Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-11-08

We have hardly dared TO nope
that Tilden woald be elected, al
though SO deeply anxious for this
glorious consummation. The re-
turns indicated at an early hour
last evening hal the great tidal
wave Of 1874 had not gone back,
and that the self-sacrifcing efforts
of good and true men everywhere
in behalf Of honest constitutions
government have not been in vain.
The indications are that Samuel j..
Tilden, the great reformer and
peerless statesman and patriot, is
elected President by so decided a
majority that the desperate and
reckless administration in power
will be oyerawed at this expression
of the peoples will and make no at
tempt to prevent it being carried
into effect. This is glory enough
for one day-enough to go ringing
down the brighter years that will
succeed our first national centen-
NAL. The election of Tilden and
the restoration of the government
to its early purity is a triumph
for the people and the age, and
rounds up the century with a eli
max that will elicit the admiration
Of all the civilized nations Of the
earth. A long continued lease Of.
power has engeudeTed corruptions,
abuses and RIGHTEOUSNESS in the
Republican party which the leaders
themselves could not correct if
they would. But the leaders have
opposed reforms and fattened at
the expense Of the public until
they became, as it were, drunk
with blood, and deaf to the pro.
tests of an outraged but pa
tient people. The rebuke ad-
ministered two years ago at the
ballot-box was not needed. The
party went on blindly to destruc-
ton. which came not too soon for
the safety Of the citizen and the
rights Of the masses. This has been
a most extraordinary canvass. 1t
has been compared to the days Of
1910, but there is this difference
both parties were honest then, and
no terrorism was exercised by bay
Onets or United States Marshals to
control votes. AT this election the
whole available force of the gov
e%rnLnent was brought to bear in
behalf Of a corrupt, unscrupulous
party. The President furnished
troops without the sanction or war
rant of law, upon a demand that
originated in the executive COM
mittee-rOOm OF that party. The
Attorneys General, likewise super
seryiceable and plant, Issued in
stractions to United States Mar
shals to call for troops wherever
they could be used to advantage.
Money has been raised without re-
gard to the means, and used
without limit, to corrupt the
ballot-box. Yet this feature Of
the canvass sinks into insignii-
canes when compared with the
organized effort TO build a wall Of
eternal hSte between the North and
the South, through whichno nation
al sentiment or word Of %fraternal
greeting might ever be freighted by
sunbeam or zephyr. Those claiming
the credit Of saving the Union, the
MOrtons, Buffers and Chambers,
Logans, Ingersolls and Blaines,
have expended all the energies Of
their malignant natures to fire the
Northern heart and rekindle the
animOsities, hates and heartburn
ings and unhappy memories Of our
late civil conflict. The Southern
people have been denounced b.
every Radical stump-speakcr ant
press in this country as blood,
murderers and rebels, only await
ing a convenient opportunity 10 re
enslaye the negro, pay Off the rc5e
war debt, pension Southern sol
diers, make loyalty odious, reprdi
ate the national debt, and destro,
the Government. The bloody shir
has been the staple Of Radica
argument throughout this cam
paign. We have cause 10 b
profoundly grateful that th
standard of intelligence is SO higl
under onr system Of free schonl