Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-10-03
The Close Of the Camnalgn.

With to day the legislative campaign in
this county viii be virtually closed, and
tomorrow the voters will meet at the polls
to decide who is the greater, the Demo
cratic party or the boilers. 1t is doubt
full whether public interest has ever been
more thoroughly manifested in any cleo
ton ever held in the county as in this.
The boilers had been accustomed to have
their will so long that they finally openly
announced that they intended to have
nominated at the primary meeting on the
18th ult. a ticket which was not approved
by either the Democracy or the people.
The bOlter leaders, however, cared
nothing for this. Their personal wishes
and ends were, in their opinion, supe-
riOr to those of the public, and although
the people, so emphatically that the
most unintelhgent could not mistake
their will, declared their determination
not to submit to the dictation of the
bosses, the latter arrogantly defied them
and the party, and boldly asserted their
ability to defeat both.
The boilers will tomorrow find out that
they were mistaken. Indeed, we doubt
not that even now their leaders realize
that they have been guilty of a grievous
error, which pride alone prevents
them from acknowledging. When
the will of the majority
was so Overwhelmingly manifested
against them at the Theatre, had they,
as good citizens and good Democrats,
acquiesced in the decision then rendered,
it would have been the wisest as well as
the shrewdest act of their lives. They
would have raised themselves i'm
measurably in the estimation of the
party, and their position therein would
have been better and stronger than they
have ever heretofore held. But they lost
their self control and their judgment,
and now they will most probably so ef-
fectually lose their prestige and their
influence that they can never regain them.
Even should they, by any possible mis-
chance, succeed in defeating the party and
the people Of Chatham tomorrow, the
community will. see to it that no such
catastrophe ever again occurs. Hereafter
no man will neglect the important duty
Of registering, and the resolve
that henceforth the people, and they
alone, shall be the bosses, will be in1exi-
bly, taken and rigidly maintained. Hence
the presumptuous attitude which the
leaders of the boilers have assumed must
lead to their ultimate defeat, and they
will be but another exemplification of the
truth of the maxim, whom the gods
wish to destroy they first make mad"
For their certain defeat and loss of
prestige and influence, the bOlter leaders
have only themselves to blame. The
Democratic party has in the past recog-
niZed their services as agents of and
workers for the party, and has willingly
remunerated them for such services. Had
they seen fit to remain within the ranks
and rendered due allegiance to the or
ganizatiOn, they would have continued
to have merited and received all proper
consideration. But when they set them
selves up as masters and bosses of the
party, then they went a little too far,
and tomorrow they will, we doubt not,
learn the lesson that under the free 1e-
publican system of government which
We in this country enjoy, no man nor
set of men can deliberately antagonize
public sentiment and declare himself or
themselves greater than the people with
impunity.
But one day yet remains for the bolter
leaders to retrace their steps and confess
their errors. Even at the last moment, il
they would withdraw their opposition and
yield cheerful and loyal acquiescence to
the will of the Democracy and the peO-
pie, it might not be too late for them to
resume their former status, and he recOg
MED once more as Democrats If,
however. they persist in maintaining their
hostile attitude to the last, and seek to
accomplish the defeat of the party, they
will find that they have undertaken too
heavy task, and that, sooner or later,
they will feel the weight of popular
displeasure.