Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-12-03
The defeat in Ohiois ascrib-

lne Qe1eaC In Ouio is dSCfio-
ed to two causes-the digust of the peo-
pie with the enormous and unparalleled
corruption of the Radicals, and with the
tariff bills with which the Eastern States
are crushing the commerce of the whole
country. In this latter grievance far
more serious issue is involved than the
result of a single election. 1t is fraught1
with alarming menace for the future. The
Republicans have built their party upon
the fallacy of protection, and, as COM:
pensation for the injury sustained by
the country, they offer it the boon of ne
gro suffrage. They are running trade
and crippling the West in its energies,
and then hope to retain their supremacy
by forcing upon the Northern people
modification of the elective franchise
to which they are bitterly hostile. This
double extravaganza would instantly ru-
in any party which was judged by its
policy of the hour, and which was not
regarded by the people through the dis
torting medium of the glory of victory.
TIE Republicans haze been Hoing since
thessprang Of 1865 on the popularity
they gained by the prosecution and man
agement Of the aoar. Two years and a
half, in these present days, is long time
for great party to subsist on the recol-
lection of one achievement, especially
when it acts upon general questions with
reckless disregard of the best interests
of the nation. Protection is under
mining the prosperity of the United
States, and the Republican party is not
merely for protection as it existed in
England, but for excessive tariff bills
and prohibitory duties such as no
nation has ever attempted to live under.
Negro suffrage and reconstruction are
comparatively trihing matters. Radical
ism is protection, and the West is vitality
injured by protection, and seems to be
gathering itself together for an effort to
shake it off. Is it possibleto doubt that
a party is doomed to dissolution which
adheres to system directly disastrous
in its operation to more than half the
people? "The trade of the country is
nearly at a stand-still; the laborer is
abroad in search of employment; taxes
and the cost of living are enormously
high; the profits of labor are almost un-
precedentedly SMALL" This is the pre-
sent state of the country, as described in
the columns of an American Radical
newspaper. A party must be singularly
deluded by the pleasures of hope that
expected to be permitted to perpetuate
the follies which have already aroused
wide spread irritation and discomfort.
The renewed threats of impeachment
which are now uttered have lost much
of their Importance. The Republican
leaders did not dare to venture upon that
experiment last session, when they were
all-powerful in the Senate; and now,
when they have sustained loss equiva-
lent to four years, and are moreover fall
ing into disfavor throug hout the coun
try, they will hardly attempt it. The
rumors of a formation of new party
are not more deserving of attention, for,
even If they rested upon any solid foun-
dation, this is not the time when they
would be likely to bear fruit. A recon-
struction of parties is not possible be-
fore the beginning of the Presidential
canvass, in the spring of 1868,
and then it is inevitable. But one
circumstance connected with the cleo
tions well merits consideration. 1t is
the absence of the topic of Fenianism
from all controversies during the contest.
In the State of Ohio the Irish are very
numerous, and there, conformity with
New York, is the strength of the Fenian
organization. But none of the candi-
dates appear to have made any attempt
to use the conspiracy as an instrument
for gaining the Irish vote. This fact is
in itself an indisputable refutation of
the statements made by the Fenians in
this country that their cause is strength
ened by the sympathy of the Ameri-
can people. Unfortunately for them
selves, the Fenians are an object of de-
rision from the Atlantic to the Pacific
| coast.