Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1879-11-12
The Political Outlook.


The result of the various state elections
held this fall may safely be said to have
proven one thing, and that is that the Re-
publican party at the North is neither dead
nor sleeping, despite the frequent and per.
sistent assurances of our political antagonists
to the contrary. The mission of the party
is not yet ended nor will its career be closed
until our Union is firmly cemented, every
section subservient to the laws Of the land,
earnest in the preservation of our common
country and the protection of the rights,
civil and political, of each and every one Of
its citizens. With these facts assured, a
career of long-contnued prosperity such as
the world has rarely witnessed would inev-
itably ensue and we should hardly care to
be one of those who would lay straw in
the path of its fulfllment.
Yet il cannot be denied that the spectre
of solid South" arrogant, aggressive,
insolent, is anything but soothing to the re-
flecting mind. We all know what this same
element has done for us in times past Can
we trust it any better or more safely now
Where is the security for our future in its
ascendancy2
That this course of reasoning has been
freely INDUCED in throughout the North,
the elections of last week abundantly test
ify, and the results may be briefly summed
up as follows Not a Northern state has
elected anything but Republican gov
ernor Butlerism is rebuked again in Mas
sachusetts; the soft money heresy routed
in Ohio and Maine; Kearneyism overthrown
in California the revived doctrine of states
rights denounced by the voice of the North
ern people as well as the political crimes
which undeniably are committed in the
South the last session of congress indicted
by grand jury of the people, and the ad.
ministration Endorsed. All this shows
good deal of a political revolution. The
Republican party, by few wise measures
adopted by President Hayes, has recom-
mended itself to the people. The Demo-
cratic party, by its failure to repudiate polit-
ical crimes in the South, by its attempt to
remove every restraint of law and force that
now guards the ballot-box, by its greediness
to embrace the "rag-baby" and every other
issue that promised vote, has revealed such
a character that the people are unwilling to
trust the fortunes of this republic in its
hands. This much these elections reveal.
That the result of the presidential election
next year has been fully settled by the cleo
tons of this fall is, probably, too much to
claim. But that the chances of the Republi-
can party have been vastly improved by them,
it is worse than idle to deny.
But this reaction demands of the Repub-
lican party honest and good government in
the states which it controls. Each party
must be on its good behavior before as well
as after election. A slight mistake now on
the part of the Republicans might endanger
their success, and so, instead of mistake,
become crime. The parties as they now
stand enter the race for 1880 on Just about
equal terms. A solid South with Indiana,
which is now Democratic, and New York,
carries Democrat into the white house, and
this is contingency which we must be
prepared to look full in the face.
With that prudence and wisdom which
should dictate the course of the Republican
party for the next year, its success cannot be
matter of doubt. With divided councils
all this may be endangered, or the selfish
scheming of some of the leaders may imperil
the result. 1t belongs to the rank and file
of the party to make wise selections for its
on to another presidential victory, and an
honest and faithful administration of the
affairs of the country may confidently be
looked for during the next four years.