The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1877-04-19
Lost Opportunities.

Ills military prestige, inc generous spirit
toward a vanquishcd foe manifested by
him, at the surrender Of Lee, and the re-
port on the condition OF the South which,
as General Of the army, he made before
his election to the Presidency, We're &C
cepted as assurances that his efforts would
be directed toward restoring the union
in fact as well as in name and to quench
inc the fires Of hatred and sectionalism.
1t was no easy task, il is true, but it could
have been accomplished, and would have
given Grant richer larlels than those he
won on the tented field. To President
Hayes are presented opportunities per
haps equally as great, but with this dis
tinction that what it would have taken
Grant some Years to accomplish. Hayes
| could have accomplished at once and With
out difficulty With Grant il would have
been necessary to have emancipated the
South from military rule and restored its
people to citizenship generally. Many Of
the questions he would have had to deal
with. had he chosen a policy Of pactica-
ton. We're complicated and troublesome
The sentiment of the North at the time
he entered upon his first term was aversc
to making concessions and in favor of rul-
ing the Southern people by the bayonet.
But time has changed all that one
Southern state after another has emerged
from the tolls and pains and penalties of
reconstruction, and an era Of good feeling
and brothery love has set in. The coun-
try is heartily sick and tired Of the South
eln question, which has been SO long
disturbing element in our politics. and 1T
the same time so destructive of our ma
terial interests and it was confidently eN-
pected that President Hayes would lose
| no time in eliminating it. He had but two
states to deal with. South Carolina and
Louisiana. His duty in the premises, I'M
der the Constitution. WAS perfectly clear
and plain The troops in those states
We're there. or rather We're performing
duties there, not contemplated by the
! Constitution, and in direct violation Of
| the theory upon which this government
| is founded. Had President Hayes at once
restored these troops to their proper du
ties and stations, he would simply have
! done his duty, and thereby earned the
gratitude Of the nation. He was the
more bound to do this as he was counted
into the Presidency on an extreme states
rights issue.
Prompt action would have brought no
mconsiderable number OF Southern men
to his support, and probably have result
ed in the election of liberal Republican
to the Speakership of the next House.
The solid South would, at all events,
have become a thing oi the past But
these substantial advantages have been
lost by indecision and delay and the
Presidents policy has tended rather to
divide the Republican than the Demo
cratic party. OF course we are not dis
many Democrats would have preferred 10
see MI Hayes do simply what was right,
than to endeayor to serve the interests of
either party. 1t would certainly have been
to the interest OF the President and OF those
who elected him had he dealt more Vigor-
ously and promptly With the Southern
question.
True the troops have now been rt-
moved from South Carolina. the people
are ruled by the Governor of thell choice
and there is reason to believe that a sim
liar course will eventually be pursued With
regard 10 Louisiana. But the fact that Il
Democratic House holds the purse strings
and the conN lctionS that it will not appro-
pirate 4 dollar for the support OF the army
while the troops are put to demonstrations
al uses, will be regarded Us hay ing in some
degree tended to force the President To- do
that which he should have done at once
and Of his own accord.
The idea that by removing the troops
who are sustaining the pletendct Pack
ard he will invaldate his own title, should
have no weight Everybody knows That
President Hayes was not elected hN the
people, and nothing he can do on undo
will put that fact ont Of sight But that
is no reason why he should, in Violation
OF the Constitution, USE the troops at his
command to force upon the people OF
Louisiana Il Governor whom they did not
elect. The sending of Il commission 10
that state was simply in invention for
delay, and beyond that it can subSclNe
no purpose whatever. In the end Pack
ard must be left to his own resources Or
the army go without pay or subsistence,
and the Democratic House prove thc pow
en- behind the throne which has compelled
a settlement Of this long veNcd Southern
question.
The enormous fees which lawyers charge
and the assumed right to demand and
collect what they please, is an evil that
is attracting attention. The New York
correspondent of the Cincinnati Enquirer
SAYS
Judge Noah Davis. of the Supreme Court, in
this city, administered blow yesterday to tile
legal fraternity which is the beginning of the cor
rection of very old nuisance namely: the unrc
strained right of lawyers to charge what they
please, and i'll of contest to refer their bills
| through the Courts, to other lawyers. limb Of
| the law here charged the Windsor Hotel Company
| $50, 600 for about sixteen months incidental work
| The Judge referred his bill To another citizen not
lawyer, and read him the first lecture eyer read
on that subject
There is great complaint in Maine,
against certain members Of the bar, that
like practices have grown to Il fearful eN
tent so much SO us to give rise to a be
| lief that it is better to submit to wrongs
rather than attempt to right them ~
| low Il nI1n1. ,t,,,1 Gao