The Ouachita Herald

After the Battle.

The election is over, and we give elsewhere the result, so far as we have been able to ascertain it. For two months past through heat, and dust, the various candidates have labored untiringly to secure success We have had a multitude of aspirants, many of whom are necessarily defeated. But that is not the worst of it-animosities have been engendered that will last for years to come, old political sores reopened which the soothing influence of time can only heal. Those who are elected, if they do their duty, will find themselves but poorly compensated for the expense, the fatigue, and annoyance to which they have been subjected in order to avoid defeat, for there are no lucrative offices in Arkansas, except a few sinecures about the Capitol. They will find that many of their formerly warmest personal friends are estranged, and that in order to sustain themselves, and prepare for re-election, a constant and onerous system of drainage must be kept up, which if not endued with Job-like patience will exhaust their good nature as well as their pockets. Upon an impartial view of the whole matter we are disposed to regard the defeated candidates as the more fortunate class. Any man of intelligence, industry and business habits, can make more money in other pursuits than he can by any local office in the State. And although such may experience a little mortification at first, as soon as the sting of defeat wears off, we think they will conclude that it was better for them that they were not elected. The system of electioneering which prevails in our State, is by far too expensive, burdensome, and exacting, and until a better one is inaugurated we advise poor men to adhere to some honest employment, rather than engage in the "wild hunt after office," which preeminently characterizes, to use the language of a late candidate, "the age in which we live in."

One result. is not only foreshadowed but actually revealed, viz : that the rotten carcass of "modern democracy" is consigned in this State, to its last resting place. The Congressional nominees of the party may be, and in all probability, are elected but in the various counties, the convention candidates have been either entirely overthrown, or so nearly so, that the party will hereafter never dare dictate to the masses for whom they shall cast their suffrages. And this result has been achieved by no union, or concert of action on the part of the opposition. It is a result springing spontaneously from the people, and induced solely by a consciousness that they had long been the blind advocates and followers of a ruinous policy, and a corrupt party organization. We now look forward cheerfally, hopefully, and confidently to a better time. a return to the primitive rules which governed our fathers in the earlier and purer days of the Republic. With such a purpose, and to such an end, let all independent, pure minded men hereafter work, and in a few years at the farthest they will receive their reward, in the beneficial results that will accrue to the State from wise legislation, and to each of them individually. in the impetus that will thus be given to the enterprise and general improvement of the country.

To those who have been engaged in the contest which has just closed, we offer a word of advice, which they can profit by or not, as they deem best. "Let the dead past bury its dead." It will do no good to keep open the wounds you may have received during the battle. Meet those with whom you have contended in a spirit of conciliation and kindness, remembering always that, "To err is human, to forgive divine."