New-York tribune., 1876-02-01
on 1HE URONG TACK.

III must DC dpDdlcHI ny lHlS tiiHN w INV ANS
publican leaders in Congress, as it has long
been to the general public. that the country
has passed quite out of the period IN which
the cries of Southern outrages," "lntmlda-
"tionr "White Leagues" " -kluNlsm,'
could be effective III influencing votes
and carrying elections. Whatever politl-
cal capital is to be made ont o.
a revival of the animosites of the
war must come from the imprudcnce OF con-
duct and recklessness of speech of the party
Just now beginning to taste power, and to show
its unftness for it, in Congress. The Rcpub-
licans have used up the argument. They
must wait for their opponents to blunder
into some occasion to revive It, I'M"
Congress has already seen two deliber-
ate attempts on the part of the Repub-
licans to fire the Northern heart Both
have failed lamentably. Mr.. Blaine's effort
was nearer being successful than Senator Nor
TONS but neither of them accomplished the
purpose Of its author. Mr.. Blaine did sue
ceed in drawing out from Mr.. Hill
of Georgia speech very damaging to
the latteI's party, but the recital OF the
horrors of Andersonville and the other rebel
prisons made little impression on the minds
of a people to whom the whole story was
familiar and who preferred to forget rather
than treasure up its painful memories
The impression that remains upon the pub
lie mind to-day, only so short time after tie
" great debate" is that Blaine showed himself
q consummate tactician, and that the Demo-
cratic majority in the House was made up oi
very feeble folk. The movement was intended
to harrow up the North 1t has not narrowed
a cents worth. And as for Mr.. Motions great
speech on tho Mississippi election, the object
of which was to revive the old diStuIst OF and
hatred for the Southern people, 1t has
fallen still-born. 1t hardly held the attention
of the Senate during its delivery, and it has
not stirred a ripple of feeling outside. 1t has
not even provoked discussion or comment
from the press. We do not recall any such
signal failure in the history of Congressional
debates. Not one in a hundred of the poll
ticans themselves who are personally inter
ested in all the schemes for making political
capital have read or will read it, and we dare
say not one in twenty of them will remember
month hence that such a speech ever was
made.
Now would it not be wise to abandon that
line of policy for the coming campaign 1t
was worn out in 1874. Every one remembers
the politicians certainly ought not to have
forgotten-how miserably it failed that
year. That was campaign-we refer TO the
one III which the present Congress was
chOsen-in which the utmost stress was laid
upon tho "Outrage and intimidation argu-
ment. The startling revelations of Mr.. Hays
of Alabama and the Attorney Generals
detectives, the labOrs of the Chattanooga
Convention in the search for Outrages and the
miserable failure il made, the appeals from
the stump and in the press, and all the blood
stirring narratives with which the campaign
abounded, are fresh i'll memory. The re-
suit of that policy is visible Ill the
House of Representatives of tho present
Congress. If politicians could learn any
thing, the experience of that campaign
would seem to have been sufficient to have
induced change of base. Some of them were
wise enough to discern tho popular current
and apprehend the situation. Others-notably
Mr.. Morton, and in less degree Mr.. Blaine
clung to the old arguments and kept repeat
ing tile old cries. They have kept it up till
now. Perhaps by this time they are
beginning to see that times have changed.
The failure of their recent demonstrations
should certainly have taught them so much.
1t seems to us that the sweeping defeat of the
Republicans i'll the Congressional elections OF
1874, taken in connection with their partial
recovery in 1875, is susceptible of but one
Interpretation and explanation. The people
had experienced no renewal of confidence in the
Democratic party or its leaders They had
taken strong disgust for Republican bad
management, dishonest administration, and cor
rupt leadership. They meant to rebuke the party.
No tales of Southern outrages or intimidation
of voters could distract their attention from
this duty. They did precisely what they set
out to do. And the present Democratic Con-
gross is the result They were tired of tho