The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-06-26
Hayes's Strength.


be more than ordinarily 4 campaign with
direct reference to the personal claims and
characteristics OF the two contcnding candl-
dates. I! so, it may well be asked, where IL
HAYEs's strength? What Is the political his
tory OF Mr.. HAYES? Who is he: What has he
ever done, what has he ever said, to distin-
ruish him IS the one amid the million TO be
chosen as the chief OF great Government
like this? He has been twice elected to
Congress. We believe, and three times
elected Governor OF Ohio. He was n good
soldier. we hear in our late ''war between
the States going into the service as pri-
yate and rising to the rank OF brigadier-
general. They say, too, that he is a gentle
man OF modest and digniied department,
generous, and brave. They tell lis, more
over, that he has some five or six children !;
that one OF his sons is ~ one college, and
one at another; that his little daughter is an
interesting child; that Mrs. HAYES is a lady OF
comeliness and grace; and that the Brighter
Governor may be sometimes seen at home
playing patcrnaliy with his smallest boy or
his little daughter, FANNIE. All OF which is
very well il its way, making up an emf
nently respectable but commonplace picture
OF the average American citizen claiming to
be not an incousiderablc element OF rcputa-
bic society. But where is any evidence OF
fitness Tor the presidency in all this: 1t Is
no very remarkable thing to have been
elected TO Congress twice. There are num-
bers OF people TO be found in every old State
OF the Union who have sat four years IN
Congress without once being suspected OF
the slightest assimilation TO 4 possible presi-
Dental aspirant. To have been Governor
three times, we confess, is sufficiently out
side the ordinary run OF individual expo
rience 10 cntitle u man to straight2n up his
shoulders q little, clear his throat with ora
cular emphasis, and assume an ar OF conse-
o,lence among those OF his less fortunate
fellow-ci,izenS flattcring him with their
admiration. But we can conceive that
man may be three times Governor, even OF the
great State Of Ohio, without establishing the
fact that Providence designed him for Pre-
sidcnt of the United States, and especially
that long line OF public service there has
been nothing discovered to show to the
world that the opportunities afforded for
an exercise OF craftsmanship were ever I'M
proved or that the Governor demonstrated
in 4 single instance that he was Governor
for any other reason than that he was a
popular, good fellow, who had more capa-
city to win us q candidate than to signalize
his success in performing the functions Of
his office. AS to the war record OF his EX-
celiency, Brigadier-G overnor-G RUTH
EgFoRD B. HAYES, it seems to be good; but
il such service rs he rendered on the Fede-
raj side gives man claim to the highest
office in the Government, there are thou
sands of men in every southern State whose
services on the Confederate side would,
upon the same principle, entitle them to all
the Offices in their respective States until the
present generation shall have entirely passed
away. As n soldicr-candidate General
GRANT had indeed right to refer to his re-
cord in arms; but General HAYES, by the
side OF General GRANT rs military man,
minutivc rs to make him look more like ga
little tin soldier" in the show-window of a
toy-shop than vcritablc veteran OF the army
OF the Union. The modest, refined, and
gentlemanly demeanor OF MIR. HAYES is
highly crcditable to him morally, as well as
ornamental to him socially, but our specta-
clcs are not strong enough to enable us to
see that gentlemen Of refinement, generosity,
and all the other attributes OF good nature
and good breeding, are so scarce IN TINS
country that because they happen to fall
upon one in the Republican party in Ohio
he must needs be held up, with devil OF q
halloo, as the man found at last best for
the presidency. We have enough OF such
gentlemen in the Democratic Conservative
party to keep the Centennial crowded every
day till its close, with new inStamcnt
every morning. Men IS modest, as mag
unanimous, as brave, and as well-mannered
as Mr.. HAYES is said to be are by no means
phenomenal on this side. And we had
never dreamed it was SO much so on the
other side until tins rara auiS Of q gentle
man discovered at Cincinnati was exhibited
as such wonder by his party. AS to those
promising college boys OF the Brigadier-G oy.
ernor and "TUss," the BENJAMIN Of the
household, and little FANNIE Of eight years,
and Mrs. HAYES. with her charming man
ners, "brown eyes, regular nose, fair skin
and dark hair" we don't exactly make it out
that there is any striking relevancy in in.
Producing them either, as accessories to Mr..
HAYEs's claims upon the country for ths
presidency.
The plain, simple, homespun truth OF The
matter is, that the Brigadier-G oyernor-G len
eral is-a very small bird, requiring huge
accumulation OF fine feathers all over him
to make him prescntable as something more
like an ostrich or an eagle than a tom-tit, or
sparrow as he is.
HAYES as HAYES has no strength. As the
representative Of his party he has the
strength Of his party. SAMSON had his per-
sonai strength in, his hair, but the Briga-
dier-G oYernor-Gcneral, SO far as we have
yet been enabled to see, has his nowhere.
He is not the man to awaken enthusiasm.
He is not the man 10 move the. masses OF
this great country. He is not the man TO
enlist the earnest interest OF thesolid men
OF either section. de Is ut best but figure
head, and he will be a fat failure as o candi.
date, Us he would be as President.
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