The Portland daily press., 1867-11-08

Friday Morningg, November 8, 1857.

PORTLAND.

| -r Barren Triumph.
From the Radical standpoint the only seri-
GUS effect OF the partial Democratic successes
in the late elections is the possible reckless
ness with which they may inspire Andrew
johnson and the consequent disturbance of
the public peace. This is a peril that does
not touch the well-being of the party except
| as it is embraced in the wellbeing of the
whole country After the October elections it
| required the best efio,ts OF Mr.. Johnson's iu-
dicious advisers to keep his lips closed blind
| ly and withhold his arm from striking
| at whatever branch of Radical leeisla-
ton came first within reach. But he was
half coaxed and half forced to postpone any
aggressive demonstrations until the fifth of
November had passed He retired to the Sc
clusion OF the White House, red in the face
and big with suppressed philippics, to think
over the topics of his message. There was
an implied promise that when the November
elections were fairly over and the result fully
ascertained he should have full leave to dis
course ofthe rump Congress, bodies hanging on
the verge OF the government, dead ducks and all
the other themes around which be has thrown
the charm of his classic diction. He was to
be free to let loose his whole brood of meta
phors, and drive his Substantive with six adj
jectives" through and through the legislative
department of our venerated government He
was to declare the removal OF Stanton abso-
lutte and irreversiblc. He was to resist any
attempt to suspend him pending his trial by
impeachment. He was to invoke again the
aid Of the lately reticent Binckley, and de-
clare through him that the elective franchise
was restored by the Amnesty proclamation to
Rebels. 1t Is not believed that he will con
sent to waive the provisions OF the contract,
now that the time has fully come, though
Mr.. Seward and much counseling Mr.. Stan
berry will attempt to restrain him, no doubt
and cling with dissuasiye hands to the skirts
of the Presidential garments as he madly as
cends the rostrum in his 22d of February
vein. If he escapes from his keepers and
says and does rash things, encouraged thereto
by delusive appearances of a conservative re
action, the result of the triumph of Democ-
racy in New York and dark lanterns in Mass
aehusetts viii indeed be lamentable,
But except in the contingency we have
mentioned, what matters it? Providence
could never have selected better year to
shake the Republican party over the pit of po-
| litical ruin than the present. For that party
| there is the appearance OF disaster, and the
| consequent wholesome reorganization and
| incroasad eircup,s naetion apd a,areyxy. fxr
| its enemies there is the appearance of success
well-calculated to bring out in full relief all
those unpatrlotic and unrighteous principles
which the people have hundred times stamp
ed with their disapproval. There will be a
throwing off of masks and tearing off of
sleeps clothing such as was never before wit
messed. Grant and Sheridan and their asso-
ciates viii be openly denounced as they have
from the first been covertly hated. Who
doubts that Valandigham and Jesse D.
Bright and Henry Clay Dean will crawl out
into this sunshine and exalt themselves?-
Who doubts that reputation will be present.
ed In its naked deformity, stripped of the
flimsy greenback covering under which it has
been awkwardly concealed for the moment?
All this is. but laying the foundation for an
overwhelming triumph for freedoms and
equal rights next year. There Is just enough
Of prosperity to induce the enemy to come
out from his cover in season to be swept
away by the Union guns of 1868. With all
his loud-mouthed boasting he has not so
| much as one poor Congressman to show for
trophy He has,not obtained the -i..ll
of single State government which he did
not before possess. He loses a United States
Senator in Wisconsin. After March 4th,
1869, Mr.. Doolitte will retire with his chief
from public life. There were elections for
Representatives to Congress from two dis
tricts; one, Democratic district in Missouri,
and the other, a Republican district in New
York. From present advices it does no. ap-
pear that there has been any change in the
political sentiment of those two districts.
Congress Is the same Radical body it was
before the fifth OF the present MONTH
Reconstruction goes on apace Were
the Democratic successes hundred times
greater than they are, that party would
be impotent to prevent the enfranchisement
of the Southern negro, for that Is an accom-
plished fact. The question is no longer
whether .the negro shall vote, but ,oheth
er he shall be depriced of the ballot. After
| the citizen has once become a member of the
body polite he cannot lose his political rights
except by crime. Any attempt by any adj
ministration, Democratic or Republican, to
restore the ballot box to the whites to the ex-
clusion of the blacks would be reoolution---
This is the great fact of current history which
the Conservatives have overlooked. They
have vainly imagined that whole class, al
ready in possession and exercise of political
rights,cou be remitted to condition ofbrevet
citizenship whenever the fairer-skinned race
chose to exclude them from the polls-
But this would be as impossible as for the
English arstocracy to restrict the franchise
of that country as enlarged by the Reform
bill of the present year. If 1t were attempted
there, many noble and perhaps royal heads
would fall. If 1t were attempted ere, there
would be complete justification for the use of
whatever means might be necessary to pre-
vent wrestling of vested rights from a free
and loyal people. aa l1Hm iedi god
Therefore, Democratic friends, make the
most of your Secretary Of State in New York
your Legislature in New Jersey and your
gains in Maryland, but you can't repeal the
ten commandments, undermine the principles
of Christian morals or overthrow constitu-
tions or laws founded thereon.
Summer Friends. fe.. t
II you have lately moved into place and