Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1876-11-16
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER
WASHINGTON, d. c., Nov. IL. 1876

WASHINGTON, ID. c., Nov. H. 1876.
If the residents, of Washington, ar,
not quite as demonstrative to-day a.
they were yesterday and day before
it is because exhausted nature is une
quail to the task of maintaining ths
nervous tension OF the past four days
longer. Prostration has, very natur
ally, succeeded the high state Of febrilt
excitement that has moved our citizen.
and visitors as with common impulse
since the evening of the momentou
election day &; but our com mparativt
quiteness indicates only the reaction
and not any diminution of interest in
the result. VeHy few actual breaches
of the peace have occurred, and those
were mostly OF d mild character.
The wide dissimilarity of spirit gov.
erning or animating the two great
parties into which the citizens of the
country are divided, is well illustrated
by noting the effect produced On the
adherents of each, as dispatches relative
to the result, have been received from
time to time since the close of the polls,
Tuesday evening. The first returns
were uniformly favorable to TildeI md
the reception of every additional tele.
gram confirming the probability of his
with which the Bourbon groups scat
tered about town begun the evenings
entertainment, TO downright insolence,
and their tauntS ard menaces as they
became more confident of success tested
to the last degree the fOrbearance of
their political opponents. Last night
the belief in Tildens election was gem
eral, and the vile groggeries as well as
the more pretentious rooms were reSO-
nant with the exultant yells and i'm
precautions of d Amocratic politicians.
Secretly cherished dreams of revenge
and reprisal were now openly discussed
with evi 1enceS of the most intense sat
isfactiOn as the humiliations and bur-
dens intended for their Republican
neighbors were dwelt upon with a mi.
nuteness of detail quite amusing. Our
two Republican. morning dailies, the
Chronicle and Republican, were special
ly singled out for punishment; and the
fiendish glee with which one benzine-
saturated refOrmer proposed the de-
of both offices by nitro glyce-
rine, or by aid of machine afte le
ThomaSen style, and the unbounued
and merriment which
greeted his suggestion would have ap-
palled the stoutest heart. No mitiga-
tion of their sanguinary purposes were
indicated on Wednesday, but an in
crease, rather. The persisteney with
which they urged their claims to the
electoral vote of many known Repub-
lican States surprised many intelligent
men among US, and, in case the offic al
count gives the election to Hayes, it
will have proved the ruin of hundreds
of their dupes who effected many bets
at the frightful odds of ten to one, on
the assurances of Hewitt and other par
ty oracles. But the developments of
the past two days have made the seem
ing folly ineligible to the understand
ing of many observers of long expert
ence in political affairs. 1t is explain
ed by them in this way: The Dragging
and boasting which have marked the
Democratic canvass, and the prepOste-
rous claims set up, are part OF the
to render their assertions
of fraudulent count more plausible in
case they should need the electoral
votes of one or two States to elect Til
1en in addition to those conceded to
him. The contingency they anticipa--
ted has come about, and the emphatic
manner in which the Pacific States re-
ected the spurious Democracy has re-
duced them to the necessity oil
one of the three States of
Juth Carolina, louisiana or Florida. |
The latter was probably considered the
most available for their purposes, but
the pro:npt action of the President in
the military there tv suppress
the Ku-KluX, frustrated their plans;
and bafiied and rendered desperate as
they found themselves checks kmated at |
this point, Louisiana is all that is left
them as 'forlorn hope.' The precipi-
tate departure of Hewitt, Clymer,
Curtin and other associates,
followed by tales of fraud and Repub-
ican intimidation of the Democratic |
leaves the impression of pre-
measures in furtherance of |
he alleged revolutionary plan rather
han thatsof coincidence. Gen. Grants |
noble and patriotic utterances as con-
aimed in his order to Gen. Sherman, had |
he effect to calm the agitation some
what, and to make us devoutly thank
al that the helm is in the hands of
patriot, who will not shrink
rom his duty. His course during the
past nine months has restored him to
lis old-time popularity with many OF
lis fellow citizens, who had become
more or less estranged from his admin
stration because of honest differences
If opinion.
When it was the belief from the false
'laims Ofthe Tilden managers, that he
'Tilden) had been elected, the uniform
ceiling among Republicans was one of
cheerful submission to the recorded
will of the majority, although many
that it had been effected thro'
he grossest frauds and widespread in
imidation. There was a disposition to
efrain from any tac;ious opposition to
1r. TildeD, and to aid him, by willing
bedieDce to all laws, in making his {