The Portland daily press., 1874-11-10

the place of a matter involving t. present
welfare of forty millions of people 'nd tne Iu-
ture happiness of countless mil61s more Inc
President with hfs never failip gooa sense mas
steadfastly refused to becom party 70 thls
idiotic fiddle-faddle, otherIse 1t might have
been invested with still greater adventitious
Importance. As Dre matter Vi aps'ract
speculation, it comee WITHIN the category OF
Mrs. Toodles' prescieit con]ectures OF the posi-
BILE advantage to vlch she might in future
years turn the dor.plate bearing the name of
Thomson. wuch she bought cheaply at an
auction. BIT for any practical end it is as use
less as tie inquiry as 10 what would have been
the foe of Europe if Napoleon had won the
hattie of Waterloo There never was any pos
sibility of third tenn The idea never en-
tered into the mind or bought of Gen. Grant,
and no human being whit enjoyed his conf
dence, or had the smallest ight to speak for
him, has at any time treatee the proposition |
seriously. Superficial peoAe iump at /
the conclusion, that the whole ting could at |
once have been disposed of by. sinille declara-
ton of the President, that under no ensidera-
ton would he consent to the use of his .ame in
such a connection. That is fallacy. The
very moment he entered the lists as a disps,
ant of the theory the mania would have spread
worse than ever. However emphatic his OBJ
jurgation of the project, he would be accused
of insncerty and importuned to repeat his de-
NAL In short, he would simply be placed in
defensive attitude, and that is the one thing he
has had the rare good sense of avoiding, dur
ing all his eventful and honorable public life.
There is just one thing to do with this idle
fancy of third term, and that is to treat it
with contemptuous indifference. Gen. Dix
thought otherwise, and reluctantly yielded to
demand that he should pronounce his opinion
respecting it, but it didn't add vote to his
score, and may have cost hum some. The orly
congressional candidate who ventured into that
dangerous arena was Mr.. Roberts of Oneida,
who happened himself to have served in the
House of Representatives twice, and consented
to a denomination. The Convention which
nominated him declared against Presidential
third term. The people at the polls gave Re-
publican majority on governor, but voted
against third term for their congressman, and
sent Democrat in his place. So significant an
application of the ''arga,naentuna ad honainem"
is more instructive than agreeable.
Butlerism and the SanbOrn contract came in
for their share in accounting for the rout. Both
were effectually laid out by the action of the
House at its last session. The Hon. Charles
Foster of Ohio, owes his seat to the fact that
he chanted the dirge over the political re-
mains of the Essex Statesman" in the closing
hours of the late session. The House spent
five months in tracing the $213, ,O00swhich San.
born realized from delinquent taxpayers. From
an economic point of view, it was as poor an
investment as the man made who wore out the
knees of his new trousers, in cropping for a lost
penny, but as an indication of the introspective
and self-purifying spirit of tho Republican
party it is deserving of commendation.
The worst rebuke which this somersault has ad-
ministered, curiousy enough,is to the men who
took their back pay and afterwards returned it.
Banks kept his, and is rewarded by an
enormous majority, in district which re-
jected him, before he voted himself the $4,000.
1t is we'll that virtue is its own reward, else
it would go without any amid the caprices of
popular suffrage The next Speaker of the
House will be "grabber' as sure as fate.
Happily the Republic has been placed upon
such stable foundations by the administration
that no serious harm can come from the tenn
porary advent to power of the Democracy in
one branch of the national legislature. The
Senate will protect liberty and the President
will take care of the finances. There may be
some embarrassment to the government throug h
the neglect of the Committee of Ways and
Means to provide means to defray the necessary
expenditures. But in that case, it will be i'm
possible to avoid trenching upon the sinking
fund. That is the price the people must expect
to pay for such a frolic as they have just been
indulgiHg in. Those who dance must pay the
| piper
| The lobby will be kept in check by the obvi-
GUS difficulties which lie in the way of getting
| appropriations through both houses and the
executive chamber. If the Senate and the
| President were in accord with the newly elec-
| ted representatives, there would be such a
saturnalia of claim hunters as would effective
| ly cure the nation of any disposition to per.
petuate Democratic ascendency
The Republicans were too strong in 1872
The effect of such power of numbers is to make
| every man in the majority law unto himself
and to dispense him of every obligation to con-
| suit with and defer to his associates. In order
| to produce unity of action, there must be free
conference and concilatory spirit. The les.
son of adversity will not be lost, and it is moi
risky to predict that there will be greater har
mony in the ranks and among the leaders than
there has been during the past two years.
| New York city falls under the absolute do
minion of Tammany Hail. The party made 8
complete sweep of the congressional districts
But there was not single one of them which
could have been captured without overcoming
a heavy adverse majority. There were small
gains in the seventh, eighth and eleventh
but not enough in either to change the repre-
sensation. In such tempest no other resul
was possible.
The defeat of Hayes is a sign that The people
are not disposed to relapse into their forme
vassalage without feeble protest. His sue
cessful rival had powerful hold on the sym
pathies of the Irish population, through hi
friendship for Charles G. Halpine, who is bes
remembered as the author of numerous patri
otto songs, published under the soubriquet o
Miles O'Reilly. This circumstance couple
with the unpopularlty of the Tammany nom
inee, and the diversion in his favor of the Ger
man voters; left him the sole survivor of tn
wreck.
Mr.. Fenton's place in the Senate will rever
to Democrat, which involves a nominal bu
not an actual change. There will be no regret
in Republican circles at this feature of the rev
olution. No names have been mentioned ye
in connection with this Ugh place, but if Gov
ernor Seymour has any aspirations for it, b
will probably be chosen. He is gentlema
of pure character, and great personal merit
and apart from his politics, will prove an ac
QUESTION to that august chamber. Ke is
townsman and relative of Senator ConkliEg,
and in all other respects, except the divergenc
of their views upon national polity, the asso
citation will be mutually agreeable. r.
YARMOUTH.
Letter from Pennington.
FARMINGToN, Nov. 9, 1874.
DEMOCRATIC JUBILEE.
The Democrats of this town have awakene
to the fact that there has been revolution i
politics for the time being, and with all pom
and style possible for party which has lain i