capitalists and real-estate speculators.

If this program can be carried out, gigantic progress will have been made in 2the public life and moral consciousness of the Republic. For the first time in the history of the United States the people have indicated by their vote that they are in favor of abolition--for unconditional, absolute abolition which will set five million slaves at liberty, educate them to the status of free men, and thoroughly reorganize the political and private affairs of the Republic on the basis of the "inalienable rights" proclaimed by Thomas Jefferson.

Through the results of this election, Chicago, which is the great metropolis of the Northwest, and which is making astonishingly rapid strides towards becoming one of the great cities of the world, has set a laudable example for the rest of the people of the country. And it is with great pride that we emphasize the fact that the quiet, patriotic, ambitious, and liberty loving German laborers of Chicago, and the German farmers who live in the vicinity of Chicago, have made the greatest contribution to the victory of the noble cause.

The humane spirit of Germans is asserting its influence more and more in America; it was this spirit that set forth the real ideals and the moral issue of this terrible Civil War; and this spirit will see to it that the principle of abolition, abolition that really liberates and educates unto freedom, prevails everywhere--in the National Assembly, as well as in the legislatures for the states--as it now prevails on the battlefields, where Germans are now aquitting themselves nobly and attaining great honor.

However, while this German spirit has its advocates and champions on all battle-fields--Sigel, [Frederick] Hecker, Mersch, Schwartz, [Brigadier General Peter Joseph] Osterhaus, Willich, Schurz, and others--it was only scantily represented in the legislative bodies of the Republic.

This fault has been partly remedied in the great and powerful state of Illinois through yesterday's election. Mr. Brentano will defend the great principles of justice and freedom in the Illinois General Assembly with the same parliamentary and legal ability that he displayed when the people of Manheim elected him to 4be their representative in the Parliament of Baden and when he defended Struve, Blind, Fickler, and others who were accused of political crimes, in the Court at Freiburg.

Brentano will make the German name famous in Illinois and beyond its borders, just as Mr. Gustav Koerner, who is now Ambassador to the Spanish Court at Madrid, did while serving as President of the Illinois Senate.

The election of Mr. Brentano is of special importance to Germans, local and abroad, because he will protect their interests, first of all, of course, he will look to the welfare of the Germans of Illinois, the prairie State where German immigrants have found a great field to develop their many talents and abilities.

.....[Translator's note: The next paragraph which undoubtedly stated in what respect Mr. Bretano's election was important for Germans in Europe, has been clipped out of the paper.]

We hold that it is our duty, a duty of gratitude and honor, to co-operate diligently and indefatigably in the restoration and regeneration of the American Republic, whether it be on the battlefield, in the pressroom, or in the legislative assembly. And by doing their duty to their country, Germans believe they are doing their duty to their native country, Germany, the future of which depends entirely upon the outcome of the American War, which is being waged about the greatest gifts which can be bestowed upon man-- democracy: rule by the people. [Translator's note: Verbatim. The author does not state in what respect the outcome of the Civil War would affect the political status of Germans in Germany.]