Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1871-03-24
The New Hampshire Election.

| View it as we will, and, in Or enthusi
asm, over estimate as much as we can, still
the result of the New Hampshire election
under all the circumstances which sur
round it, is the most important politica
event which has occurred since the war.
It comes ut a crisis in politics when it mus
tell with great effect upon future elections
Sufficient time has now elapsed to see its
| full force and effect. We publish else
where extracts from leading Nnstho~n r'o-
] narn Of ali shades Of political opinion, in
regard to this election, and from them We
can Judge of its effect upon the people OF
| that section.
The excuses made by the Radical papers
for this last defeat would be amusing if
they were urged with honesty. Some re-
gard the treatment of Senator SUMNER as
| the cause of the disaster. Others as warm
ly urge the San Domingo job, the recon
struction legislation, the income tax, the
| bayonet election law, the Presidents ne
potism, government extravaganza and the
tariff, each as the moving cause of the dis
aster, just as the various writer's may re-.
gard these political Outrages. But beyond
question, it was the cumulative force of
the whole which has revolutionized the
sturdy Radicallsm of New Hampshire,
which had for seventeen years. with I'M
finching fidelity, been true to the party.
Had Senator SUMNER not been removed,
or if the San Domingo annexation had
not been urged, or if any one or two of
the alleged causes had been omitted, the re-
suit in New Hampshire would have been
the same
The disaffection by which the Granite
State has been lost to the Radical party is
Of slow but sure growth. The Presidents
bitter partisanship and the usurpations of
Congress have sown broad cast the seeds
of disaffection and alienation. Taking
root first in the South, it has already over
is cropping out in all of them. New York,
Pennsylvania. Indiana, Missouri, Connec-
tout, West Virginia, California, Oregon
and New Hampshire have, one by one,
dropped away from the Radical ranks,
while Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota and other
States are almost prepared to take the
same steps.
In the midst Of ell this Consideration in
their ranks, the Radicals are divided and
are bitterly wrangling among themselves.
Their personal chickering's, from the Presi-
dent down, as bitter and disgraceful as
they are, are not so significant as the
divisions which are springing up in regard
to the legislation now pending upon the
tariff, income tax and the South. In ono
and all they fear to act, and yet they dare
not adjourn without action. Every at
tempt is attended with denunciations of
one wing of the party by the other, and
they must inevitably go home without &C.
completing anything from mutual dis
trust OF each other and from the fear of
making their political doom more certain.
In the meantime it behooves those who
control the destinies of the National
Democratic party to take advantage of
their past defeats and the present dis
ordered condition of the Radical party.
il wisdom and prudence and an enlarged
craftsmanship dictate the issues of the
snsuing Presidential canvass, it's result is
foregone conclusion-victory is already
assured. The golden opportunity of re-
aeeming the country from the party which
has brought 10 upon the verge of utter
Slln must not be throEn aHsY.