The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-09-12

The memory of man runneth not back to
the time when State Election in Maine pass
ed off more quietly than it did yesterday. The
vote, we Judge at the present writing three
hours before the close of the polls, must be
very light, not over 10000, perhaps 5000
less. .-.,,s. .... -
There are reasons why this should be- So
For five years the public mind has been strain
ed up constantly to its utmost tension. In
1860 was Presidential year, when every man
felt that momentous consequence hinged upon
the result. Immediately the Southern Dem
ocrats reyolted. refused to submit to the popu-
lar voice. and took up arms against the arl-
thority of the Government. This drought
war; indeed, it was war, and in 1861 the great
contest at the polls was to see whetherthe
Government or the rebellion should receive
the popular endorsal. Since then. until the
present time, the struggle has been,--in the
field to uphold the Government as opposed by
armed traitors, and at the baliot-box, to up
hold the Governments as opposed by the
friends of and sympathizers with those trail
tors. $50 -@s~.-A 8 40
Such a condition of things has sufficed to
keep up the five consecutive years Of constant
strain upon the-public mind. Now, happily
the necessities of war having passed, the ten
sion is taken of, and the public mind has sub
sided into its normal condition of quiet and re-
pose. /f ifs3sE.Ii6
The appeals that have aroused the people
to duty for the last five years have become
non-electrical, and find but feeble response.
Like the great cable when its insulation be-
came impaired, the popular heart and mind do
not throb when the keys of the political, instrua
ment are touched, no matter how sl1ilfill the
fingers that attempt the task.
During the campaign closed up by the cleo
ton of Monday, the public feeling did not
get wrought up to a degree that pfeduc
ed or even called for single political speech,
if we except the single county of Hancock.
There has been no canvassing, no circulation
of documents, no public lectures, no political
clubs, no spending of money, no effort, in ifact
to get the voters to the polls A. dead calm
has followed the long storm of war. This was
natural; it was inevitable
The effect upon the election now past, might
have been easily foreseen. A small vote
would be the first and most natural result
But another result, one we predict with per-
feet conference.-the article, be it remember
ed, was in type before the returns began to-
come in;Eis this: the Union or Republican
majority of the State must almost necessarily
fall off in a greater ration than the falling off
in the aggregate vote.
The Union men of the State are those who
have been constantly striving and fighting for,
the past five years. They are the ones forest
now that the storm cloud has been dissipated
On the other hand, the Democrats have done
little fighting they have been exercised with
comparatively little anxiety; they have done
nothing but watch and bide their time, ready
to take advantage Of the first lull in the storm,
and now they are active; for it is as true to-
day as it was eighteen hundred years ago, that
ackile men sleep the enemy sous tdses This Is 4
the work of the Democrats as now organized.
They are fighting forpace, to regain lost power J
to save themselves from utter humiliation;
they have no positive points Of faith, they only
oppose others, like as it was with their kindred
OF the South, is it with them-,a question of
life or death, and they fight with the energy of
desperation.
In the country, therefore, we look for large
falling ofm last years majoriteis, and shall not
be surprised to find, in a vote of eighty or i
ninety thousand, popular majority Of not
over ten thousand. From fifteen TO twenty
five thousand Union men, we have no doubt
neglected to vote at the election which has
just passed. ..,sss ~ g.ss..,, 3,
In another, article written since the close of
the polls. will be found statement Of the facts
of yesterday as they have come to hand We
shall be happily disappointed if a larger vote
proves to have been thrown than we have sug- /
gested; if the Union men have been less SUI 4
pine than our philosophy has intin1ated.o5 To
that article we refer the reader for particulars