New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-03-25
THE CONNECTICUT ELECTION
AN EVENT OF, LITTLE MOMENT

InROA SPECIAL COhkEsPOfDhNT OF Tnk TRIaux.,
HARTFORD March s2.-The Connecticut elec,..
is really of 40 little account this year that in itsal,
would hardly be worth talking about There h,,.
been years IN which IL had. for a small Stat. o,...
significance when, being closely balanced In finn.
when the nation hung in doubtful poise betves.
the two great parties. its action was watched viii
anxiety the country furnishing pretty .u,,
indication of the drift OF popular sentiment. IT,.
notably 40 in the Spring of 1850, when North ana
South the two opposing forces that for % year, hs6
been crowding each other to inevitable coli1o.
and bloodshed stood still and waited to lean fron
that resnlt the weight and seriousness Of the hr.;
ness And you remember when by margin !,
scanty that we held our breaths in the measiIrn0o
it, Connecticut reafirmed her faith in Repnh,;s,,
principles the Southern leaders accepted il a..
token OF the sentiment of the whole North And a.
gan from that time their final arranQeme,t.
for secession. There were times too
during the war when much depand.6
or seemed to depend on Connecticut and her evenly
waged contests drew the attention of all the Sta..
She was like some small battle-ground set apart fr
the champions Of contending hosts to light on Will
the armies standing by watched with keenest intsr
est the encounter. We sometimes thought the Who'll.
issue of the lay on us, and that whichever war
our election turned would decide the grand event
1t is not strange, perhaps that in such contest.
when there seemed TO be so much at stake, and
when we were watching with tense nerve and sham
ened sight the varying fortunes of the fight VA
should have slid into doubtful methods and qus-
tionable means. God was on our side 10 be sure and
we had great trust In Him. but He wa
on the side too of the strongest bat
taliOns and the longest purse, and we knew
and kept saying that He worked through human In
strumentalities. Our practical Christian statesmen
coupled the two great facts that God on the sds
of freedom, and that He worked through human in.
strumentalites and between them established their
processes. With these facts given. the eternal
purpose of God being to give the nation 20 Freedom
our best men saw no HARM but on the contrary great
merit in reinforcing the Almighty.with political ap-
planes whenever his eternal purpose seemed IN
danger of being overruled by the Democratic party
am not about to say this was wrong or unnecessary.
do not sit in Judgment. And indeed, to my poor
human vision, scanning all the way over which We
have come there seems such perfect knitting in Of
some of these questionable practices into the web Of
Divine Providence that do not see how the nation
could have been saved and Slavery abolished except
we had resorted to them. And yet-snd yeti have
sort of misty notion that somehow Providence
might have accomplished its purpose without truth
being compromised OF vote being bought. And
sometimes get so far out of the sweet and holy in
1uences of patriotism as to enter into sort Of sp-
probation of the possibility that after all eternal
truth were better worth the saving than even life Or
liberty that at any rate we can afford to trust
Omnipotence to preserve its own integrity.
| did not mean to moraze, however, any further
than to say that if our State has fallen into the
hands of trading politicians, and representative
good men allow money to be used in their own DO
half as candidates in such ways that they have
turn their backs when the distribution il made. il
has grown very naturally out of our hestatng and
questioning habit of trusting Providence with
reservations; Of helping Divinity TO take care Of
humanity with clipped coin and false measures A
was through this process and under the stress OF
such great temptations to help OmnipoteDce that
we came into that moral twilight in which, by
of our Senators, we condoned the New York Custom
house and certifcated Samuel G. Pomerov
The election itself this year. as l have said, is OF
little account. 1t does not matter much whether
Mr. Haven or Mr. Ingersoll shall be elected Governor
OF whether the Legislature is Republican or Demo
cratic No great harm can be done whichever
way the election turns is there any great cause
to be INSTRUCTED OF advanced by the success or do
feat of either party. Even the election of Congress
men is of no practical consequence, since either
any difference in the political complexion Of Con-
gress. In short there II no " crisis or anything
that can be shaken up into the semblance Of one
and the people know it, There certain personal
aspects of the canvass not entirely devoid Of inter
, est aud perhaps the tone of public sentiment 4
there can be said to be any in this State may afford
some indication of what people are thinking upoa
politics elsewhere.
~ Van nf
years sleep should rub his eyes to-day and go about
among us with the plainest and most natural IN
quires about our politics and our political why's and
wherefores, fancy he might puzzle even that wise
and provident being the Chairman Of the STATE
Committee with his questions. Why there should
be any differences at ALL and what they are and bow
related to the old divisions and old parties are
things almost beyond the finding out. They a."
such cOnundrums, confess as resist sll the pfo
ceSses of my guessing, and sometimes L am sinos'
guilty of the suspicion that even Col Selden whos
Chairman of the State Committee and Collectof@
Internal Revenue, and who sees the importance OIL
things much more clearly than men who are not~
intimately connected with them, is not actually ~
much in earnest about it he seems TO be- and away
inside does not believe there's crisis Of any gres
moment. Doubtless he would inform the question:
ing Rip Van Wrinkle who should approach hlm
upon the political situation that 1t IS tne OH
fight, upon substantially the old issues and between
the old parties. Fancy then, the intncaeleS =,
demonstration through which the Committee mu'.
proceed. aud the gradual lifting of the eyebrows"
the questioner as he goes asking:
so the wars not ended y
- Oh, yes. the wars been ended eight years
"Ah was Slavery not abOlishedT
Yes by proclamation first and afterws'u
amendment of the Constitution"
d" Indeed Slavery being abolished why dla 'o'
party lines disappear That was the only que'''''
upon which they divided, was it not Y 49,.
oh, no; there the question OF glvips Wv
negro the ballot in defense Of his freedom
A. Il l.. . linz till