The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-11-05
THE GRAND RESULT.

htiir hiS CiOttioa 10 ONCis ttttul
respects it has disappointed us. We had
no idea that a s'negro scare' could pro-
duce such result in Virginia. We know
of but one instance in all history, fiction,
fable, or idle nursery tale, where a bugbear
has been more successfully played than in
this campaign; and that was where the sly
fox, in the idlest of all nursery fictions,
caused a rose-leaf to drop on Chicken
little's tail, whereby the whole poultry
yard was made to believe the sky was
falling, and scampered off with the fox to
his hole, with the finale of grand
Christmast dinner--enjoyed by all the
foxes in the surrounding country. AYks
But people acM be made fools of some
times, in spite Of all the glittering
stars Of knowledge that shine over their
heads. To play the solemn Solomon at all
times is waste of understanding and
worldly-wise wisdom, which the human
intellect is utterly incapable Of with
standing. All tragedy and no comedy
would make the worlds great stage too
insulerable for human life to endure.
Hence, every age has its epidemical folly,
after which wisdom runs mad, and fools
stride grandly into place and power. 7
Negro supremacy in Virginia! How
Chicken-little did run when the rose-leaf
fell on his tail How Hen-pen, Duck
luck, Goose.loose, and Turkey-lurky did
scamper away with Fox-lox, because the
sky was falling! There has never been
such another stampede as this great barn
yard scare" produced until yesterday,
when all Cavalierdom rushed headlong into
the Kemper hole, for fear Of its raining
larks or some other prodigious bird of
oyershadowing wing! Well, we are glad
the 'scare" is over, and that Cavalierdom
is not to be frightened again out of its
seven-league boots until another four years
shall have passed over its valiant spurs.
Happy Cavalierdom! Glorious Kemper
hole! Chicken-little, hide your diminished
head!
But, more seriously. The result ought
to have been anticipated. With the ex-
ception of a few limited instances, the
ballot-boxes Of the state have been under
the entire control and manipulation of
the Conservative party. In no instance
has it been under anything more than a
partial control by the Republicans. The
construction given to the law of last winter
secured them all three Of the registrars
in each voting precinct in the state, and
placed the registry, the ballot, the count,
and the return, entirely in their own
hands. AS one prominent Conservative
remarked to us yesterday: "What party
would be id fool enough to be
whipt under such circumstances ?" The
fact that such remark as this should be
elected, even in the way Of pleasantly,
shows the infamy of the law by which
such an INSCRIPTIONS advantage can be
taken. 1t is we'll for people abroad to
understand this for there is not another
state in the Union where such law would
stand for an hour on the statute books.
Even in New York city, where Tweed and
Sweeney had full swing at the municipal
ballot-boxes, they dared not seek the
entire exclusion of the opposite party. The
thing would have been too transparent and
bare-faced for even that gang of political
rogues and thieves. There had to be some
show Of honesty in the vote and count as
made by them; at least they thought so,
and governed their actions accordingly.
But the farce of conducting an election
under such a law is ov.r, as we'll as the
grand negro scare which caused such a
general stampede into the ''Kemper hole"
1t has not entirely disappointed US beyond
our anticlpations. We saw how the thing
might happen; how the ballot-boxes might
be made to speak, and how the nerves of
of all Cavalierdom might be shattered at
the prospect Of its raining black larks
and other birds Of most ominous feather.
But we won't whimper. We prom
ised to take the result philosoph ically,
and shall do so. We simply promise now
to pick our flint and try it again. In
the mean time, we shall either go
a-hnnting after less scarey game, or give
out word that we are not at home, hay
ing taken short and not altogether
unexpected trip to the saline waters Of
that classic stream so often visited by
our political opponents in the last ten or
fifteen years.
Shut shut the door, good John Fatgued,
said
Tie up the knocker, say I'm sick, I'm dead p
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