Year: 1872

Our Presidential ElectiOns-The Ups


and Downs OF Our Political Par


ties-The Impending Contest.


Mr.. Sumner, who proved completely, to his
own satisfaction, some few months ago, that
the safety of the country requires that the oc-
cupant of the White House, good, bad or in
different, shall be limited to one term, has
just proclaimed another important discovery,
not that of the sources of the Nile or the
Congo. but the discovery that the main spring
near the fountainhead Of all the political cor
ruptions of the day is the caucus or conven-
ton system by which our Presidential candi-
dates are nominated. In other words, MIR.
Sumner unsparingly denounces this conven-
ton system as utterly corrupt and demoraliz-
ing; and ON able democratic contemporary,
being exactly of the same mind, is satisfied
that Sumner is the greatest statesman OF
the republican party. But MIR. Summers
opinion of these Presidential conventions, had
he, for instance, been nominated ct Phil
adelphia in the place of General Grant as the
republican candidate for this contest, and the
opinion of this journal, if it were demon
strated that Mr.. Greeley would not and could
not be adopted at Baltimore as the democratic
candidate, would be- weapprehend, an opinion
that this convention system is an excellent
thing. The old fable of your bull and my
OK will solve most of these political riddles.
But as the masses of the people seem to like
their party conventions as great labor-saving
machines the complaints Of disappointed
politicians may be dismissed without further
remark And so, for the present, we will turn
to general review Of our past Presidential
elections, and in reference TO the one before us.


In looking over the columns Of the HERALD
this morning our political readers of all par
ties will find, in our carefully compiled chapter
of facts and figures on the Presidency, brief
outline of the political history of the United
States which will well repay a thoughtful
perusal. We ore on the verge of o most remark
able Presidential contest and we see already
that anything and everything bearing upon it,
directly or indirectly, is eagerly seized upon
by all parties Hence this compilation Of our
Presidential statistics It will be found, to
every man interested in the issues and proba-
bilities of this campaign, useful as o guide
book or time table in reference to our past
elections and as indicating the positions and
conditions Of the contesting parties Of this
day. AS Professor Agassiz, from q bone
or two of a fossil ichthyosaurus or pachyderm,
can give you picture of the animal as he
lived, 80 the old political campaigner, from
our leading facts and figures upon each Of our
Presidential elections, from Washington down,
will be able to fill up the outline from his own
recollection of the parties, politicians and
issues of the contest; while our younger
politicians, Grant or anti Grant, will find in
our statistics the best of ammunition for their
stump speeches.


To the superficial student these Presidential
facts and figures will be apt to convey the
conclusions that since Washington our Presi-
dental contests have been mere games Of
chance; that our party leaders have been mere
gamblers in capital for "buncombe," and that
our national growth and prosperity are due
less to any fixed policy Of patriotism, wisdom
or craftsmanship, on any side, than to the
chapter of accidents affecting our juggling
parties and trading politicians. Yet, in look
ing below the surface, in considering these
ups and downs of our political parties, factions,
cliques and leaders, it will be seen that the in
telligence and sturdy patriotism Of the ruling
majority of the American people have been
equal to oil emergencies.


The most Important oonoiusions suggested
from the rise and fall of each Of our political
parties of the past are these: that no political
party in this country, unless founded upon
great principles or ideas can stand, and that
when party has fulfilled its mission it breaks
up dissolves and disappears. Thus the anti
Masonic party and the Know Nothing party
were short-lived, because they were founded
upon shallow fallacies, bigotry and persecu-
ton; while the little stone, marked the Aboli-
ton of Slavery, cut out Of the mountain of
human rights by few bold and self-sacrifcing
men, rolled and gathered strength till it filed
the whole land. So, too, the old federal party,
the old republican party, the old whig party
and the old pro-slavery democratic party having
each, in their day, done their appointed work.
or, run to the end Of their tether, have been
broken up and dispersed, or superseded by re-
organization on q new departure. The pres
ent republican party, founded upon the grand
ideas of the abolition of slavery and the estab
fishing of equal rights, having fulfilled its ap
pointed mission, tho question recurs, is it ap
preaching the end of its occupation of the
government? That is the question which il
now before the country, and which is not
settled by our Presidential statistics, because
the reconstruction of the democratic party on
q liberal-republican platform and candidate
changes all the pre-existing arrangements and
conditions Of the battle.


As we have shown in our Presidential reca.