The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-10-18
Never despair Of the Republic.


Never despair Of the Republic.
The danger menacing civilization and prog
ress from the threatened recapture of the
government of the United States by the old
slave power through the Greeley coalition is
now happily past. Every sincere man adj
mits that the October frosts are no more GER
tain to have made the advent Of cholera into
New England impossible than the defeat of
the Democrats in the Middle and Western
states is to have made it impossible for Hor-
ace Greeley to beoome master of the White
House. The return of the race of insolent,
naughty, unfeeling Southern aristocrats to
place and power in Washington is again
postponed. One more chance of reversing
Appomattox"is gone. No one ought to have
doubted it from the first. The history of the
country for the last ten years ought to have
been a sufficient assurance to us all that it
is not the purpose of providence that the
great benefits designed to be bestowed on
mankind through the agency of our free gov
eminent should be lost through any mere
chance. There is enough in the records of
the decade to satisfy any rejecting mind that
there is an intention that the ground gained
during the war and the memorable political
controversies following it shall be held. Who
was so clear-sighted while the armed
struggle was going on as to be
able to point out the manner in which the
integrity of the Union was to be preserved?
Who could see how it was possible to subdue
ten millions of people? Many of us had so
strong an assurance of the rghtfulness of the
Union cause, that we felt that it must tri-
umph though we were unable to see ho,c it by
any possibility could. Only the eye of faith
could pierce through the clouds. Again, after
the war was finished with more thoroughness
than any war was ever finished before, when
the tragical death of Mr.. Lincoln occurred it
seemed as if our institutions were much in
danger from the unusual strain to which they
were subjected, but there wasn't so much as
jolt. The impeachment of Andrew John
son was still more serious crisis, on account
of the fierceness of the passions excited, but
again the time of trouble passed and the ns-
tional security and happiness were not at all
impaired. Once more in 1868 it seemed al
one time as if the South would be able, under
government directed by men of the class
that used to be SO easily moulded to bad pur-
poses before the war, to regain practically
nearly all that they lost. But the people east
ly saw the danger to which they were
exposed, and the friend of the New
York rioters and the author of
the Broadhead letter were buried
in common grave. And now we have seen
the last of this bad Greeley business. At one
time it looked little formidable to few faith
less people. 1t had some elements of
strength. Horace Greeley had very large
personal following. Everybody in the coun-
try acdnted to believe that the Rebels and the
Democratic party had really repented of their
disgraceful past, and it appeared as if many
voters would accept their palpably false and
treacherous pretences for honesty and truth.
Besides, the Republican party had made some
mistakes and had attracted to it, by reason of
its success, great number OF bad men, so
that there was danger that voters in their ca
gerness for change, would eoolishly surren-
history for many years is a record of mistakes,
and which has an infinitely larger proportion
of bad men among its supporters than the
Republican party itself. But very few peo-
pie were deceived and it will be safe hereafter
to count with absolute confidence on the in
telllgence and patriotism of the masses. Set
it down as a fixed fact which no political COM
bination, Lowever skilfully formed, no trick
cry however plausible, no false pretences, no
apostasy of eminent men, no fraud or vio-
lence however outrageous, no wrong popu-
lar impulse or mistake, can for a mo-
ment obscure, that the work begun in 1850 is
to be finished, and that civil and political
equality and general education are to be firmly
established from one end of the country to
the other. Then we shall be ''ready for a
change" if anything is to be gained by it,
THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL Com
mittee is receiving information from the
Northern States to the effect that while the