Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1876-08-24

the IRE Oh heDet DaJtery, plunged
into the slough, had to dismount,
leaving his horse fioundering help
lessly in the mire, and, wading ashore,
waved his cap to his men to follow
They did; and that battery was NOV
ed to another part of the field, dou-
ble-quick, to avoid capture, when his
brigade Joined him." '2'ii2
At South Mountain, too, the sol
diers of his command tell how, lead
ing an assault upon the enemy's line,
Gen. Hayes was wounded, and lay
upon the field, with his arm broken,
until he mistook flank movement
of his regiment for retreat Then
he sprang to his feet and rushed to
the thickest of the fight, where he re-
mained urging his men on, until,
overcome by pain and loss Of blood,
he sunk to the ground again. His
gallantry in the charge at Cloyd's
Mount ain, in the campaign in the
Shenandoah Valley, and of Cedar
Creek, where his horse was shotsun-
der him, will long be recomted with
pride by the veterans of Ohio. And
yet Hayes is the very man I remem-
Der hearing say at Cincinnati, just
after the close of the War,-and it
was characteristic OF his hatred of
shamming and of theatric heroics.
Don't believe the man who says
he went into battle without fear. /
don't believe any sober man ever
did, without fully appreciating his
peril. know 1 never. did. It's one
of those things that has always to be
fought against
Whoever talks with him for but
ten minutes will find that he is no
more man of evasions than he is of
sham pretentions. He is, as 1 have
already intimated, very far from
being one of those complaisant be-
-ings who put themselves on tap, so
to speak, at anybody's instance, and
go on spilling all over until some
body shuts them off. But his, meth
ods are direct, and farthest remov-
ed from those of the machine politi-
clans, As was said to me to-day, by
one who has known him long and in
timately. "Gov. Hayes, in all his po-
litical career, has not once compro-
missed himself; has made no bargains
or trades, or promised appointments,
to secure nomination, influence, or
votes. You may rest assured he
hasn't done so now; and, il elected,
he wfll go to the White House un-
trammeled, and he will himself be
President. If he should happen to
be defeated, he win light upon his
feet, and there will be nothing to be
exposed. whether he be elected or
defeated, that any man need be
ssi.asaed TO have done I'm broad day
light. He can say No, and isn't
afraid tosay fr when he thinks it
ought to.be said; and. when his mind
is made UP, that a thing is right,
while he will listen to you patiently,
there's no use trying to move him.
1t can't be done"
/ wish those who are so convinced
in their own conceit that somebody
is going to run Hayes should he be
elected President, could see the man
himself, and hear the testimonies
that are here to be found on every
side, that must satisfy them that they
are mistaken i'm their man. There
would be less OF that ridiculous stuff
and nonsence afioat about his being
merely man of respectable medioc-
rity, which is said to signify that he
has neither the brains nor the will to
be President when elected. The con-
spicuous fact in his political career
is, that in no canvass has he permit
ted himself to be governed by any
managing politicians; and that, after
election, as often as such attempt was
made, he las ignored the. managers
who would have taken him into their
keeping. The ppointments cited in
my Cleveland letter were only illus
trations of his general course in act
ing on his own responsibility, direct
ly antagonistic to the dictates of the
party-managers.
In short, in his associations. and
habits of thought, and his entire po-
litical career, he has had nothing in
common with the machine -politi-
clans, against whom he took his
stand for Civil Service Reform when
a member of Congress some ten
years since; and he was one OF the
most active coadjutols of Jenckes,
of Rhode Island, in urging that re-
form. The paragraph upon Civil
Service Reform in his letter OF ac-
ceptance, instead of having been in
spired by Carl Schurz or anybody
else, was but the reiteration OF the
views expressed by Gov. Hayes in his
message to the Ohio Legislature in
1869, and in his Cincinnati speech OF
1874, with which the letter, upon that
topic, is almost identical in language.
= From personal acquaintance with
him for number Of years, as well
as from the unanimous testimony OF
those who know him best, am glad
to believe he isn't great man i'm any
sense in which the American states
men perennially on exhibition at the
National Capitol are great men. He
served two terms in Congress, and
didn't shoot off a single political
speech for buncombe's sake. He
couldn't by any effort work himself
into a perspirationo in, contemplation
Of the national fowl that has his roost
in the settin' sun. Had he been in
Congress a dozen terms, he wouldn't
once have engaged in & that paltry
..smarty," parliamentary fence where
in the typical great statesmen Of
these times seem to win their laurels