, 1877-07-28

steady, stubborn folk inheriting and preserving
the traditions Of their fathers, once happily
described by Lord Beaoonsisld as the terrific.
rial democracy of the North. We have little
doubt that these men would BIZ fOund condemn
ing Mr.. Hayes for abandoning the safeguards
Of the freedom they fought for fourteen yeats
since and that tho refusal Of tho Iowa Oon.
vention to approve The policy Of the President
would meet with al eoh) Of consent in the
East. The Now HlnOJhiro Con Yenti0n
comes to confirm this opinion.
The Republican party may be absolute
~ united in condemning the policy Of Mr..
Hayes, aud yet the President may be right.
Can We authOritatively pronounce between the
two opinions p? We pretend to no suoh power.
Although the negroes an o.her c0loured people
far Outnumber the whites, ia South Carolina,
G .orgja, and louisiana the aptitude and ener-
gy Of th9 whites in the organization Of their
power c)Wed the negroes in the exercise Of
the political rights that had baen conferred
Oh them, even wh4re physical force was not
employed to keep them from the polls. IL
WAS i1disputa5l3 that organized intimidation
did, as u fact, prevail, as we have known
similar intimidation prevail in a sister island.
1t may be admitted in palliaton of it that the
wholesale eutfanohis m mt of an untutored
host jlSt emerged from slavery was a mist AXE,
provoking though not j~uStifying the whites
in their recourse to wild methods Of enforcing
the aScendency they claimed. In order to
prevent this violence and to insure the orderly
working of the Institutions that had been eS-
tabliShed in the Southern States, Federal
forces were stationed at the principle centres
ofp)2ulation. President Hayes had several
courses open to him., lie might have promo.
ted the establishment of some kind of educa-
ti0nal qualification which, without taking note
of colour, would have removed the main
cause of irritation of the whites. He might
have maintained the status quo, assuring to
all by the presence of the Federal
forces the free exercise of the privileges
given them, Or he might have with
drawn the Federal troops, leaving the
antagonistic parties to settle their disputes
with one another, in the trust that, somehow
or other, a sense of law and justice would
grow up between them. President Hayes
chose this last course, and be is now accused
by the Republicans of having thereby given up
all for which they have struggled and fought.
They contend that if slavery be not actually
re. established, its worst characteristics of race
subiucation on the one hand, and Of tyrannous
and c%ontemptuous cruelty on the other, are
revived. 1t is possible that these fears and
expressions are 0verstrained 1t Is certain
that Northern Republicans have impsrfectly
appreciated the immense difficulty of working
OUT Tree luSllAullOHo AL ~ OOu'U1 ~ N"ON~A
has been said 10 make it understood why the
Presidents policy has been condemned in Iowa
and in New Hampshire. and would be condemn
ed at similar Conventions throughout the
North.
1t is suggested that the resentment of the
Republicans at the policy of 'yes is not SO
much due to a sense that the fruits of the
sacrifices of the war have been thrown away
as to a conviction that the ascendency Of the
Republican Party has been destroyed. In the
coming wears State after State is doomed TO
pass over to the Democrats, and the next occu-
PANT of the White House will be chosen from
among them. The extreme probability OF this
decision is beyond denial; but it may be
questioned whether it would not have happen
ed whatever Mr.. Hayes had chosen to 40.
His own victory over Mr.. Tilden was very
hardly won and it was, indeed, secured at fne
end by methods that had better be forgotten
IT was almost inevitable in any case that a
Democrat should succeed him. Mr.. Hayes
might perhaps have dona somothisg more than
he apparently ie now doing to prevent the
Democratic party from reversing the progress
that had been made in the South he could
not have maintained their exclusion from
office. There is, however, something to which
he might devote the remaining years of his
term that would greatly mitigate the IL! effects
apprehended by the transfer of power from the
Republican to the Democratic party. only