The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1877-07-22
The Hayes Coalition.

United States by the grace OF Bradley, IL
either a very good man or very shrewd
one, or a little of both. 1t may be said
that he canpct be good, or he would not
accept an office to which he was not elect
ed. To which again will be replied that
he may be uncertain whether he was elect
ed or not that he does not consider it HE
province TO decide that question, but, hav-
ing left 1t to the proper tribunal, follows
the decision there reached and, fnallyj
that, though he may De doing wrong
knowingly in holding the Presidency, he
may be a good man generally. Some
right good men do acme very bad things.
IfHayes is altogether bad and selfish, he
must be very wise in his generation. He
must have seen more clearly than other
leading politicians of his party that the
war was finally over and the South for
ever disenthralIed. To this day, and not
Hayes from their councils, Messrs Blaine
aud Batter by DO means abandon the idea
OF sectional politics, the hope OF "6ring the
Northern heart" the dream of carpet bag
rule in the South and q bloody shirt para
dias in Washington.
Which theory accounts for Hayesf For our
part we incline to the third theory, that there
lie little Of both explanations in the truth.
We suppose that Mr.. Hayes found himself
so nearly beaten in his own State, that he
had been so badly frightened at the prob
ability of defeat, and that he escaped that
fate by such herculean efforts only, that
the speedy destruction of the Republican
grave probability.
But, even so it re quired great courage,
irmness, resolution, for a man in his posi-
ton to cut eptirely loose from the tradi
tions of his friends and inaugurate a new
policy of his own-a policy which might
ALLEVIATE his own party without concilia-
ting the other, and thus leave him without
ness that would prompt man to SO haz-
ardous q stepf 1t is not probable. He
must have been sustained by the cons
ciousness of doing right. he must have
felt that it was his duty to see self
government re- established in the South,
let the consequence to himself be what
it might.
From present appearances Mr.. Hayes
has acted as a gentleman, q statesman and
patriot. No man since the day of
Washington has ever done anything at all
to compare with his record in boldness,
magpanimity and justice, and to attribute
it all to personal or party selfishness would
be absurd. He had declined in advance o
second nomination and the probable out
come of his experiment WAS that his own
party would reject bin, while, as a Re-
publican, he could not go TO the Demo-
crazy.
At any rate let us not quarrel with the
bridge that has carried US over. Aud not
only has Mr.. Hayes achieved civil liberty
for the South bat he favors q policy of the
is said that the following paragraph from
the Courier Journal has been approved by
him as exactly expressing his views:
All the aid We can get from the general Gov
ernment We must have, and we must so or
rightly belopgs to us. Our public men
m ust be selected with that Wow. Oar public
policy must be shaped to that end. The re-
construction of the broken levees OF the Mis-
sissppi and the construction of q railway to
the Pacific upon the thirty-second line Of lat
itude are essential to the South.
1t is to be hoped that the Southern
Democracy will act prudently and wisely
in this regard. 1t ia certainly unDemo
cratic to favor Government interference in
works that are not strictly national and
public, but what Government may not dc
as n right, it may do as an obligation. II
ruined our levees, and ought to rebuild
them. This lie debt. 1t is good thing
to have q President who will not veto such
measures, as Mr.. Tilden would probably
have done.
We hope to see the more Conservative
portion of the Southern Democracy form q
friendly and cordial alliance with Presi-
dent Hayes and his Republican following
preparatory perhaps to a more solid com
bination afterwards. At the same time i;