Year: 1876

exercised that sovereignty which decrees,
as far as human agency may, the destiny of
this nation for the next four years. While
the result is yet in suspense, and every
patriotic citizen is waiting for its full an
nouncement, we may survey the ground
of the late contest and endeavor to forecast
the future.


If Tilden is elected, as his friends claim
that he is, there are two things that have
wrought this change, and that never fail
in the. history Of popular revolutions. The
first is the pressure of hard times, the stag
nation of business, the restlessness of the Ia
boring classes unemployed and dissatisfied,
and the consequent desire of change.
The second is the d;saffec!ion of many
former supporters of the party in power,
which must always happen under the
working of system liks our own. 1t is
impossible for all to be leaders, and all to
enjoy the emolumentso of office, or all to ex-
ercise that justice which eludes the wisest
administration of imperfect men.


If in this contest the Republican party
has been defeated ii has been solely by the
action of these two causes. Strange ano-
maIy in the development Of human af-
fairs? Human nature thus acts csuselessly
and blindly, but nevertheless instinctively
to bring about results which never cease to
sffiict communities and nations with evils
worse than those from which they are
madly endeayoring to escape.


The common pretexts upon which the
Republican party have been SO violently
sssailed are not the real causes of its over
throw. 1t is in vain for the truculent and
interruptions journalism which curses our
age and country to pretend it. No politi-
cal party that ever existed among US from
the foundation of the Government has ever
rendered such service to the nation and
to mankind. No party has ever professed
or sought to enlist nobler or .purer princi-
pies. No party has ever upheld general
policy more wise or more benefceat in the
difficult and trying circumstances of its Ca
reer. II, therefore, We say again it shall
turn out to have been now defeated it will
be long, long time before the nation will
recover from the disaster, simply because
by the decree of the popular voice the Gov
ernment has been handed over to the re-
dictionary party; the party of disunion, the.
party of violence and unprincipled expe-
dients. j, H ...- q. - "a. d ~


The voters of the nation have done their
own work, and they must now take the 4
consequences of that work. Let us see for
a moment what prospect of Improvement /
there is in the supposed change OF admin
istration now to take place:


First, we shall have at the head of the
nation men who are and have been asso-
ciated with all the worst and most tur5u-
lent elements Of the country-sll those ele-
ments that have from time TO time broken
out ipto local and general disorder-a set of
men who, by their doctrines, traditions,
beliefs and practices, have more than once
well nigh shipwrecked the State and /
brought the country to the verge Of de-
struction; set of men whose opinions and /
policy have weakened the faith Of the
world in the perpetuity of our institutions,
and have dishonored, if not wholly de-.
stroyed. the national credit in all the
markets and in all the exchanges of the
world. - ..- .-s


Next, these men, when installed in power,
will be called to face the stern realities of
q situation for which they are wholly unfit
and Incompetent and before the whirlwind
of which they will be as powerless as an
infant of days. 1t must be remembered
that they have made professions Of reform
which may be esteemed startling indeed.
According to their predictions, every evil
which exists In the country is to be miti-
gated or remedied; taxes are to be dimin-
ished; the debt is to be paid; all claims are
to be properly and satisfactorily adjusted;
the unemployed lsborers are to be set at
work; business is to be revived; trade and
commerce are to be resuscitated;, internal
improvements are to be carried on; the
finances of the country are to be established
on Q solid basis; the ex-rebel States are to
be pscifed; the negroes are to be protected
in their rights; economy and retrenchment
are to be inaugurated; honesty, capacity
and fidelity in Office are to be enjoined; the
great interests of conflicting sections and
classes are to be fully harmonized, and the
halcyon days of peace and prosperity are to
come to every man, woman and child in
the country. These are the promises of
this marvellous party of reform, not one Of
which will be kept, because not one Of
which can be accomplished by them. There
Is logic Of events which will be too strong
for the schemers and demsgogues whom
the nation once drove from power, and
whom now the nation proposes to replace
in power. A food-tide of hungry aspirants
for Office will deluge the Capital, and the
first two years of the term will be mainly
spent in changing the officers of the Gov
erpment, home and foreign, and In hunting
places for q crowd Of applicants who have
long been waiting for q chance at the public
crib. The sessions of Congress will be oc-
cupied with the doings Of committees of in
vesigatiop, and with ferocious and incen-
diary speeches. Wrangling over proposed
measures without result will become the
order of the day. Meanwhile not one Of the
great interests Of the country will be pro-
NOTED, but spectacle of Humiliation and
shame will greet the gaze Of an astonished
world. Now we cannot yet believe that
such q {ate is impending over us, and not
until the reports Of the official count have
put the case beyond q question shall we
yield to the humblibg conviction that such
prospect is in store for US. For it, upon
the other hand, Hayes has been elected,
then will the current of cur public affairs
fow on undisturbed, and all the interests
secured by SO vast an expense of treasure
and of blood win be conserved. This will
be in accordance with the true logic of
evefts, force in human afIifs which re-
turns upon men forever.





E The Doubtful Planet.