New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-11-17
DEFEATED JCTORS.


II has been -hrcwdiy remarked that the vic
tory Of the Democrats in Virginia was the most
damaging defeat they have sustained in any Of
;hc elections this year. The bare fact that Il
victory was won, and in a State which has not
been generally expected to cast it, electoral
votes for 4 Republican candidate next year,
would not OF itself have been seriously harmful!
to the Democrats. But the way in which The
victory was won, and the spirit in which il was
hailed, take us far back toward the days of
White Leagues and Rifle Clubs Ku Klux Klans
and wholesale ma,Sacrcs for political ends.
That this is not partisan view of the matter
but ono which is taken by citizens of both par
ties nj the North may be seen in the comments
Of The Chicdgo Times, the most Influential Demo-
cratic journal west Of Ohio, which remarked:
The Democrat, went TO the polls with shutguns and
The negroes fed TO the woods T. rather account ~
tie Virginia election The victory FOR the Demo
Gratis II victory the color line aud not on any
imaginary boundary between "TJnder- and Rcadiu,t-
crs" The demonstrations OF hilarious Joy which come In
The press from all part, Of the Democratic section are
celebration, Of victory that line and are marked
bF no perception Of any other Ecadju-cri,n, tarin
every political question upon which there has been any
prctonco Of party division, disappear in sudden r.h
OF race feeling. They can count with certainty
upon COMING 10 inc ONO islNtl WIN lao Nut
candidate they may present. But they viii need col
votes TO elect Some uuconjrcturcd number Of
years pass before organization Of President
makers cmbodyn2 only sectional prejudice against the
Ethiopian In p,litcs the geographical boundary
Of that prejudice with good hopes Of winning popular
favor on the Northern side Of IT,
The Chicago Times is anxious aS these cx-
tracts snow, lest the sweeping victory in Viz
ginia, won by a resort to terrorism or violence
and by an appeal TO race prejudice, should Sc
riously damage the Democratic party at The
North Its warning j. not lacking in wisdom
but it comes too late. The thing il done. Viz
ginla mas been swept By "a gush Of race feol-
ing which took the form Of blOodshed i'm at
least one conspicuous instance. The colorcd
voters, liz large number, thcrcupon abandoned
,hc struggle and overwhelming Democratic
majoritics are recorded IN localities where the
large cDlOrcd vote that had been registered was
not cast at all UThappily, the meaning of this
most melancholy spectacle cannot be llisunder
stood.
Northern people have a feeling about this
matter, though they would have had not tie
slightest had General Malone been beaten in
any legitimate way. If Virginia, voting freely,
chooses the Democratic ticket, very well. Tho
North has no fault to find. But vote that is
not frec-a vote in which any opposition to
Bourbonism is crushed by force and terror, in
order that the South may Dc held solid in the
coming Presidential clcction-tIat arou,cs feel
ing in Northern States, and Justly. Even if
General Malone aud his supporters had been
in every way unworthy Of support or success,
still they were entitled to free and fair vote
The situation is exactly what it was when Gen
eral Weaver visited the South, II candidate on
ticket for which the North has DO sympathy
and was forced to admit that citi- !
zen could not support the Greenbacll ticket in
that region without risldng lis life. The pur-
pose to make the South solid no matter what |
crime it costs whether the opposition comes |
from Grecnback voters, Independents, Read