New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-04-12
NOT UiPPY YET.

NOT HAPPY YET
II is melancholy reflection that the aver
age Democratic organ is not even yet ehtirciy
happy. Notwithstanding the fact that PIesi-
dent Hayes is carrying ont the policy ana
adopting the measures which few months
ago were said to be the policy and measures
of the Democratic party, there are yet draw
backs to their complete satisfaction. There's
n faint in the Presidents title to his office.
They cannot get over that. The sensitive
Democratic soul is constantly saddened by
this thought. 1t is the theme of all
his DISCOURSE the subject of unceasing
and painful meditation. But few months
ago he was racked with anxiety for a peace
full and satisfactory solution OF the Southern
question. 1t was the burden of his complaint
that the Southern States were not INDUCED Ill
the blessings of home rule nor granted the
right of local disagreement. lie detained
passiOnately about it from the stump ana dis
cussed ii warmly in the columns OF the press
He was so earnest and so obviously unsclfish
about it that we had reason to believe he
lived only to see tins boon granted his South
ern brethren, the troops Withdrawn, and
good feeling restored, and that then
he would fold his legs under a department
desk and attest upon the earliest pay roll that,
having seen the salvation of the Lord, he was
willing, if not to depart in peace, at least to
stay in comfort. Upon only one other subject
did he seem at all solicitous. He did desire to
see the civil service reformed. Could
he but feel assured that the tests of hon
esty, ability, and fidelity would be applied
in the selection of Government officials, instead
of official spOils being apportioned as rewards
for party service, he would be content He
wanted the service purified, and to accomplish
il was willing to make any sacrifice, even to
holding an Office himself With these ends in
view he wagged his patriotic chin through Il
long campaign and voted at least once for
Tildcn.
Though doomed to defeat in his choice of n
candidate, he has been happily disappointed
in the policy and measures adopted by the
President whose election he opposed. Presi-
dent Hayes is doing all that the Democratic
Reformer so earnestly desired. Upon both the
questions which the Reformer held to be of
the most overshadowing importance, the
President is acting just as he said he
would, and Just as the Democratic Rcformcr
had he been elected could not have taken
more satisfactory steps for the permanent set
Element of the Southern question; 1t is doubt
full indeed, if he could have accomplished
nearly so much or done it so well.
And as to Civil Service Reform, Mr..
Tilden would have found such insu-
perable obstacles in his way that it would have
been simply impossible for him to have sue
ceeded in his whole term to such an extent as
President Hayes already has. These things
would naturally ill the Democratic mind with
encouragement and hope. There was SO little
of personal feeling and such utter self-abnega-
ton in their campaign endeavOrs that there must
have been something like feeling Of eyul-
tation in their breasts when they first began to
discover that the great and patriotic ends they
sought in the election of Mr.. Tildcn would be
answered as well or better in the success of Mr..
Hayes. Knowing their patriotic devotion aud
spirit of sef-sacrifce so well, we can easily
imagine with what unalloyed satisfaction they
contemplate the auspicious though unex-
| pected results of the election. UnallOyed, we
say, except for the one melancholy reflection
| to which we have referred, that the Presidents
| title IL tainted. This depresses them. They
cannot bear that even the great reforms they
prayed for should be brought about by Pres
ident upon whose title to his Office there rests
the faintest shadow. This keeps them down..
Even now they are not happy.
1t Is sad. very sad. But how could We have
expected otherwisei Haven't we known for
years how sensitive they were upon this sub
| ject: how infinitely particular with regard to
| the purity OF elections and the sanctity of the
ballot? How often have we remarked the
diligent scrutiny to which they subjected the
titles of officials of their own party: how
often admired the nobleness and magma
nimity with which they have spurned the temp
tatiOn to profit by fraud and flung away offices
upon whose titles there hung the suspicion of
taintl We should have known that however
much these men might desire to throw them
selves into the arms Of the President and
thank him for carrying out their purposes of
reform, the thought that his title was clouded
would deter them from it. Not only that, but
that it would make them permanently gloomy
| and nconsOable. There are those among us
who remember the universal detection into
which Democrats fell on account of the pecu-
liar methods by which that great Democratic
leader, Mr. William NJ. Tweed, secured the
election of Gov. Hoffman. When we recall the
| indignation with which Mr.. Tilden, then Chair