National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-10-31
TUESDAYS. ELECTIONS.

Next Tuesday elections take place in
twenty-three States of the Union, upon the
result Of which will depend the political
complexion of the next House of Repre-
sentatiVes, several seats in the United States
Senate, and, to a certain extent, the Presi-
dental contest of 1876. We have the faith
and the hope that when the great Novem-
Der battle between the two political parties
shall close that evening; when we begin to
count the conquerors and the conquered,
victory will be found still perched upon
the eagles of the party, which, notwith-
standing all its blunders and its faults, has
been for fourteen years the party of the
people, the party of patriotism, of good
government of national advancement and
Of national union. But at the same time,
in this fourteenth year of its power it can
not be denied that the party enters into
the contest under burdens which it has
unknown in the past; that the chances of
its success are less than they have been in
any one of previous ''of-years;" that if we
win it will be owing more to good luck
than to good management Whyf
Two or three days ago Western jour
nal of sagacity and strength, whoseIcourse
during the last four years has been dis
tinguished by the bitterest opposition to
the Republican party-we mean the Chi
cago Iri6EHe-gaYe it as its opinion that
''there can be no doubt that to-day the Re-
publican party has a majority of the
speople of the country" Every journal
list and every politician who values his
word viii, if asked the question, make the
same answer. Why, then, are these NoVem-
Der contests in doubt? Why along the At
lantic slope, from the Northern boundary
line to Florids, in the East and the West,
and the true and loyal Northwest in the
home and the resting place Of Lincoln, to
whose tomb only two weeks ago the people
came with gsrlands and the more precious
offerings Of 10 wing hearts, are there dis.
trust and dissatisfaction, divided councils
and wayering lines, captains with uncer-
tain companies, generals with uncertain
battalions, who know not against which
side their FIRE will be turned, under what
flag they will rally until the battle line is
EormedH Where are the old time faith
and purpose and determination, the old
devotion to the old flag that has to this
hour never known national defeat? The
judgment of the enemy comedies that it
still has "a majority Of the people" Why
then should there be doubt asto its sue
cessH Why should every element and
fragment of a party that up to this time
has fought it see or imagine it sees in the
October sunlight the onens of victory
Why should the old fame burn brighter
in the breast of every unrepentant ex-rebel2
Why should the heart of every Northern
sympathizer with treason and secession be
cheered and every man of the organization
that was disloyal when disloyalty meant
national death and determination, be re-
joicing in the hope that the party which
made him and his infamous seems about to
pass from pOwer-fOr this is the actual sit
uation to day, and there is no use in dis
guising it.
Only one answer can be given-the
party itself-it and it alone, is responsible
for the position in which it is placed. We
may win against the fearful odds that stare
us in the face. We may win, probably we
shall, but the mass of the party should not
have been placed where it is. And we
charge that it has been put there by its So
called leadeTs-leaders without an element
of leadership, who, in its legislation, have
dragged the party down from the com
manding position it held even two years
ago, until to day it is at the mercy of the
enemy. 1--WE have still a majority of the
people Of the country" but that majority
has been so demoralized by its leaders in
Congress that it is unconscious of its own
strength-that one of its generals in the
House is almost repudiated by the men
who were proud to elect and re-elect him
by majOrities all the way from nine to
thirteen thousand votes. We mean the
chairman Of the Appropriations Committee
of the House of Representatives, General
James a. Garfield. Mr.. Dawes is another
leader, the chairman of the Ways and
Means Committee. What did either of
them do at the last session of Congress to
strengthen the party before the country
They had the command of the House;
they had the control of legislation; they
had the destinies Of the party in their
hands, but they threw them away. They
gave us q paltry policy; they, to use vnl-
gar term, ''nosed" around the Depart
ments to see where a penny could here and
there be saved; they yielded the floor to
every Democrat who held resolution in
his hand to investigate Department of |
the Government, and were the first to Sec
ond the motion; they led the party to its
own and their own defeat What ringing
speech in defence of the party came
frUm either of them? Where was the
Did leadership OF Tbad Stevens at the
head of the Appropriation Committee?
Where were his words that burned; his
Soreness in debate when the Beeks and
he HOlmans had the foorl Where was
bis intense loyalty to Republicans when
were assailed3 Where was
bis broad craftsmanship when a national
question was before the countryf Why,
The Opposition led the House the last ses-
sion as it led it the preceding one, and
With such leaders as we have we cannot
complain if it leads it a year from next De-
cember. We charge upon Mr.. Dawes and
Mr.. Garfield the responsibility for the peril
in which the party is placed to-day, and in