Year: 1866

4 Good Fight.


Now that the result of the late cleo
tien in West Virginia is well settled
and known. we may form some estimate
of the character of effort put forth
by the opposing parties. 1t is not al
ways the party upon whose standard
victory percheS that has, all things con-
sjlrrcd. the most cause for rejoicing,
and this is true in the present instance.
The Radicals have come forth from the
late contest victorious, hut to boast of
their success or to take pride in the
means used to obtain it, would be to
congratulate themselves upon their own
dishOnor. and to court admiration for
their own corruption and shame. AS a
man upon the verge of starvation may
he compelled to satisfy his hunger with
human flesh or perish, So the surviving
Radicalism of this State sees that its
salvation has been accomplished only
bv the sacrifice of its own manhood and
bv practices SO inhuman that nature re-
volts at the bare contemplation. Unless
lost to all sense of shame and dead TO
every prompting of decency it can find
no satisfaction in the remembrance of
the horrid and iniquitous agencies that
have averted its destruction. Not so
with the defeated but undauntcd Demo.
Gratis OfWest Virginia who look back up
on the lost battle without single tinge
of shame at recollection of disgrace, de-
ceit or fraud. Taking their stand in
the late canvass from honest convictions
of duty, they laborcd for the triumph of
PRINCIPLES and not for power orplundeT.
The means they employed were such rs
are adopted by all men who depend for
success upon the rightfulness Of their
cause. They preferred reason to force,
they sought to convince rather than to
terrify; they appealed to no prejndiceS,
they innamed no passions, they practis-
ed no frauds and they trampled upon no
law. When the struggle was over they
found that their defeat, so far from be-
ING disastrous, would have been scarce
ily possible, but for the outrages upon
the ballOt-boX perpetratcd by their op-
ponents. They have quietly submitted
even to fraudulent results, knowing that
no party can long survive when all
the honesty it ever had gives place to
unmeasured corruption, and that Radi-
Calism in trampling upon the laws OF the
State and the rights of the citizen, has
only compassed its own annihilation.
The Democrats have done well i'll that
they have done all that was possible
under the system of usurpation and
fraud that confronted them. TO be
beaten by such agencies as these is ul-
timately to triumph. The truth was
never more plainly told than by the
PiGua Democrat when it declared that,
''the Democratic party can suffer hun
dred such defeats and come out of the
last one with as perfect an organization
as out Of the first, because their princi-
pies are founded III the Constitution of
the Government, but this Radical party
cannot survive one defeat, because ii is
founded in hatred and passion. In
our opinion it will be utterly impossible
for them TO keep their masses under the
necessary amount of excitement for the
next two Years to retain their party dis
cipinc over them. 1t was by the most
desperate efforts that they were enabled
to succeed in holding their organization
together this year.


Democrats can "ncvcr give up the
shin" 1t is the duty of the Democratic
party. and of each Democrat inGividu-
ally. to commence the next Presidential
campaign now-this week. Next years
campaigns will only be preliminary to
the great struggle in 1858. Let every
one buckle on his armor and go to
work.


Ifthis government has vitality enough
to survive the five years of miserable
Radical rule that it has endured, what
would it have been under proper di-
rection, The old Government of our
fathers can be restored. Let every Con-
servative man in the country go to
work"