The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1880-12-18
The Empire Triumphant.

1t appears that Grant, COnkling, Cam
eron, Logan have been elected Presi-
dent. 1t appears as we write that the
effect of the October election was too
potent to be overcome. This October
effect has never failed to make itself felt
in our Presidential elections. While
Pennsylvania was an October State the
other States followed Pennsylvania like
sheep jumping down precipice. The
methods by which Ohio and Indiana
were carried in October are known to
the country. 1t was these methods,
therefore, that won the election,
fer we assume that it is lost to the
Democracy. What has triumphedP
SectionalIsm has triumphed; Chinese
cheap labor has triumphed; the coer-
cion of the white workingman has tri-
umphed; falsehood in newspapers and
on the stump has triumphed; centraliza-
ton has triumphed; the Empire has tri-
umphed. 1t is not the triumph of Gar
field, it is the victory of the strong man
who came to his rescue in Ohio and In
diana before the 18th of October, and
in whose hands he is. We cheerfuny
announce to the people of the United
States, or the large portion of them
who will read this issue of our journal.
that we can endure these victories if
they can endure them. We are GER
tainly in as good position to suffer
them as the laboring men of the United
States. We shall continue business at
the old stand, Notwithstanding the
transient triumph of a cause which
ought not to be the victor.
he md
brave Union soldier. heroic in battle, a
noble and splendid lover of civil liberty
in peace, has been defeated. The beau
tiful sentiment of union. the harmonious
impulses that should fill the hearts of
the people of one country, have been
for the moment crushed. 1t is disclosed
by the methods we have indicated that
Union is not wanted. 1t is announced
that the great rivers that flow like arter-
les through this continent to the Gulf,
bearing upon their bosoms the rich
argosies of an Industrious people, begin
in one country and end in another.
That was the commanding argument of
the canvass, and that is the interpreta.
ton to be placed upon the verdict.
This, therefore, is not the triumph in
which the patriotic American finds
cause for exultation. There is in the
victory no flavor of fraternity, no gentle
belief that this country is to be one in
the affections of the future as it is one
in history, in interest, in geography, i'm
beauty. The Republican party in con-
Quoting this campaign and this election
have done all that they could do to
destroy this sentiment of Union.
But the triumph is not permanent.
The Democratic principle, the idea
which underlies our system of govern
ment, is as lasting as the continent on
which that Government dwells. The
Democratic party, old as the century,
can survive the defeats of a quarter of
the century. 1t has sounded forth
the trumpet that shall never call re-
treat while the Republic lives it will
live. If the country seems now at the
feet of spirit of Capitalization, of GEN.
tralized power that does not differ from
the Empire, it is in spite of Democratic
protest; and the Democratic party, not
withstanding this temporary reverse,
will falter not from its lofty spirit; will
fail not in its final purpose; will con-
tinue its splendid march in the cause of
the people against power. in the cause
OF Democracy. There is a story of a
people who were forty years in the
wilderness. They were engaged in no
better cause than that of Democracy on
earth. The Democratic party is one of
lnvlncible hope; and it has belief in the
doctrine:
Right forever on the scaffold,
Wrong forever on the throne;
But that scaffold sways the future
And behind the dim unknown
Standeth God within the shadow
Keeping watch above His own"
And the Democratic party is forever
opposed to the throne. Cincinnati En-
Quirer.