The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-11-06
WEDNESDAY EvE'G, NOV. 8, 1872
THE RESULT.

1t Is With no oStentati0uS prlde OF e&ul-
tation over our political opponents that
we chronicle the triumphant result of yes"
terday's election. General Grant has been
reelected by an overwhelming majority of
the popular vote, and had il not been for
the strong opposition organized against his
administration at the South, his reelection
would have been almost unanimous. We
have from the first regarded this Southern
opposition as both unwise and unjust, and
it has evidently been so regarded by many
of the best and ablest men in Virginia,
and those heretofore acting with the Demo-
cratic party. If the State is lost to Mr..
Greeley, it is in a great measure due to
this class of Democrats, who have either
openly voted for General Grant, or per-
sistently refused to go into the Greeley
movement.
In our judgment they have acted not
only wisely, but most periodically under
the circumstances. General Grants adj
ministration has been eminently one ofsuc-
cess. He has been the President of the
whole American people. No sectional an
mostly has found a place in his breast,
much less received encouragement at his
hands. He has administered the govern
ment with a view to pacification, and not
from any policy of revenge. The same
spirit of magnanimity which he exhibited
in 1865, he has shown throughout his en-
tire administration. He has been the ex-
ecutor Of no legacy of hate. lie has asked
for no greater power than the Constitution
c%onfers, in order to make effective the laws
that Congress would pass and he has
asked for no laws that were in any way
calculated to abridge the rights or the lib
critics of the citizen.
During his administration the condition
of the country has been somewhat anoma-
lous, but the deyiations from strict consti-
tutional rules have been slight. The peace
that he so earnestly invoked as a
legacy to his administration would
have been universal had a wiser policy
actuated the craftsmanship Of the South,
and had itnot been so hard for some of
our people to give up the prolonged ascend
ancy of their ideas as a governing force in
the Republic. 1t only wanted a spirit of
accommodation to the new order of things
in the South, and a willingness to concede
the new rights created under the Constitu-
ton, to have dispensed with AL the anoma-
lous features of the government as admin
istered for the last four years. That this
spirit was not manifested is no fault of
General Grants. He earnestly appealed
to the people to evince it, and to end at
once all sectional complaint and partisan
quarrel in the Republic.
We believe that the second administra-
ton Of President Grant will be emf
nently peaceful, prosperous and salts
factory. The spirit shown by our own
local journals of this morning, in accepting
the situation as one Of promise
rather than hopeless encouragement,
is an evidence that the South will henceforth
look to General Grant as the friend of
good order and good government in this
section Of the Republic, as well as in all
others. That he will recognize this spirit,
and practically enter once upon the policy
of thoroughly responding to it, and making
his administration prominently an era of
peace and good feeling in the Republic, we
Confidently anticipate as a result Of this
election.
IF we have not carried the State, We
have come SO near it that Virginia may
f. rly be claimed as an Administration
prop for the next four years. AT all
events, her people will henceforth find
their highest and best interests fully identi-
fed with the President elect, as well as
with the powerful party which is to sup
port and uphold his administration.
General Grant is, in many respects, a
most extraordinary man. His career is a
marvel in history. His civic virtues reflect
even higher honor upon him than his mill
tary renown. His progress from obscurity
to the highest reach of earthly ambition is
without a parallel in modern times. limo
instance has he sought or asked promotion.
In every instance it has been literally
thrust upon him. Political position was
apparently the last aim Of his ambition. He
accepted t only after extreme urgency, and
then with seeming repugnance. But
his civic responsibilities have been fearless
ly met, and his high official duties resolute-
ly and yet always courteously discharged:
His administration has been marked by a
series of brilliant successes. Its financial
policy has firmly established the national
credit. It's diplomacy has been ~unequalled
in the history of the government. The
American flag was never more highly re-
spected on sea or land. 1t is an emblem of
national power and greatness everywhere.
1t asserts American claims at the hands Of
the haughtiest powers Of Europe, and com
mands Difference and respect at the hands
OF the remotest unciyilized tribes.
An administration that has achieved
this much, and a party that has won. these
GROWING honors for the Kepnblic, deserve,
as they have received, the gratitude and
suffrapes of the A merriam neonle.