The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-14
TnE LESSONS OF TIE CANPATGN.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER H. 1869.
TIE LESSONS OF THE CAMPAIGN.
In is the fashion, after an important political
campaign, to comment upon its results and
their practical teachings, and we will only
follow this custom, in giving brief expression
to our views ON the Gubernatorial contest,
while the actual maiorities are undetermined
and the public are still interested in the cleo
tion returns. 1t seems now that Governor
Geary has had even a narrower escape from
defeat than was expected yesterday. The
Press of this morning estimates his majority
at 23i2; while the 1ge, in its table, gives
Packer a majority of 1918, aud says, edito-
rally, ''that n few hundred votes may settle
the matter" The change favorable to the
Republican party in this city, since 1868, is,
from present appearances, at least twice as
great as Geary's majority, instead of being
nearly equal to it, as we supposed yesterday
and the Governor, condemned by the rural
districts which have heretofore sustained the
Republican cause with unhagging zeal, owes
his triumph to q lucky turn in the tickle tide
of fortune where it was least expected Mean
while Judge Williams, by running largely
ahead of Geary in nearly every county, re-
ceives a handsome majority, and his decided
triumph affords a partial but not entirely
complete indication of the grandeur Of the
victory the Republican party would have
achieved if it had not been burdened by au
unpopular Gubernatorial nominee.
The Pest, which has been a jealous cham
pion of Geary, acknowledges, what the re-
turns too clearly indicate, that he ''was not as
strong a candidate as he was in 1866; that
E'he had offended the people of this city,
and had 'lost friends in the west;' and that
he had ''made enemies of the Philadelphia
politicians" who ''revenged themselves in
this canvass Of these and OthCr stu 8l0rG
l0p0rtGnt elem6HtS Of ao6nkHCSs IRE Dcre par
.ttctiy olcare before Ge01ys rea0minatt0n.
Eccry60dy tamiliar aOah State poljtics, Gg-
crpt, perhaps, hlaself, undeTSto0d that he
roUld be q dead drag to tie party. Dozens
of men in high position--Senators, Congress
men, and other ardent friends of Republi-
canism, who were entirely uninhuenced by
personal considerations, and anxious only to
promote the continued triumph of the great
national organization which suppressed the
Rebellion and restored the Union
deeply deplored his ill-considered persistencv
in pushing his claims for a denomination. In
opposing an individual ambition which pal
pably jeopardized Republican success we
rendered a thankless and unavailing, but
nevertheless an eminently proper service:
and now, as we look back upon the dangers
the party has escaped, more by good luck
than by good management, we feel that our
course is abundantly justified The selfish,
scheming, and sordid politicians are slow to
appreciate the dangers which constantly
menace Republican ascendancy in this city and
State. They fail to recognize the fact that
great contests have repeatedly been lost or
won here by q few hundred votes, and that, in
view of the well-known potency of a Penn
sylYania decision in national struggles the
whole policy of the Union may be deter
mined by the personal popularity of a Repub-
lican nominee for a State Office. 1t was sheer
madness to risk unnecessary dangers in the
campaign which has just closed. Geary s
unfitness for the Governorship was as pain
fully evident as his unavailability as a candi-
date, and while the Commonwealth aboundod
with men endowed with capacities infinitely
superior to those which he possesses, scarcely
any man could have been nominated who
would have polled a smaller vote. The only
cause we have for regret III connection with
our course in reference to his nomination is,
that our opposition was Intellectual; and
while we earnestly rejoice in the triumph of
the Republican party, We are sorry that its
honors have not fallen upon more able as
we'll as a more popular Executive.
Now that Grants majority of twenty-eight
thousand is cut down to ope-tenth of that
amount, or to even still lower sum, it is
more important than ever that the prudent
counsels unheeded heretofore shall be observed
hereafter Democratic ascendancy will inevi
tably be restored in Pennsylvania if the
managing politicians of the Republican party
persist in making unpopular nominations
They have already loaded down the organiza
tion with so many unnecessary burdens tho
another feather will break its back,