Litchfield enquirer., 1877-01-04
GOV. HAYES AND THE SOUTH.
cz1xxxRuSDxxCE or THE NEW YORK
TRIBUNE.

WazmxxsrDx, Dec. 26-It is certainl, ezuazkahIe so Gov. Hayes that the mel who knew him best, without having re cezved any assurances except those con talnsd ia his letter of acceptance, almos withoaf exception accept the adoption of new aRd wiser policy towards the South to follow closely upon his inauguration 1k is wh0lly unneceasary to say that no nAguslakSo1. have been opened between Gov. Hayes or any one authorized tc speak or act for him and Q single infu canal Southern man looking to an ali aaee ofs any s0Ek Negotiations of this Eld wuald be highly improper in 6 DO. Eskica1 sense for members of either party Co eag@ge Tn at the present stage of the Prezsde1tial controversy, and DO proposi SSaa which Gov. Hayes could now make woaA f0ra moment be entertained even by ths most conservative of his political ourOnentx- It would only be misinter pueksd. and would impair his influence with hls own party, while subiecting him Co severe criticism by the Democrats.
 I@y thxk no Southern Democrat would now saistea Co any proposal from Gov. Hayes or his friends in regard to the fu- tzrR Southern policy of the Republican NA4&&N AM NA1G GNG&s O4 HIS C4CCCcos 0COoUCC the Southern representatives in Congress have been moderate m council and have s@k khemselvcs like q stone wall against Sxkre7s or revolutionary action by their party. they are none the less Democrats, an3 none the less desire the success of G0v. TIlden- TheyE Eill insist most stren- u0uEgy that theres1R of the election shall bs sScsxtained by regal and constitution Hl means. and that the result. whatever Ik I&, shall be psaceably acquiesced. in; but they will not. in advance of the de- eSsSou. even by indirection, do anything to wSaksn their party. How they would rece6Ea an invitation from Gov. Hayes, sA@@Bd he be the next President, to assist hin ia raislng the South from the polit Seal degradation into which it has fallen, I do not know. I believe liberal and s4Ates1znlike policy would meet with an immediate and hea rty response; but this Hs . natter which 1t is to early to discuss, &zd TleAss iG for the present.
 \ suppose there is no candid person. vel informed Tn Southern politics, and n0k having Q personal or pecuniary in- terest ia the perpetuatIon of the present coalition of affairs in mos. of the States so1kh of the Potomac, who will not admit the necessity of complete regeneration 8444 EG44&40A&89404 UA bt4C kNksUuOAC8u p6E- Y there If 1t is ever again to make it's in- Gaenoe felt Tn the politics of tine nation. | say nothing now of the means by which the white people have obtained complete c0akEol of all but three of the Southern StaAes, and have placed themselves in a p0@itlon to dispute the result of the late eAccES0a m those threa even; those means have sometimes been fair and legal, some- i@es unfair and illegal: but the fact that the Republican party, even when it has had . majority of the voters in State en- ro1led Tn its ranks, has been unable to cope with the opposition, and that, in spite uf Federal support; it has been Ios- ing gro1nd year by year. is c stubborn enc which no reasoning can dispose of. Foar years ago, Alabama, Arkansas, Mh~@issIppi. North Carolina, and West Virginia were strong Republican States; to-day they are as strongly Democratic. This year, South Carolina, Louisiana. and Florida may be saved. but, if so, it will Oaly be ''as by fire. and unless there is a turn m the tide they too will be carried ever tO the Democratic side in two years from now. and the South will in fact be solid Nor can this be prevented, even under . Republican national administra- ton. without a change of policy. Public opinion in the North has again and again Febelled against the measures winch Gen. Grant and his cabinet have resorted to in order tO save their party iu the Southern done, one after another of them has been captured by the opposition.
 Ia there then no hope for the Republi- cans in the South2 Are the politics of the c0uutxy drifting more and more into sec- tionalism, and is the ''Solid South" not only to become a fact but & permanent ones It Is difficult to see any other out come of the present political situation ex- cept by a thorough reorganization of the Republican party m the South. It is nat urSi that the present genel atiou of col ored voters should stand firm in their sup port of the party which gave them their freedom and conferred upon them all the civil and political rights they now enjoy, but it Is not natural that the white people should be equally united under the Dem ocratic banner. There are the same diff ference of opinion on most political ques- ton among the intelligent white voters of the South that exists in the North They are not all agreed on the currency ques. ton, on the tariff, on internal improve ments, nor even on the question of State rights-One single tie binds them togeth- CT, and that Is the necessity which they be- lieve exists of adopting measures of self. defense against the perpetuation of the corrupt carpet-bag State governments which have robbed and plundered them.
 Tue Hon. Randall L.. Gibson in con- versation the other day defined his polit- ical position in these words: ''I am in favor of hard money, a protective tariff. internal improvements, and local self gov. Srnment. and am opposed to secession. If that creed makes me a National Dem- ocrat, then I am one. I act with the Democratic party because believe if it trlumphs it Will lift the burdens that have been placed upon my State and other Southern States by the aid of the Repub. Iican party" Gen Gibson is the repre-. sentative of a very large class of the best white people in the Southern States-peo- pie who are in perfect sympathy with the best men in the Republican party of the North, and have been kept from joining it's ranks only by the Southern DO icy of the Administration
 Look at the State of Louisiana, for ex ample-and | refer to it because having visited 1t so recently; am more familiar with the present. condition of politics there than with that of any other State. The Democratic Conservative party there Is Spttt aSu0uoF Wltu lnGernaI utSS0nSlO0, and would naturally be divided to-day did not the white people believe that the only way to overthrow the Kellogg and Pack. ard regime is to act in harmony. In every recent State convention there has been an almost ife-and-death struggle between the old Bourbon "Last Ditchers" and the Conservatives. One wing is in favor of ''Mhite Line" policy, and clings to all khA 0l6 namooratic dOckrines thaf ware in vogue before the war, with very little modification. They do not desire to have slavery restored, but the little else they have learned from the events of the last Is years has had almost no effect upon them. except to make them grow more sour and bitter every year. They were Dancer sts beforethe war-secessionists, fre-eaters.
 The Conservatives. as they call them selves. are progressive. They have ac. cepted the situation in the best of faith;