Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1871-10-27
The Election of 1872


| the Democratic presidential nomination
IN 1872 that took place prior to the cleo
tlons In California and Maine, has been
followed by & more careful reflection on
the whole subject, and one startling result
OF tuls reconsideration is suggestion of
| the question Whether there ought to be a
Democratic domination at all. The idea
is star ting. because il Is without a prece-
dent IN our national politics. and Is pro-
toundlY interesting as furnishing pre-
cedent itself. The present theory OF party
politics 1s that IN important contests both
parties must place tickets in the field,
even although one of them goes through
the formGlitY with the consciousness that
It's ticket will be certainly defeated. The
! Lew theory, Oh the contrary, assumes the
possible eHlsse Of conditions IN which
1t IS better for one party not to make Il
| nomination at all. bu5 leave the field to
It's antagonists, III the almost absolute Ger
. tainty that lis ants gOnjsls will then divide
and present two iickets.
While. however, there Is no national
precedent for such course, the expert
ment Is not an nntried one; the campaign
OF last fall, In Missouri, furnished thor
ough example of the new idea, and IL il
the very beneicent and satisfactory results
of thut example that have suggested q
repetition Of it on national scale IN the
Presidential contest of next year. It is
asked: 'Why should not an experiment
that proved SO successful in breaking the
power of RAdicalism in Missouri be en-
ployed to break the power of Radicalism
In the Union Why should not the
whole country Gnd deliverance from
a party that is essentially proscrip-
tive. Oppressive, uncors itutional and
violent Ia It's policy AID practice,
III the same effective way in which
single STATE found such deliverance ?"
The result of the Missouri election of 1870
was net, indeed, a Democratic victory, but
/. was certainly !. Radical defeat; and the
abolition nt dIszran anchlsement, the sudsl-
denc0 OF auimUsities, tho restoration Of
concord aud good will among the people,
and the revival Of q cheerful interest III
public affairs and in local enterprises,
witch followed that defeat are oonse-
queLces which vind;cate tho wisdom of the
experiment iii Missouri, and, at least,
suggest its repetition il q larger field. The
contradictory aud discordant nature Of the
soverat State platforms, both Democratic
aud Republican that have been presented
to us, within the last few months, show
thai both parties Eave lost their reckon
Ing, and are beating about somewhat
wildly. The constitutional amend ments
and the legislation Of congress since the
war have eliminated several very lnpOr-
tant subjects Of difference and dispute
IS vacuum which confuses both parties.
The only common conviction in the Re-
publican party is that it ought to bs kept
in power, to give us such partisan Iegl5ia-
ton as It has given Us IN the lasE six years;
and the pre-eminent conviction in the
D. mocratlc party TO which al questions
of tariff, finance. annexation, aud foreign
relations are subordinate, is that the Re
publican party ought TO be oveithro WI
and a genter policy substituted for the
reign OF force which it has given us The
Virginia Conservatives, in their late State
Convention, declined to adopt tue usual
resolutions, and contented themselves
with proclalming as their sole platform,
Opposition TO Radicalism." Ihe
fact expresses common Democratic
instinct, ana expresses. too, feel
ing which all the liberal and re
fectiDg clement Of the Republican
party sh&rts. But how is this opposition
to be successful How is such consum-
nation 10 be effected, in the teeth OF the
rigorous, semi military laws which It has
devised, expressly to enable it to carry
elections, and protect itself from defeat
How is the administration party 10 be
beaten in 1872, when the people Laif be-
ieve that it will not submit to defeat, and
will uphold President Grant in any meas
ures he may take so avoid it? Or, even if
We could have perfectly free election in
all the States, without executive interfer-
ence, and with the certainty that the party
il power would cheerfully submit to the
result, what assurance have the Democrats
that they can carry the country with any
nominee of their party, in the face of the
defeats they have recently cncOuntert q In
California, Pennsylvan and Ohio
These are the questions which the advn-
Gates of tho nomination policy ask
themselves; ana even If they are not con-
elusive OF the merits of that policy, they
are weighty, and deserve to b. thought
fully pondered. It Is urged with much
reason, that the country can i'll afford an
other four years Of Radical rule, with the
Union maint2ined III its present abnor.
NAL, unre tored condition, Ku-Klux dlsor-
ders and ku-Klux laws continued, execu-
tive interference persisted ID, and the pro
cess of centraiz .tIOn made complete; and
that if these thirgs are to be arrested at
all the Radical party must be unseated at
Washington, just IS 1t was in Missouri, by
the Democrats aOstainiug from presi-
Dental nomination, and leaving the nomi-
nation of ticket which they may support.
to the liberal element OF the other party
Even if the Democrats cou!d hope toi
nominate q preside fial ticket apd elect 1t,
Groesbeck, or Hancock, OK Hendricks,
or Chase. or any Que else at the head,
would not the victory, it is asked, be
empty ard barren Would not the
Radical Congress- tie the bands
of the Demo cratic President. and give Us
the history Of the Andrew Johnson admin
is:ration over again ? On the other hand,
with Grant and the adm Illustration party
overwhelmingly defeated, IS McClurg was
defeated in Missouri, liberal and patriot
ic Republican mace President. and ma
jority of Democrats and Liberals chosen
to Congress, would rot the result, though
materially different from a full Democratic
triumph, be an inestimable improvement
en- the present order of things 1t would,
it is true, involve concessions which the
national Democracy would find hard to
make; but would not the happy deliver
ance Of IL @ harrassed Southern States, and
then their restoration to the CO. equality
and dignity they s-e now debarred from.
be a sufficient compensation for these con-
cessions? AMI would not the real resto-
ration of the Union which followed the
triumph of the new party be its perpetual
claim on the gratitude and confidence Of