The Express.
London, England, 1867-04-15 00:00:00

[STAMPED, 14.

AMERICA.

(mit ous SPLCIAL cosasspoirocsr.)

NEW YORK, APRIL 1.

The election in Connecticut has resulted in the
defeat of the republicans. The democratic 11
candidate for the governorship has been elected
by about 700 majority, and three out of the four
members of Congress are democrats. The State
Legislature contains a majority, but a diminished
majority, of republicans as before. Of course, the
republican majority in Congress can well afford
this diminution of its strength. It has a super- 11
abundance of force already, and the election,
therefore, in no way affects the relations of parties I,
at Washington. It is mainly as an indication of,i
popular sentiment that it excites interest, and
as such the democratic papers are very jubi-
lant over it. The World of this city posi-
tively shrieks with delight, two-thirds affected
I have so doubt, and pretends to consider
it " the beginning of the great reaction," " the !
breaking of the ice," " the dawning of the day,"
and so forth. It prophesies that the other States
will follow suit next fall, and that the follow-
ing year, at the presidential election, the radical
party will be driven from power, and all men be
happy once more.
The truth is that the election has been, as far as
the democrats are concerned, rather a compromise
than a victory. It is of course a severe blow to
the republicans to have a man of Hawley's antece-
dents,
who served faithfully during the war, set
aside for any civilian whatever, democrat or repub-
lican,
for any appearance of disapproval of a soldier
is looked upon as disapproval or regret for the I
war, and to condemn the war is of course to eon-
demn the republican party, which began, con- ,
tinued, and ended it. But then Mr. English, who
has been elected, was from the outset a " war de-
mocrat," that is a democrat who supported the
war, bet objected to some of the means used in
carrying it on, such as the emancipation of the
slaves, and the suspension of the habeas corpus.
Nevertheless, he was not a pro-slavery man,
properly so called. He voted for a bill in Con-
gress in 1863, for the abolition of slavery in
the District of Columbia, for which he was burnt
in effigy by these very democrats of Connec-
ticut who have now elected him governor.
At that time the party in Connecticut were furious
advocates of unconstitutional and immediate peace,
and of letting the South go if it pleased. In 1804,
the year after the outburst of popular indignation
against Mr. English, the democratic State conven-
tion nominated for the governorship Thomas H.
Seymour, a copperhead, pro-slaveryinan, and seces-
sionist of the worst type, and came very near elect-
ing him. But they have learnt a lesson since then.
Mr. English voted again for the abolition of slavery
in the District of Columbia on the final reading of
the bill, and afterwards voted for the constitutional
amendment abolishing slavery everywhere, two
acts which ought to have damned him for ever with
his democratic constituents, and would have
damned him, had they not made prodigious pro-
' gress since then. The times have changed, and
the. Connecticut democrats have felt the influence
of the progress going on around them, and are now
I glad to take English up, and boast of the very
things in his career which led them three years
ago to load him with execration. So that it can-
not be said that the republicans have been de-
feated. The democrats have simply met them
half way. I have more than once attempted to
give you an explanation of the circumstances
which make Connecticut politically considered a
peculiar State. The contest between the two par-
ties has been for years in this State a very close
one, and all that is needed to incline the victory
one way or other is for the party in power to alie-
nate or disgust eight hundred or one thousand
people of lukewarm temperament and unsteady
views. The occasional violence, and overbearing of
the republican majority in Congress during the
last year has doubtless done much to shake off the
allegiance of the less steady members of the party
in Connecticut, and driven them over to the other
side. So that the result has really very little
political significance. The injury it will do, if
it does any injury, will be done through its effect
on the South. It may possibly cheat many
Southern politicians into the belief that a reaction
is really beginning at the North, that the other
States will go the same way next fall, and that
there may after all be some use in waiting, and re-
fusing to organise under the late Reconstruction
Act ; and that, in short,there is still some hope forthe
Southand its friends at the Presidential election in
1868. But 1 need hardly say that this notion,if any body I
seriously entertained it, would be a gross delusion.
There is no sign in any quarter of any reaction, nor
is there likely to be any reaction, if Congress does
not commit worse errors than it has yet committed.
Upon the reconstruction measures it has adopted,
it has beyond question the hearty support of the
country, and will continue to have it until the end.
The rock on which it was moat likely to split—the
Tariff Bill—has been avoided, and will probably not
be revived. The democrats are, however, or pre-
tend to be, very jubilant and hopeful.
There is some talk of an attempt, no doubt i
stimulated by Mr. Johnson, to bring the constitu-
tionality of the Reconstruction Bill before the
Supreme Court, by asking for an injunction to I
restrain the President and the generals acting
under him from executing it. But it is the opinion
of the best lawyers, Reverdy Johnson, of Mary-
land, himself a democrat, for one, n hat the Supreme
Court has no original jurisdiction iu a matter of
this kind, and that, moreover, it would certainly
refuse to interfere, even on appeal, on the ground I
taken in the case of the " Don Rebellion "1
in Rhode Island, that it had no jurisdiction in
matters political, and that Congress was sole judge
of the legitimacy of a State government. It would
be very desirable, however, that such a case could
be brought before the court, as its decision would
put an end to the hopes with which many Southern
politicians are still buoyed up, of an escape some-
how from the present very unpleasant situation.
But that any decision of the court, no matter what,
could in the least degree shake the position of
Congress, is, of course, a ridiculous chimera.
The Impeachment Committee is proceeding
steadily with its work ; but there is still no reason
to suppose that it will produce any report before
December. In December the electioneering for the
next presidency will begin, and then very little
attention will be paid by anybody to the present
occupant of the White House, or his misdeeds.
Next after the Connecticut election, the leading
incident of the week is the side of Russian America
to the United States. It is Mr. Seward's work,
and is one of those little strokes of policy which he
has been preparing or aiming at every day during
the last five years, and which are intended to make
people forget his mistakes in domestic policy.