Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-05-11
rHE FAX ARour NEw pARrIgg.

new pANiJ VI thO Atf'fet VI oo1S oAu oHN'
There is no reason to believe that any
considerable number Of Republicans or
Democrats are anxious TO renouace party
name and ideas and jump into a new
movement without knowing what it is or
where it will lead. This is an era Of bet
ter understanding and better ~feeAng,end
the causes OF sectional bitterness have
been so entirely removed that many are
led into the mistake Of believing that the
dead C lin in politics means a Glssolu
ton Of al parties or an abandonment Of
organization. That this is q mistake will
Will be apparent gheu congress meets
and when the next general election
comes around. Happily for the county
we have less Of bitterness and misrepre-
sentahon than at any time within
the last twenty years The Dem
ocratic party lost tie Presidency after
carrying tho election, but gained the
substantial result contended for ip the
last three Presidential elections At
these elections nearly everybody vas
Democratic or Republican. The strength
Of the middle party or the neutral elc
ment was registered in the vote cast for
Peter Cooper last fall. The electoral
0
commission while throwing the elector,l
votes of three States for Haysa that
Should have been counted for Tiiden
gave the doctrine Of States rights an
unexpected indorsement; Capitalization
received q blow in The house u its
friends. This may have been given Only
to gain a temporary advantage, bar the
Republican party 10 accepting the bene
fits Of enforcing the doctrine committed
itself and set q precedent that a never
be forgotten. It was the virtual
surrender of a political dogma
and q gain in proportion for the
Democratic party. The next great con
cession to the demands Of the Demo
cratic party was the withdrawal Of Fed
eral bayoneis from State politics, leaving
the people free to manage their v
affairs. If these successes are a reason
that the party should diaintegrate and
90 over to the Republicans, then il would
be folly TO win q victory. The mojorii5
does not usually step aside in favor
of the minority. There ia q large
Democratic majority in the country aud
it will assert itself SO as 10 be
understood at the proper tine. This
will be done, not in 8 spirit of i%ntoler-
ance, but in furtherance Of the general
welfare aud prosperity Of the nation
Mr. Hayes has done several thiags which
w, as conservative Democrats, are
pleased to indorse, and whatever be does
that is constitutional, statesmaulike, or
broad and liberal in spirit, will be ap-
proved and sustained by Democrats
The same would have beea done while
Grant was in power, but the sppor-
t%uniiies we're toe rare to mention
Mr.. Hayes has utterly discarded Repub-
lican policy in dealing with the South,
yet he bas not left his party and has no
idea Of doing SO. James G. Blaine,
Wendell Phillips. Morton, Cameron,
Chandler snd Redpath combined could
not drive him out. He has not joined
the Democratic party or %resurrected the
old Wing party any more than the Dsm-
ocratic party have laid down their colors
and abeodoned the Geld. There IL
this great change, and it may slowly
work out results Which now are quite
unexpected: The course of the South
ern Democrats in refusing to flibuster
Hayes out Of his seat, the noble bearing
Of Wade Hampton, Nichols, Gordon,
Lamar. Hill, Casey Young and other
Southern leaders and representatives,
and above all the patriotic and sublime
moral courage OF the Southern people
under the most trying circumstances
these things have wrought a great change
in public feeling. We understand each
other North and South the people have
been brought together face to face
and Gnd that they have common
sympathies and feelings, They see that
they we're mistaken, and have cherished
bad feelings without sufficient cause
Misunderstanding are removed; W,
shake hands across The bloody chasm
and all that. and vhile no apologies arr
made, or considered necessary on either
side, for al the hard blows We have giver
each other. there is a general reconcile
ton all around aud everybody feels BET
ter. False and deceptive issues hav,
been eliminated from politics, and party
lines may 10 gradually Feedjusted, but
party 20 live must have idess. these onl.
take root and grow slowly. There j
every probability that men will still cal
themselves Democrats or Republican
for some time to come, and that thoaI
who have been playing fast and loose
hot and cold, win haze as good a field a
ever.