Litchfield enquirer., 1877-01-04
The Future of the Republican
 Party.


 Party.
 Politicians look only to the politica' present. The men who hold, or who ex- pect office, naturally consider only imme- diate success. The 60,000 Republicans who hold federal offices, and the 600, 900 Democrats who expect office, are natural ly enough very urgent for the inaugura- ton of their respective candidates next March. Cooler Democrats and cooler Re- publicans are not so anxious. If MT. TiIden comes in, for instance. we shall then know exactly what sort of civil ser vice reform Democracy will give us. The Democratic financial policy can no longer be embodied in the convenient Tilden and Hendricks of presidential campaign, but must become the Tilden or Hendricks of an administration. The independent newspapers, so hated of politicians, will then be criticising not a Republican but Democratic president. This is an or deal that shrewd Democrats are not so unwilling to postpone as some im- agine.
 But it is the cooler Republicans who are most apprehensive of the dangers of success. If Mir. Hayes is inaugurated it will be, on its best showing, the arbitrary act of a party in power, taking the advan- tage of that power to decide doubtful case in it's own favor. No. doubt the peo- pie will acquiesce in such result; but all the Democrats will believe that they have been cheated; and very respects ble minority of the Republicans will be of the same opinion. It would require q miracle of good administration on the part of Mr. Hayes to reconcile people to an administration which a clear popular majority considered an usurpation. As it seems to us, Mir. Hayes would then have the sole chance of success indicated in the very able and candid letter of MT. White, the we'll known staff correspond ent of the New York Tribu ne, published on the fourth page of this paper. The fundamental fact on which the whole question of Southern policy turns,is thus stated by Mir. White:
 suppose there is no candid person, well informed in Southern politics, aud not having a personal or pecuniary inter- est in the perpetuation of the present con- of affairs in most of the States south of the Potomac, who will not admit the ne- cessity of a complete regeneration and re. organization of the Republican party there if it is ever again to make its infu- ence felt in the politics of the nation.
 Can there be any reasonable doubt of the truth of this view? Florida, on the decision of it's Republican Supreme Court, is now Democratic State. What ever doLbt there may be of its last No. vembers vote, there can be no doubt about its next November vote. It has gone the way of Arkansas, of Alabama, and of Mississippi. By disregard of the decisions of it's highest court and by federal interference, South Carolina may possibly remain Republican till the 4th of March next If Mir. Hayes organizes conservative administration, it's first ac. ton on Southern affairs must be the abandonment of MT. Chamberlain's gov. ernment. Without this concession there wOuld be no possibility of his winning any support from Southern Conservatives There would remain thefLouisiana carpet bag g0vernment-a cancer that must kill Republicanism, if it is not soon cut away. Could Mir. Hayes. who will owe his elec- ton to these men, honestly turn around and do the surgeons work that is needed upon them? And if he did not do it. could he hope to receive any support from Southern Conservatives? This it seems to us is the fatal weakness of MT. White's plan. Mr. Hayes cannot earn that support without cOnfessing himself an usnrper.
 There are in fact two Republican views regarding Southern affairs. Extreme Re. publicans. like Messrs. Blaine and Nor ton, wish to perpetuate the Republican organization as sectional party. They maintAin that the carpet-bag governments of she South should be upheld: that, with all their faults. they give the best pracsl. cable government in South Carolina and Louisiana. If they carried their views to their legitimate conclusion they would 20 further and overthrow the present Demo cratic state governments of Alabama, Flor. ida aad Mississippi by federal force, and would restore the carpet-bag rule there whoss overthrow they frankly lament. Th@ portion of the Republican party be- heve that Mr. Hayes was honestly elected. bat would denOunce him as a traitor were he to desert the carpet-baggers and ally himself with such Southern Conservatives as Lamar and Gibson. The conservative wing of the Republican party acknowl. edge the failure of the attempt to control Southern States through negro majorities led by unprincipled adventurers. They doabt the fairness of Mir. Hayes election and they would welcome such an alliance as Mr- White suggests. They are placed at great disadvantagr, just now. by the aaet that they find 1t hard to give up Mir Hayes. and yet do not see how they can save him without accepting the carpet- nsggen with hiaa-. In truth we see no middle groand. We must take the Nor. ton and Blaine view that the Soutbern whites are traitors and murderers who deserve just such government as the