The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-10-19

in reverend faces, and the verb to lie is being
rapidly corrugated in all its moods and
lenses.
We wait with impatience for the prompter
TO ring up the next act. AS far as it has gone
it is q capital play, well acted, replete with
interesting and effective situations, and admit
rably put upon the stage. The church scene
is perhaps the most striking so far, though
possibly the court scene may yet surpass it in
dramatic power. 1t would be premature to
express an opinion on the relative merit of
the actors at present. The next act will more
fully test their capacities, and will undoubt-
edly be a very exciting one. The audience
need be in no alarm, however; it is under
stood that gunpowder is not allowed.
APOLOGIZING FOR DEFEAT.
From the N. p. Times
Premature jubilation is followed by lame
apology. For a day or two the Democratic
journals exulted over the results of the late
elections. They were represented as the
beginning OF "a great reaction, and one
that made possible Democratic ma aiority in
the next House of Representatives. Later
information has played havoc with these in
ventions, and now we have, instead of re-
joicing and hopeful prophecies, lugubrious
attempts to explain away the Republican
victories. Democratic defeat rs quietly con-
fessed, the only consolation our opponents
are able to discover being that, "bad as things
are, they might have been worse"
''There is no such substantial Democratic
victory as was expecte1 lis the remark of
the st. Louis Republican, one of the most
influential Democratic dailies in the West.
But why defeat where victory was anGci-
pated? The colored vote is the assigned
cause. That went with the Republicans, and
baffled calculations on the other side. The
calculators ought to have known better,
for the Democratic policy has everywhere
made political enemy of the colored man.
The ST. Louis journal, however, associates
enfranchisement with disfranchisement as
twin ideas in the Republican mind, and as
twin sources of hope for future Republican
successes. AS matter of fact, the
statement is inadmissible. Enfranchise-
n ent is universal, and will oper-
ate alike in North and South. The
disfranchisement which exists is exceptional
is comparatively ininitesimal in extent, aud
is transient in it's nature. The predominant
ing sentiment in the party is favorable to
| the earliest possible removal of the few dis
abilities that remain. Whether this be
effected next session or by the Forty-second
Congress is, however, a question of no mo-
ment in connection with the elections of
last week. Ohio and Pennsylvania may have
felt the effect of colored enfranchisement,
but most assuredly the Democracy of those
States cannot adduce disfranchisement as a
|
them.
The Louisville C0uTier-JourndI assigns
other reasons for defeat. The ''true solu-
tion, it tells us, is to be found 'partly in
the momentum of the radical organization,
partly in the negro vote, which was cast
against the Democracy, and partly in the
absence of issues on which the people care
to split their old partisan affinities and rela-
tionships." There is O show of philosophy
| Of for
The vital, moving force of the Republican
party has undoubtedly much to do with its
continued triumphs: to say this is simply to
confess that the party retains the viSor of
health, the unity that springs from principle,
and the popular power which is derived from
an adaptation of policy to the needs of the
county. These are the secrets of the
momentum referred to by the Con-.
7ier-JOu9nal, and they sufficiently ex.
plain the continuance of Republican
strength. The mistake our contempo
rary makes is in supposing that the emo
mentum" proceeds from an impelling power
which is on the eve of exhaustion. The in
fiuences that contributed to Republican victory
are not exactly the same in character with
those which sustained it during the war, but
in their essence they are identical. Now as
during the war, the country recognizes the
Republican organization as patriotic in it,
nature and righteous in its aims. Its record
is its justification as agaiost Democratic
assaults; but this alone would not be sufh
cient to account for general victory in spitt
of local blunders in respect of nominations
For an explanation of present favor we mus
seek quite as diligently in the work of tn,
party since the restoration of peace, and il
the programme laid down for its guidance II
the future
That is sound rule in logic which forbid
O search for remote and speculative solution
of problem when a conclusive solution i
found clese at hand. There is no necessit
for inyentipgsexcuses for Democratic defeat
One obvious fact makes plain the whole
The Democratic party, weighed and foun,
wanting while the struggle for national exist
ence was going on, has neither done nor pro
posed anything to redeem its character /
shows itself unchanged in every essentia
particular-in its hostility to the work of tn
war and the conditions of peace, to the qua
! 'rantees exacted by the loyal feeling of tn
nation, to the public credit, which is insepa
rable from the public prosperity and to re
: forms required to make the suffrage in larg
communities more than a myth. In word
the Democratic party, true to its traditions
is an obstructive and disorganizing agency
without single claim to the respect of loys
citizens, or a single recommendation derive
from its present policy. These characteristic
constitute an issue which the people under
stand, and which is being decided in th
campaign now in progress.