Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1862-11-06
THE CAUSE OF OUR DEFEAT.

ILL va OoG OF oOh DEFEAT.
While it il very important that history
should speak the truth, it must be admitted
to be very uncertain. We too often adopt
theory, and then endeavor to shape facts
50 as to sustain the theory. This is as often
true in regard to elections in the United
States as to anything else. The many
speculations about the voting in Ohio at the
late election are strikingly illustrative Of
this They have been written, in every in.
stance, in ignorance of most important facts
They have been written before the returns
from the different counties in the State was
known. In our intercourse with the people
before and after an election we may be very
much aided in forming an opinion whether
the result ofan election has boen owing to
changes of opinion among the voters, to "a
non-turn out..of voters on one side or the 9th
er, or to the absence ofvoters.
In Ohio, in 1862, the Democrats have
5,5S7 majority. In 1861 the Union ticket
had So, ,2O3 majority. How is this change
to be accounted for? Have those who voted
the Union ticket in 1861 voted the Demo.
cratic ticket in 1862? If SO in any consid.
cradle number, we should certainly have
been able to find individual cases, which we
have not. No newspaper in the State hiss
changed. No leading politician in the
State has changed from Union to Democrat.
How, then, is the change in the result to be
accounted for? The Democrats got in 1862;
32,53S votes more than they got in lS6l.-
But this is Is, ,093 loss than the Democratic
vote OF 1860 There has been, by both par
ties, fuller vote this year than in Is6l,--
and much fuller democratic vote. In
fact, the whole vote of 1862 was 4, 2S6 more
than the whole vote Of 1861, notwithstand-
ing the absence Of 50 many thousand voters
in the army. The Union vote of 1862 is
only 2S,252 less than iu 1861, which We all
know is less than the number of Union vol
unteors since the election, of 1861. The
balance is owing to the fuller vote of 1862.
Take Monroe county, for instance. The
Democrats vote there in 1862 was 4S7 more
than in 1861, while the Union vote was
only 81 less than in 1861. This increase did
not come from the Union party. Take
Hamilton county which gave ~ more I'm
ion votes in 1862 than in 1861, yet the
Democratic gain there is 3,0S0.
In 1860 the Democratic vote in Ohio was
l99,425. There have been some accessions
from those who voted for Bell, not more
than half of the Bell vote-ll, ,405--being
5, 702 They have lost by volunteering from
10000 to 10000, and by Unconditional
Union Democrats who vote the Union tick.
ct, good many thousand. These losses
and accessions have left that party, in 1862,
with vote of lS4,S32, being l5, ,O93 less
than in 1860 Let it be borne in mind tha,
the Democratic vote has been as full in
1862 as it in 1860, and there has been
some gains from increase of population, &c.
The Republican vote of 1860 was 23l, 10,
Add to this for one halfthe Bell vote 5, 7O3,
say 10, 1000 for the Unconditional Union Dem
ocrats, and for increase of population, &C..
enough to make 250, 600, which, in 1862, |
could have been the Union vote, but for
The absence of Union voters in the army. -
From 25O,0OO take the Union vote of 1862
lis, 745-and it will leave II, ,255. That
he number of voters now in the army, and
IT those who have died in the service that
would have voted the Union ticket had they
been at the polls, would have reached this
,umbor-7l, ,255-we think very certain,
md thus the whole ofthe difference between
he vote Of 1861 and 1862 is accounted for,
without blaming conventions, or convassers,
n tho President, or his Cabinet, or our
Generals. II is all owing to the fuller turn
ut of the Democratic voters in 1862 than
n 1861, and the absence of Union voters in
he army.
All the attempts to account for the differ
noe in the voting in Ohio in any other way
hat we have seen, We regard rs very mis-.
hievous mistakes, calculated to do the
ountry much harm. te., ..l...
r Il
DEATH OF GEN. MITCHELL.
H..