The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-11-11

| CduuludtSS upon lDC oldIC llChcl. ILO 'OtO GO
| between Hoskins and Potter for Lieut.. Cover
nor is close, and it is possible the latter may
squeeze through. Howard Soule, the Repub-
lican candidate for Engineer, is probably
beaten by Horatio Seymour Jr The latter
bears popular name, and deservedly ran
ahead of his ticket. The former was the OBJ
ject of persistent attacks from several quarters,
and was undoubtedly damaged by them.
They were presumably false; at any rate they
emanated from parties much given to slander,
and seldom accurate as to facts. Campaign
accusations are too common, and are made
with too much looseness and recklessnesS to
produce any effect ON the minds OF people who
are accustomed to weigh evidence, but lie
widely circulated may turn the scale in close
contest. However, we have elected the Gov
ernor, Secretary of State, Comptroller, Attor-
ney General and Treasurer, and that is all we
need to score up for the present. We can
afford to wait till the official canvass deter
mines the fate of the other two candidates
But the result on the general ticket does not
convey an idea of the magnitude OF the trl-
umph. The Republicans have secured "A of
the 80 Senators and 81 of the 12S members of
the Assembly-three to one in each house.
There never was such a sweep but once before,
and that was last year when the people were
called upon to express their wishes in respect
of retaining Mr.. Conkling as their representa-
tive in the United States Senate. Then they
had special and powerful incentive to enthu-
siasm. They have rallied gallantly under the
same leader again, and achieved success against
greater odds than are ever likely to be encoun-
tered in future. As general rule | am not
much of a believer in the potency of money as
an clectioneering weapon. But there never was
such a golden shower pouring down upon the
Democracy as there was this time. Where it
came from is q matter of inference. That it
was prodigally dispensed is as true as the Cos
pei according to st. john OF course every
body supposes that it was supplied from the
overfowing exchequer of well-known resi-
dent of Gramercy Park. 1t is known that
there is always plenty of it there, and that
its possessor was deeply interested in the sue
cess of the Democratic ticket. 1t has been OBJ
served also that all through the campaign the
supporters of Robinson affected the most abid
ing confidence that ne would be reelected.
Here is the initial sentence of a long telegraph
c despatch from the State capital to one OF
their metropolitan organs two days before the
election:
''On the eve of the election and with moth
ing to gain by boaSting, it is very certain that
the Democratic managers expect to carry the
State and are confident that Lucius Robinson
will be reelected by plurality of not less than
20,000.'
The Robinson State Committee professed to
be equally saagune Wagers were made that
I, u: l,a ba laPU
than that of Cornell and Kelly combined.
The simple truth is that the Democrats made
the hardest fight ever known in our political
history, and to have defeated them is one of
the grandest achievements record. We
have carried the State ON the popular vote for
the first time in seven years. We have done
splendidly everywhere except i'll New York
and its suburbs, which include Brooklyn,
Staten Island, Queens and Westchester coun-
ties. These provinces of the "Solid South"
are fortresses of Democracy against which it is
hard to contend. The compact Irish vote of
the two chief cities is mass of stoldity which
appears to be utterly impregnable. There are
GO counties in the State; only II of them give
Democratic maiorities, and in nine of
those the excess of Democratic over
Republican votes is considerably less than
5000. The 46 Republican counties COM
prise the very elite of the population,
the sturdy yeoWanry whose ballots represent
principles and ideas. The five counties that
are depended upon to counterbalance them
are peopled largely by foreigners, abound with
haunts of vice and nurseries of crime and in
the worst parts of them, such as the Give
Points,, "Water Street" and "Mackerelville'
the Democrats outnumber the Republicans in
the ratio of at least ten to one. The Harlem
river is in the line of demarcation between
two dissimiar races of men. There is little in
common between them When victory de-
cares in favor of the rural division, the
Empire State takes her place among the lib-
| erty loving and patriotic commonwealths Of the
| Republic; when the balance inclines to the
| other side she is degraded to the humilating
| condition of vassalage to the South, and bends
her neck to the collar with servile docility. To
| have rescued her from this shame is cause
| enough for congratulation. twill be easier to
| keep her in the right position than it was to
| get her there.
| The most disappointed men among us-ex-
| cept perhaps; the defeated Governor and
tiOSo WIN iiuAiiCNIdtCiy ouliOuhNOo hAiAA s'AS
| the sem-Republcans who have been insisting
| all the while that the nomination of Mr.. Cor
| nell was iniudicious. These gentlemen are
| not good politicians. They revolye i'll an ex-
| tremely narrow orbit. The delegates to the
| State convention, representing the people Of
| every district and thoroughly acquainted with
| the sentiments of their constituents are much
| better judges of public opinion than the volu-
| BILE critics who pass most of their waking hours
| in five-pair-back attic rooms hurting invectives
heavily charged with printers ink, at all the
| inhabitants of the outer world. If the policy
| had been adopted of selecting some candidate
| whose allegiance to the party was liable to be
| shaken by caprcious whims or selfish preiu-
| dices, in order to conciliate struggling voter
| here and there on whose fidelity no real de-
| pendence could be placed, no matter what sac
| flee were made to conciate him we should
| have lost two fold more than we
| should have gained and not only
| have been beaten but disgraced. Trimming
| to catch votes is a dangerous business as well
| to parties as to individuals. Success by such
| methods is hardly worth having while failure
| involves fatal consequences. We were just in
| that condition this fall when we must meet
| the question squarely whether we should throw
overa tried and trusted adherent of the or
| ganization, one who had always been faithful
| and had done yeoman service i'll the ranks,
| against whom no word of reproach could be
truthfully uttered, who WAS objected to solely on
| the ground that he had devoted his time and
| money to the maintenance of Republican prin-
ciples, the strongest possible argument that
| could be adduced in his favor, or whether we
| should stand by him like men and show the
world that the Republican party of New York
was not mean enough nor base enough to sacri
| fee one of their most steadfast captains to ap
| pease diminutive and noisy faction that
would be just as likely to betray them, even
after such sop had been thrown to them, as
| they were before. This was not one OF thu
| years when it would have been safe to have
| adopted any such expedient. The Republi-
| cans of New York are patient, long suffering,
| slow to anger, willing to subordinate their pre-
| iudces to the higher purpose of promoting the