Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1860-07-14
CALCULATING THE CHANCES.

electoral votes, or make great run ana be
elected by the people. They do not contem'
plate the possibility of nything like "half way
work" as the result of their canvass Some
of them believe that things will finally
work SO happily in their behalf that Doug
las will carry nearly all the southern
states. The ablest and most ardent Douglas
paper that comes TO our table is the Provl-
dence Post This journal is confident that
the Douglas men will give the country gener-
ally, and the Breckenridge men particularly,
a great sensation before the canvass is over.
But the Post is not quite certain that Douglas
will carry all the south, although its will is
good to whip out Breckenridge and Lane
Lane everywhere. 1t gives an american"
who has travelled Through nearly all the
states" as authority for the following esti-
mate of the result in the slave states
For BeH-Kentucky u, Tennessee u, Vir-
ginia 10, North Carolina 10, Delaware 8. To.
tai, 81.
For Observation-Disclosures 9, Arkansas 4, LOU
isiana 6, Missouri 8, Maryland 8, Georgia 10.
Total 49,
For Breckinridge-South Carolina 8, Miss.
issppi Z, Texas 4, Florida 8. Total, %.
According to this estimate, the prospects of
Mr. Breckenridge are not hattering, and he
has no hope of getting electoral votes enough
to make him eligible for election in the house.
The Post thinks Douglas will get more votes
than this account sets down for him, and is
quite sure that more votes are allowed to
Breckenridge than he will get. Well, it is
good thing to have faith. Faith can remove
mountains but, in this case, the mountain is
a big one, and it will try to the utmost even the
capacity of our jealous contemporary at Provi-
dence. Certainly the signs, just now, do not
promise much for Mr. Douglas, anywhere;
and in the south Mr.. Breckenridge appears TO
be carrying almost everything that calls itseli
democratic, together with good many OF
those who were supposed to be supporters
of Bell and Everett The Baltimore Pa
triot, a supporter of Bell, which has
studied the field with some care, reports that
a great many of the Bell and Everett men
have gone over to the Breckenridge party, in
Louisiana, Alabama, Kentucky, and several
other states. According to the Patriot, Della
ware is quite as likely to go for Lincoln as for
anybody else and this agrees with all other
reliable reports from Delaware, where the
great body of the opposition have already de-
clared for Lincoln. The opposition" in the
southern states are nearly as much divided as
the democrats, and the present prospects, that
Breckenridge will be ahead almost everywhere
in the south.
The issue is really between Lincoln and Lane.
Lincoln is the only man who can have any
hope of an election by the people, and our next
president will be either.Abraham Lincoln elect
ed by the people, or Joe Lane elected vice
president by the senate. The election OF Lane
is result which the people of the country
will be sure to make impossible. That coarse,
ignorant, incompetent man will not be accept
ed. 1t will be seen before the canvass closes,
that two classes of men will vote with the re.
publicans for Lincoln, in order to keep the cleo
ton out of ngress,-conservative and quiet
men who dread nothing so much as the excite.
ment and agitation which would attend an at
tempt to elect president in the house of rep.
resentatives,-a earnest Douglas men in the
close states who will see that to defeat their
enemies who are supporting Breckenridge and
Lane, they must do what they can to elect
Lincoln Everybody understands that Doug
las cannot be elected, and that voting for him
amounts to nothing. Therefore, more OF the
vehement Douglas men will finally vote for
Lincoln, as the best way to accomplish their re-
venge, than the leaders Of that political persua-
sion now suppose
If the election shond go to the house of
representatives, there would unquestionably
be such an excitement in the country as none
of us have ever witnessed. We have seen
what force there is to agitate the country in
long struggle in the house to elect speaker;
but what is this to the agitation that would at
tend the vain attempt to elect q presi-
dent, in a house where no party has
majority of the states Such a struggle
would soon make it seem to all the
hmid conservatives that the foundations of
the earth were out of course and the whole
republic breaking up and hurrying off to the
most frightful abysses of Chaos and Old Night.
Before we reach the sixth day of next Nov.
ember, thousands and ten of thousands of con-
seryatye men, who under ordinary circum-
stances would go for Bell and Everett, or
for one of the other candidates, or perhaps for
nobody, will be among the most eager sup
porters of Lincoln. They will act with the
feeling that to keep the election out Of the
house of representatives will be to save the
union from destruction This feeling will be
very active in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New
York, and Ohio. And there are many power
ful influences that will work throughout this
canvass in favor of the republican ticket and
not the least effective among them is the al
most universal conviction that it is sure to win
and that the party supporting it is likely tc
control the federal government for the mex
quarter of a century.