The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-02
What Pretext is there for DemOcrati,
Brag


From, the N. Y. Times.
Of course the Democrats mean to "die
game" The Rebel element is sufficiently
powerful in their councils to make 1t certain
that there will be no voluntary surrender of
the position they hold. 1t is life or death
contest for them, and they will wage it to the
end. What has already occurred in Pennsyl
vania, Ohio, and Indiana, proves how reck-
lessly, and with what utter indifference to law
and right, they intend to light their last battle.
If fraud could save them they would there
have been victorious. They rely upon it to
help them in this State, and everywhere in
the South they are employing violence and
murder to achieve what fraud may fail to
effect. All over the country they are prepared
for struggle which promises to be unprece-
dented in its bitterness and intensity. They
have everything at stake, and will exert them
selves with the energy and unscrupulousness
of desperation. To make this effort possible,
the leaders find it necessary to talk confidently
of strength. They have unlimited faith in
the efficacy Of lying, and employ it in season
and out of season to keep up the courage OF
their followers. If fraud and assassination
could save them, they might be saved And
if persistent falsehood we're likely in any
degree to help them, they might have chance
of breaking their fall.
The folly of their boastiug, however, de-
tracts greatly from its force. Fasehood is of
truth. To make it plausible in this case, 1t
must be sustained by certain array of facts
by undeniable evidence of acquisitions OF
votes and power in States where the relative
strength of parties had already been tested.
The knowledge OF this necessity prompted the
efforts made on the 18th ult.; and the fact of
failure then renders absurd the confidence
affected now. Neither before nor since have
the Democrats had the slightest ground for
the brag in which they have systematically
INDUCED. Maine, Pennsylvania, Ohio, In-
diana, Nebraska, West Virginia all have
spoken to the same purpose. In regard to
each, the Democratic press has INDUCED pro-
phecies and eXultation which correct returns
have shown to be baseless. Defeats they have
tried to twist into victories, and where this
has not been possible, they have endeavored
to weaken the truth by misrepresentation.
But these tricks have deceived nobody. The
country knows that the elections of this
autumn have been a succession of blows
under which the Democratic party is still
staggering.
Besides, the Democrats have admitted from
the first that the chance OF success to-mor-
row is contingent upon drawing back to the
fold the War Democrats who left IL during the
Rebellion, and also the Conservative Republi-
cans. From these sources the party knew
that it must acquire the additional strength
which is needed to turn the Republican posi-
this direction Where are the War Democrats
who have abandoned the party of the Union
and taken places in the party of Rebellion
Where are the Conservative Republicans who
have exchanged Grant for Seymour? In re-
speot OF both, Democratic expectations have
come to naught. The Democrats who upheld
the war remain firm in their alliance with the
Republicans; and the Conservative Rapubli-
cans have forgotten differences in their
anxiety for the welfare of the cause repre-
sented by Grant. All the strength which the
Republican party ever had, il at this moment
retains. 1t is a unit with the War Demo
Gratis added. According to the statement OF
the case originally furnished by the Demo
Gratis themselves, this circumstance alone is
conclusive as to the result. The votes which,
by their own showing, they were required to
draw from the Republicans, they have failed
TO obtain.
Nor is this all. Not only have the Demo