The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-09-02

from the republican strength could be shown
on the eve Of q Presidential election. would be
to conoede that the republican mission was
indeed ended, and that the organization
might already he numbered with the
federalists, wings and Know Nothings among
the things Of the past We expect no such
verdict from the Green Mountain State. and
shall look to her quietly retaining her steady
position in the republican column by q ma
jority Ringing from 30. 600 70 $4,000 and leav-
ing the Presidential situation unaffected by
her vote.
In Maine there has been some effort at
diversion in favor of the liberal republican
and, "a we have said. the PILGRIM
age of the clam-eating Philosopher may have
made some impression on the regular republic
can strength. Nevertheless, the task of shak-
ing the steady fidelity of the party in that
State u.s. we believe, almost as hopeless as it
would be in Vermont. Fremonts majority In
Maine In 1856 was 10000; Lincoln's majority
in 1860 was "a, 1000 and in 1854 was al, 900. In
1868 General Grant received $4,000 majority.
In 1869 the republican vote for Governor was d.
vided between Chamberlain, the regular repub
lean; and Hichborn, the temperance repub-
lican, and, although Chamberlain only got
twelve thousand majority over the democratic
candidate, the two republicans together OBJ
tanned over seventeen thousand majority; and
this was claimed by the party organs at the
time as their true vote. Last year the repub-
Gcan majority on Perham for Governor over
Kimball was between ten and eleven thousand
We may therefore, calculate that the repub-
ican majority on next Monday will range
from ten to fifteen thousand, if the election
is to be an ordinary one, and to have little or
no effect upon the more important canvass
of November but if it should fall below the
smaller figure or rise above the larger, the
result may have considerable influence on the
October elections, and through them upon the
Presidential contest In the one case it will
be taken to indicate coming disruption of
the republican party, and in the other to prove
that despite the secession of some of the most
prominent leaders of the party, its columns
are still solid and mistaken. The hopes of
both sides have been excited in regard to
the Maine trial, and the exertions that
have been put forth have been little
less severe than those made in North Caro-
lima But It must Be remembered that no
very prominent republican leader has de-
clared for Greeley in Maine and that some Of
the strongest administration advocates are to
be found in that State. IF there should be
any detection there at all it would come from
the masses of the party, and would be not the
less threatening on that account. We are no
more inclined to believe that Maine will show
any falling off from General Grant than we
are to suspect political revolution in YER
mont and we predict that both those
States will take their stand, as usual, in the
republican column, and by about their GUS
tomary majorities, so that the politicians will
still have their work before them, and will
have to use their best efforts upon the October
elections in Indiana and Pennsylvania as the
States whose votes will, in all probability, in
dicate with some degree of certainty the
grand result that may be expected in No
vember.
The anxiety felt over these preliminary
trials Of strength and the importance placed
upon deviations from the ordinary re-
SUITS which would scarcely be deemed worthy
of note in other campaigns, ore evidences OF
the unsettled condition of tho public mind
1919 the conviction Of the politicians that
the people are even yet undecided how to
vote, and may be led in numbers over to one
side or the other by the impulse of the me-
ment This may in some measure be ac-
counted for by the mixed condition of par
ties and the breaking down of the old divid-
ing lines; but 1t is also an indication
of the errors committed by those
who have controlled the policy of
the republican administration for the
past four years. If Congress had enacted wise
and popular measures of reconstruction; if
the well-known personal sentiments of General
Grant had been suffered to control the admin
istration policy over the ex-rebel States; if the
wel-timed words, "Let us have peace" had
been something more than mere phrase; if
our foreign policy had been such as a soldier
would have made it, instead of such as On
inexperienced and incapable politician has
made it; If the republican leaders had recog-
nized that they had some more exalted and
more trustworthy mission to fulfil than that
of wrangling over the division of the spoils of
Office and intriguing for their retention, the
great republican party would have been
stronger to-day than 1t was when Abraham
Lincoln led it to victory, or when 1t placed
General Grant at the head of the nation to
complete In peace the restoration of the Union
he had saved on the field Of battle. If tho
struggle is uncertain to-day It is be-
cause the people are dissatisfied with the
policy of the dominant party, and not because
few individuals are displeased with it's dis
pensation of patronage. It is idle to deny
the fact There would have been no such