Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1872-10-17
Brooklyn, Oct. 4, 1872.
The Elections.

Grant, presents a swollen majority OF
from fifteen to twenty thousand Tor Har-
tranh Ohio comes out of the struggle
with majority of filreen thousand aga
inst the Reform movement and India
ma, as a special despatch in another
column shows, is 50 close that result
will be in doubt for perhaps twel t'-IouT
hours longer The majority for Hend.
ricks in any event is not estimated at
more than twenty-five hundred. P4un-
sylvania was the central point OF in
tereSt in the recent contest. Her success
full revolt against Cameronism would
have been the signal for an immediate
collapse of the Administration party.
That the frauds ConSummated in that
State were on a scale never before con
ceived in our politics, acquires no fur
Their syllable Of demonstration. Forney
charges the result to the superior
strength of Grant but it is known to
everybody that Grant and Cameron ar
ranged for the release of Yerkes, that
Cameron appealed to Grant for three
millions of dollars to add to his own
one million as corruption fund, that
thousands Of negroes were imported
from MARYLAND and the District of
Columbia, that repeaters went from New
York in gangs varying from eighty to
one hundred and fifty, and, above all,
that the efforts of the Administration
were concentrated upon Philadelphia,
where the registration lists were made
to show voting population monstrous
" out Of proportion to any honest poll
that was ever made. The State has been
carried by Philadelphia, which is mani
pu ated to give HartranE Minority OF
twenty thousand, or nearly ,toW times
Grants majority in 1868. 1t is known
that thousln Of Republicans voted
against Hartranit, yet the minority is
twice as large as that of the Republican
candidate for Auditor-General last year,
A more stupendouS system Of political
fraud never succeeded in politics. 1t will
not do to quote the sizc Of tho majority
itself to vindicate its character for
honesty. for that is the very secret OF
this gigantic crime. 1t siIences the
honest voice of the rest of that great
Commonwealth.
The contest is with fraud and corrup-
lion still, Ifthc present nominal tri-
umph is conceded as the equal OF a real
one, the people will only find it a more
difficult, if not desperate task to make
head against its growing influence in
the future. Tyranny for the South and
fraud in the North are what GrantiSm
relies on for its success, If it can com
mand the ballot-boxes it may hope to
perpetuatc itself indeiin t,y in time il
would scornfully throw the ballot box
Itself away. The simple tact That a
State like Pennsylvania cannot all at
once, with a supreme effort, dlsen51g2
i ,e'f from the tolls Of power that has
fastened itself upon it as it has for years
preyel upon tie South, supplies com
plete demonsrl OF Of the necessity o!
waging a still more vi yorons war e inst
it until relelse is finally effected. While
Grant and Cameron conLile to sup
press an honest expression OF the pc
pular sentiment, the reason remains in
full force for organized resistance. The
line has been before when Pennsylvania
changed her vote between the October
and November elections in Presiden-
ial year: and when we consider the
difficulty of repeating t1;'e traul5 on
a similar scale Jour weeks hence, with
all the other States voting simu'taneou
sly, the people of Pennsylvania n ed
not despair of still mixing their voice
heard for r form. Cameron and Grant
were both fighting for their lives, and
they resorted to expedients more des-
perate than any that disgrace past poiti
cal records. The pcop,e, too, not Only in
PENNSYLVANIA but in Ohio and lndiana,
are aroused to the issue which this whole
conflict involves and partisans are APP
to forget that corruption has its fixed
limitations, while truth and honesty
poss S; undying force and energy.
From their very defeats the latter gather
fresh strength and resolution,
Georgia has just shown that the South
is practically solid for Greeley. But leav-
ing out North Caroinl, South Carolina,
Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Ar
kansas, and adding to the rest of the
. Southern vote that of Connecticut New
York, New Jersey and Nevada, and we
have one hundred and forty-eight votes
for Greeley. One hundred and eighty,
four constitute majo.ity in the Elec
,. toral College. To secure the thiry-siS
votes that are still wanting, if we coun
Indiana's fifteen and Illinois twenty
one, we have the precise number to fiji
, the requisition. But there is still Nortl
Carolina to be transferred, with ter
votes Florida, with four and Louis
4 ianaiand Mississippi, with eight each
making thirty votes altogether, which
r may be counted on with more certainty
+ for Greeley than for Grant. So that,
with Indiana saved and the contest KEEP
: mp without cessation until the polls arr
l closed on the fifth Of November, thu
, cause of Liberalism is by no means DIES
: perate. 1t is very close chance for i
] in this view, we concede; but with sucl
8 results depending upon its success, wha
e patriot citizen, who would see the coun
: try rescued from present danger and re
e deemed from present disgrace, bu
q would feel the warmth Of a new fire IL
{ Ibis purpose and form a fresh resolution