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Show THE CENTENNIAL DEMOCRATIC TRI- ' UMPH. From tho Salt Laks Herald Nov. S, ISTti. As our readers are aware, the result of the election yesterday is not a surprise sur-prise op a disappointment to the Herald. On the day following the Cincinnati convention, while- the republican re-publican pulse was at fever heat, and illuminations and bonfires were the order of the day, the Herald warned the republicans that there were other than personal issues involved in the campaign, and that tho administration administra-tion of tho general government had been placed on its defense before the American people; that to the voters Blaineism or Conklingisra or Morton -Um were not on trial, but the republican republi-can party, which was responsible for the misdeeds and blunders and crimes that had been committed against the country in the name and under the cloak oi liberty and patriotism. These leaders were the mere embodiment, the working machinery of this corrupt organization, who did its bidding and echoed its sentiments. senti-ments. We attempted to demonstrate that the hope of reforming this party by changing its leaders was fallacious, and that the unanimity of the Eup-port Eup-port given to Hayes and Wheeler by all the party leaders, from President Grant through the entire official line, including those who have been tainted with corruption and bribery, was the beat evidence of the fact that the desire for a continuance of power rather thsu the inauguration of Bweeping reforms in the government ; was the animating impulse of the , cimpaign. We dissected the Cincin- j nati platform, contending; that it was' in no sense a reform document, but a eerie3 of sounding platitudes, without life or heart professions entirely en-tirely inconsistent with its record a parchment just as valuable as a homily on honesty would be from a thief or a aermon on virtue fom a libertine. We reminded the republicans that their promises to the people, made in the campaign of 1872, had in no case been realized; that the management of the national finances had proved to be the moat gigantic piece of blundering of modern times; that they had impoverished im-poverished tho country; destroyed its productive interests; overthrown its trade and commerce to build up a class of great capitalists at home and to enrich foreign bankers at the ex- penso of our own people. We contrasted con-trasted the management of the French national debt incured during the German war, and its payment by the French people within themselveg, with our own national indebtedness, held mostly abroad, the interest on which absorbs nearly one hundred million dollars of gold annually. Taking this line of argument we referred the republicans to the history of American elections, which show that a change of national administration administra-tion hai invariably succeeded a business busi-ness panic and a season of depression like that which we are now undergoing. undergo-ing. Tho election of Harrison in 1S10 and of Lincoln in 1800 are the latest instances of this character. The Buffering people of those days struck at the national administration as the authors of their misery and demanded a change. The cry of "two dollars a day and roaat beef " was more potent in 1W0 than any quag lion of poli tied. The people do-manded do-manded remunerative work and Martin Van Buren, one of the ablest of the democratic sages, wna Bwept clean out of sight by tho inex-, inex-, perienced hero of "Tippecanoe." Tue republican party has now held tho national government for nearly B'jtlecn year?, and the country has i ckened of ita rule. Tho only hopo of real reform, the people will aguo, i3 in a change of administration and and of party rulers, and Ibis sentiment senti-ment is not likely to bo overslaughed by any question of pernoual popularity or admitted fitne-B of candidate upon the other aide. Hayes and Wheeler ttremmply the cxoiioiits of republicanism, republi-canism, wh'irh has becomo odious to tho country from its aUi: and the disasters that have followed its career, ami tkjy will be laid out m greater itatcamen before them who stood in the way of the people have been. But it wb not until after the St. 1 Louis convention had been held that j the republicans began to realize their weakness. With that convention Bprang into public notice for the first timo a man of wonderful insight, sagacity and daring, who nt once demonstrated his leadership. Though not even a delegate, his directing hand and fertile brain were seen in every movement of the great assemblage. assem-blage. He was a man born to com- , niand. Tluro appeared to be no problem of political combination too intricate for hiiu. The democratic party had found its master spirit, and under the strano impulse which semetiiues brings a demoralized mob into subjection by a single word from its leaders, they submitted implicitly to his dictation. He asked nothing in return. His plan was direct and simple, and after that brief and startling start-ling platform had been read, the country felt that the nomination of candidates was almost n meaningless formula. The old democratic adage was revived: "Everything for principle; prin-ciple; nothing for men." But the selection of the candidates was equally appropriate. Indeed so intense was 1 the popular fervor of the delegates . that all display of personal favoritism was checked, and on an earlv ballot the "great unknown" received the unanimous vote of the convention for 0 president of the United States, and p the mention of his name aroused , the country to a degree before which the simulated enthusiasm for the u republican nominees appeared tame n and lifeless. e For a time the republican press tried tho game of bluff and bravado. a Some journalists attempted to ridicule t the earnestness of the St, Louis con- v vention, and turned a point on the democracy by likening its delegates j to the roundhead Puritan statesmen of Cromwell's time. "Tammany ' Hall Turned Into a Convent;'1 "Boss Tweed Joined the Presbyterian s Church;" "Sunset Cox a Pious Man- 1 iac," etc., etc., were tho headings of the Chicago Inter-Ocean, and Petro- ' leum V. Nasby and Th. Nast were 6 kept employed ridiculing the most re- t markable political revival of the cen- s lury. But ail to no purpose. The republican repub-lican campaign commenced with some show of interest, but gradually dwindled away into a stupid, spiritless affair, while the democratic demo-cratic canvass was from the first brilliant and enthusiastic. The young men gathered in swarms to the standard stand-ard and warmly espoused the cause which it was now evident was that of the nation, and though the Hayes' canvass was kept up with a flourish ol trumpets, and the partisan journals continued to urge the old democratic ark to move on, as there wouldn't be much of a shower, all far-seeing men had given up the Cincinnati ticket and were preparing for the funeral o! that once formidable organization. Ohio instead of endorsing her "Javorite son" in October, elected the democratic ticket by a handsome majority, and there was a hasty consultation con-sultation of the republican leaders, resulting ii ft resolve that the expenditure expen-diture of ruucy in a political campaign cam-paign would be opposed to the principles princi-ples of the party and contrary to the genius of republican government, and from that day on it became the business busi-ness of every office holder to prove that he was never anything but a sound democrat and a determined foe of the republican parly. But the facts of the canvass are still fresh in the minds of our readers, and tho overwhelming democratic victory, the details of which we pub lish this morning, will surprise few who have watched the progress of the conflict from day to day. The entire array of southern states had been conceded to the democracy from the outset, and the character of the St. Louis convention had rendered safe all the doubtfel states to the same party. Connecticut wa3 ours beyond dispute. Events had rendered morally mor-ally certain as democratic Btates the Pacific coa-t range, Colorado, Minnesota, Min-nesota, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin; wo had hopes of Ohio, but were willing to concede to Hayes Maine, Michigan, Rhode Island and Vermont, and one of these we have now carried. The ' new president will go into the White ', houso with nearly as large an electoral elec-toral majority as has ever beon given to any o f bis predecessors and with a popular majority which seems almost astounding. May his executive career prove as auspicious to the nation as tho generous confidence shown in his 'character and fknesa deserve. |