Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1892-11-17
A NEW ERA IN POLITICS.
Some Deductions From the Overwhclm-
ing Verdict OF the People of the Country

| SWEET inc dimensions OF the Democratic
victory, Not only has Mr., Cleveland
swept the supposedly pivotal state" of
New York by great majority, but he has
carried 50 many Others that New York
| ceases to be the decisive factor. Not only
mas he carried the other two usually
| doubtful states" Connecticut and In
\ diana, and increased the Democratic ma
lorliy n New Jersey to an unprecedented
| Inquire. but he has beyond question Won
over Illinois and Wisconsin, and the Ohio
| Republicans are to-day conceding the
| probability Of a plurality for him IN that
Republican stronghold" The latest re-
ports indicate that lie has also carried Cali
forhia. The Republicans have, besides
! certainly lost Nevada and Colorado. and
probably other states in the far west
| WITH the Presidency the Democrats also
secure both branches Of Congress
~ short, the election Of Tuesday was
nothing less than u political revolution
such as the present generation has never
| witnessed in a Presidential contest. Grants
| victory over Greeley in 1872 is the only
| event Tor ~ years worthy to be compared
with 1t, and 1.-THE reelection of Grant did
not mark any radical change Of public
| opinion, but only reasserted the verdict of
the previous Presidential election. The
| nearest thing to a parallel is tile defeat of
the wing party 40 years ago, but even that
was only the return TO power of the Demo-
Gratis, who had regularly elected their can
dldates for President ever since 1900, with
| only the exceptions of 1924, 1910 and 1S4S
II Is now IS years-the full lifetime Of a
generation of inen-since the Democrats
carried Presidential election on party
lssiles The defeat of Blaine in 1884 was
solely the rejection on personal grounds Of
an unfit Republican candidatc--not re-
lection Of the Republican policy This was
shown i'll lSSS when the Republican policy
was endorsed, by the choice not only of Il
resident Of that party, but also of
Senate and House of Representatives. 1t
= thus clear that only the nomination Of
an unworthy candidate in 1884 prevented
the Republicans from holding entire pos.
session Of the government from 1851 to
lsai, while during Clereland's admistra-
ton \ Republican Senate prevented the
policy.
An era in our politics is definitely ended
when states which began going Republican
IN ls56. and have continued Republican
ever since, nc last 60 deliberately Demo.
cratic, and when the Democratic candidate
receives support i'll the east, the interior
and the west only less hearty than in the
south. 1t is an extraordinary era which is
mus brought to an end. In its early his
tory the Republican party was one of the
hObleSt organizations Of men for the
accomplishment by united efforts Of gond
ends that the world has ever seen. There
was less Of sordid seltishness, more of
broad minded humanity and patriotism,
~ the party Of Abraham Lincoln, William
II. seward, Charles sumner and John A.
Andrew than in any other party IN our
history. Ambition and other purely per-
S0nal motives had, Of course, their share
Of influence, but the controlling purpuse
OF tile men who made up the organization
Wa sincere and earnest desire to free
their country from the shame Of slavery,
"a It,n =.
than was ever possible under slavery the
worthy object OF the admiration and alice
ton of the whole world
On the great issue Of slavery the Demo-
cratic party was entirely and hopclessly
wrong. II continued wrong through the
stfuBsle over reconstruction and the adop-
ton Of the constitutional amendments re-
auired by the victory of the Union cause
and the overthrow of slavery. 1t suffered
IN public opinion for its mistakes-slIffercl
severely, but justly; for organizations Of
men. like individual men, ought to BAY
the penalty Of wrong decisions upon I'M
portant questions of principle. A not IN
reasonable dread Of the party fingered
long, and large proportion Of the Re.
pnbiIcalS came to believe that it could not
safely be intrusted with the possession of
the government. 1t was this rooted dis.
trust OF the Democracy which rendered
possible tile plot to retain power by craft
1876, and which made so many men who
believed that Tilden had been elected ready
70 wink at any device to secure the seat
ing Of Hayes, The latter's respectable adj
ministration, and especially his enforced
grant Of home rule to the south, gave
the Republican party n new lease Of power.
The downfall of the party has been
altogether rs melancholy is its rise WAS
inspiring. The great issues which had
Called ~ into existence having been settled
us Original a!!n Was gone, and il had no
sufficient excuse for being. But shrcwd
men saw that nero was an organization Of
tremendous force. which could be used far
personal ends as it had been used for pub.
llc purposes. Gradually il ceased 10 be
tho party Of great moral ideas. " and be-
came the party Of great Spectators The
power of taXati0n-the greatest and always
the most jealousy guarded OF powers
was employed, Mt first with much
secrecy, later more and more openly
to promote the fortunes of com.
paratiyely small class of manufac-
trerS ut the north--preCiscly as before
the war the whole Influence OF the Federal
government was exercised to protect the
human chattels of the Shareholders at the
south. The still surviving admiration OF
the Republican party's early record and
the still lingering dstrtist Of tho
Democracy rendered it more easy than it
should have been to blind the people 10
Republican misdong, and to alarm them
with Tears OF national misfortune in case
OF 4 Democratic triumph
The greed of the protected interests nj
last wrought their downfall. Their adyo-
Gates carried out the doctrine Of protection
To lis logical conclusion. They told the
most alert, ingenious, enterprising and
pushing people anywhere to be found
that they could not make their way in the
world alone, and would 20 down in com
petition with other nations unless their
infant industries" We're bplstered in by
government clutches after a centlirys
growth, They told them that the cheapen-
ing Of the necessaries and comforts of life
upon which modern civilization asalways
rrIded itself, was gigantic misfortune.
which was believed i'll only by 'theoriSts'
and 'dpctrinairesn They told them that
the most progressive nation of the West
ought 10 rebuild in u new world the CrGm-
bling Chinese wall of the most back ward
nation Of the East. They told them that,
instead Of being esteemed and loved BY
other nations, the republic ought to be
feared and hated by the struggling peoples
OF Europe They told them that the great
est distinction Of 4 statesman in a demo
crazy was 70 be hated by all other nations,
and that Mckinley's chief claim 10 fame
WAS the suffering and misery he had caused
III Englandand on theContincnt Of Europe!
This case they submitted To the Amer.
can people last Tuesday. 1t was d choice
between two policies us radically opposed
as those championed by Lincoln and
Douglas generation ago. 1t is only q
question Of time when even the defeated
party will be ms glad that Cleveland won
in 1872 rs all Of us now are that Lincoln
won in 1850. Happily the decision was
clear and conclusive II was such dcc-
SION AS Lowell foreshadowed in "The
Present Crisis when lie wrote Of the