The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1876-08-10
on his work in the council o

enter on his work in the council of
I the nation.
I relate these anecdotes not to prove
( the patriotism of Mr.. Hayss-tLlat
needs no proof-but to illustrate bis
character as man OF purpose, man
Of stability.
have known q man OF great a6ili-
/ ty, in some respects, to devote q
/ quarter of century to denouncing
/ slavery and shareholders, and when
the legitimate consequence OF his
logic came to the tug of war, to give
the contest up-to be willing for the
sake OF peace to deliver oveT the bet
ter half Of the continent to the do
minion Of slavery, and consign 4, 4,000,-
600 human beings and their Posterity
to the fetter and the lash forever.
Not so r. B. Hayes. The logic OF bis &.
tongue and the logic of hs sword
spoke the same language "The
Union must and shall be preserved. :"
The wicked rebellion must be aban-
doned, or the cause OF it rooted out
forever. And il is rooted out, thanks
be TO God, and thsnks to the iustru-
ments under God who accomplished
the work.
But has he the ability to defend
bimseIf and his doctrines ? In short,
Is HE AN ORATOR?
How much oratOry does 1t rq1ITe
| to make q good President? Judging
| by what / have read OF others and
what l know of Hayes, he is better
public speaker thau George Washing
ton, Thomas Jefferson, or Andrew
Jackson-all OF whom seem to have
held their own. True, he is not =
metaphysical gladiator, like Calhoun
be lacks the graceful eloquence Of
Clay, the massive logic of Webster,
and the moving pathos of Corwin.
He can not "roar you" like Gov. Al
len, nor "tear a passion to tatters"
like Gen. Cary. But he always un-
derstands his subject, and speaks with
logical clearness and classic accuracy.
When you 20 to hear him, you are
not transported by his eloquence TO
the regions of imaginatiOns; but you
understand him, and when you go
home, you can remember and repeat
every point OF his argument, and /
believe he understands the princi-l
Piles of our Federal Government as
well, can state them as clearly, and
defend them as ably as any man Of
my acquaintance, in or out of public
life. All the shining qualities of the
orator belong to the department of
genius, and may, and often do, exist
without wisdom. But "a
Is HAYES AN ABLE LAWYER?
He will not compare with Marshall,
Pinckney, or Hamilton, or Burr, or
Webster, or Curtis, or Ewing. But
he is>s sound and able lawyer; at
least / always thought so. About
twenty-five years ago / chose him
from among the able bar of CincIn- !
natl to manage a case OF my. own, in |
which I felt some interest; and about |
the same time the bar of Cincinnati
recommended him to Gov. Chase to
fill a vacancy on the bench Of the
Common Pleas.
OF his sharpness as special pleader
I know nothing. Special pleas are
but the handmaids of justice in the
outer court, and I should hardly
think he wasted much time in fiIrta-
tiOns with them. Nor do 1 suppose
he remembers as many decided cases
by their titles of our late Judge StOrer
or Mr.. Justice Swayne. But he
knows the great fundamental maxs
inns of the law, as we'll as the best OF
them.
We have never had for President
what the world esteems a great law
yer. It is even doubtful whether the |
hsir-splitting distinctions Of the
special pleader, the unseemly wrang- |
lings of the nisi prius court, aud the !
blind devotion. to musty precedents,
do not dwarf rather than enlarge the |
undertaking; and whether the simple |
rules of reciprocal justice, known as
the law of Nations, are not better un-
derstoOd by the candid student of |
history than by the great JdlUyer,
more especially the great railroad
LdIyyer.
But what is to be said of the general
SCHOLARSHIP OF MR.. HAYES?
Scholarship is an accomplishment |
rather than a qualification for the Of |
fee of President. That of Gaorge
Washington consisted of a plain, eom-
mon English educaIiUH, with 3 |
knowledge Of surveying. That of
Abraham Lincoln was precisely the !
same. Yet Lord Broughsm does not |
hesitate to say that Washington's |
education was better adapted to the |
duties he had to perform than the |
learning acquired at the universities. |
And the same observation has been |
made in regard to Lincoln by some Of
the first scholars in Europe and |
America.
In addition to large stores of COM
mon sense, and common information,
and common honesty, which are the |
chief qualifications, it is desirable |
that the Chief Magistrate of the Ma
tiOn should write aud speak the ma
tional language with propriety; and |
nobody who knows him doubts the
ability of Mr.. Hayes to do so. But
make no apology for his lack OF schol-
arship. At twenty years of age he
took his degree Of Bachelor OF Arts at
Kenyon College, with the first honOrs
OF his. class, Shortly after, be took
his degree Of Bachelor OF Law at Har.
ward University, and he has been
diligent student ever since, except |
when the arduous duties of the camp |
absorbed his time. or the fifteen |
Presidents who have gone before,
Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy
Adams only have surpassed him in |
scholarship, while neither Washing
ton, nor Jackson, nor, Lincoln, were |
his equals In this respect. But
HAS HE EXPERIENCE?
Something more than his antago-
mist, who never served the United
States in any capacity, civil or mill
tary; but whose experience has been
limited to the politics of Tammany
Ion rof1rnoh louuunrfnn 10 nathan |
of which tend to increase ones stock
either of wisdom or honesty. But
history is somewhat sarcastic as TO
back, we find the longest experience
and the worst President uniting in
the person of James Buch: Ian; and
the shortest experience and the best
President Washington eScepted) |
uniting in Abraham Lincoln. |
What / have said under the head |
OF scholarship repeat under the head
OF experience. A large store OF COM
mon sense, and common reformation |
and common honesty, applied |
with patriotic sOlicitude TO the |
wants Of the country, are worth |
more than whole cyclopediss of learn
ing and ages OF experience. But Is |
It true that
GOV. HAYES IS R1oHr
So I am told, and ifit is so, am
glad to learn it, bnt far gladder to
know that he came by 1t honestly. |
That he did not scquiTe it by gamb-
ling in the gold room at New York,
nor by sbsorbingIrailroad subsidies, |
nor by receiving fabulous donations |
in the-name Of fees, nor by jobbing |
in the stocks of decsyed corporations,
nor by watering railroad stocks, nor
by Credit Mobilier. ..
A French writer says there are but
three WaVs of acquiring q fortune