The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1871-02-22
The Presidential Election.

The Presidential Election.
THE REPUBLICANS ALARMED.
Tn little more than year hence
the Presidential candidates ut both
parties and of all parties, if there
should happen to be more than two,
will be in the field, and the country
will have fully entered upon the cam
naign of 1872. 1t is beyond question
that the successful candidate in that
contest will be chosen by a smaller ma
iority of the electoral votes than any
President has received since James n.
Polk defeated Henry Clay. This fact
is implicitly admitted 10y the nervous
manner in which some Republican
Journals and especially the Tribune,
are handling the election returns OF the
past year and trying to draw enc0nr-
agement from their ugly-looking
| figures. No apportionment of mem
bers of Congress having been yet made
under the new census prophecies con
corning the future must be mainly
based upon the imperfect data furnish
ed by the existing .appOrtionment.
In the elections of the past year,
twenty States, which according to the
present apportionment, give one ! an
} dred and seventy-six votes for Presl-
dent, went for the Republicans, while
seventeen States, which give one hun
dred and fifty votes, went for the
Democrats. 1t will be seen, therefore,
that if the Democrats can retain in
: | Il t1,,,, onp,inI ISZn
they will prevail in the next Presiden-
= tial contest, provided they can make
= an additional gain OF fourteen electoral
votes.
d Can the Democrats make snch n
o gain ? Assuming that they will show
. good sense i'll the erection OF their
platform and the selection of their
It candidate, the Southern States afford
n the most available field for them tn
: make the necessary break in the Re-
!, publican lines. Among the States
= carried by the Republicans the past
q year we're Arkansas, Mississippi, and
y Texas. With no changes elsewhere in
# 1872, these alone, if wrested from the
= Republicans, will more than suffice tt
elect the Democratic ticket.
e Can the Democrats hope to make
J. gains i'm the South The negro vote il
!. very unstable foundation on which
~ to anticipate the continued snpremac!
~ of the Republican party. Though TIN
Z, elections of the past year demonstrate
ut the truth of this proposition, neithe
to party seems to comprehend the princi
e pie from which it springs. Considering
the circumstances under which the ne
Ill groes of the Southern States Obtaine'
~ the elective franchise, it is entirel
~ natural, and indeed highly ereditabl
TO to them, that for one, two, and per
~ haps three elections, they should vot
u" the Republican ticket almost to a mar
ng This they would regard as the paymer
IL of debt, which they might well be
licve they owed to the Repnblica
:. party. But after they had disclare
u this obligation, and when they beea
he to find that nothing specially benef
m cial 10 the great mass of them W.
I,r likely to flow from this exclusive d.
=; votiOn to one party. tlren, if they wei
JUS satisfied that the Democrats wOul
ell make no attempt to deprive them
Ire their rights, they would gradually ~
es. come subject to the same influence
which control the votes of other rae
g., OF men anu Will thesc 'hIuCnoeS iesi
le- ly in operation, the result would
led that portion Of them, perhaps only
md small portion at first, would vote Il
nf- Democratic ticket.
vi This is the key which solves Il
ION problem of the recent elections in Il
'ou South. A margin, a small marg
the doubtless, of the negro element. Fl
,ea away from the Republicans. A pa
ton of it refused to vote at all, VIII
STE another portion took an advanced ST
and voted with the Democracy.
,;o1 secure the whole of this margin, and
a bold blow to crumble still larg
me fragment from the Republicans, is t
and policy through which the Democr'
ent may reasonable hope to carry eve
for Southern State in 1872, and there
~, make up the possible loss of one
i"i- two Northern States, like Connectit
to and Nevada, and come out of the strr
of gle victorious. In view of the sit,
Tn ton, we do not wonder that the I
bune is nervous and FESTIVE, and see
was almost ready to give signs of woe Il
pom all is ost.-[ New York Sun.
xis-