The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1877-03-10
The Inaugural Address.

faEoritism on the other stand in the way.
1t has been very generally read, no doubt,
and men have formed their opinions as to
its merits or dement's, pretty much in ac-
cordauce with their preexisting political
proclivities, The document reads well
enough, with some notable exceptions, aud
might be received as meant in good faith,
if we did not know that the generalities
INDUCED in on such occasions serve rather
to please the ears Of the auditors than to
foreshadow line Of policy to be inAexibly
pursued by the incoming administration.
It would be unjust, perhaps, towards the
fraudulent incumbent, not to credit him
with good intentions, but certain imagina-
tive divines are wont to illustrate the
worthlessness of good intentions unless fol
lowed up with corresponding deeds, by q
bold figure of speech which declares that
certain uncomfortable place is paved
with them. Mr.. Hayes promises fairly,
but promises are one thing and perfor-
mances are another and very different
thing The circumstances under which
he accepted the place he holds, forbids US
to put faith in his word, until he makes
his word good by deeds. Then, and not
till then, win he be entitled to credit.
But, nothing he can do viii reinstate him
in the confidence of those who know him
to be the fraudulent occupant Of the high.
est position in the land. Not all the
waters Of Lethe can wash out the remem-
brance Of that fact from the public mind,
0ne-third of the document, at least, is
devoted to the negro, subject which seems
to take precedence in the executive mind
of all others. Since the emancipation of
the negro race, and since they have been
put on an equal footing before the law
with the whites, it is difficult to under
stand iohat nlo,e can be done for them,
without departing from that equality, and
discriminating by law ia faror Of The ne
gro and against The ,chite man. Aud yet,
Mr.. Hayes proposes to do more. In what
way he proposes to do it does not appear.
A discrimination Of the kind referred to
will be met by the most determined oppo-
sition, and will eveutuate only in working
injury to the class it is meant to benefit.
The negro has already been invested with
all the rights belonging to any other class
of citizens, and if fanaticism would go far
Their aud give him more, fanaticism itself
will be whelmed in utter ruin and over.
throw The negro has the privilege Of
the ballot; he has the privilege of working
for his living aud he is paid for his labor
just as white men are; he can come when
he pleases and go in like manner; he can
sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded;
the same provision which has been made
for the education of white children has
been made for the education Of his chill.
dren; and in all respects he has been put
upon plane of equality before the law
with the white man. And yet, Mr.. Hayes
says his heart "bleeds for the poor Afri-
can This he said the morning after the
election, when it was believed that Mr..
Tilden would be the President, as but for
the most infamous fraud he would have
been. How this sanguinary effusion of
the Executive heart is to be stayed does
not appear, aud yet it is apparent, from the
space given to the subject in the inaugural,
that the great leading policy ofthe Hayes
administration is to aim to do something
more than has already been done for the
black man, even at the expense of the
white man.
In subsequent parts Of the address the
fraudulent incumbent talks of the "reha-
bilitation Of the Southern States" All
that it is necessary to do, in that direction,
is to let them alone, and leave them to work
out their own destiny in their own way,
without Federal interference All the ills
which have afflicted the South have been
imposed upon her by fauatical northern
interference, and by an invasion of her
constitutional rights. Reverse this policy
and her deserts will soon blossom as the
rose. The recommendation that the Ma
tional Government shall provide education
10 the States is the rankest Federalism,
fraught with the dangers of centralization
and utterly at war with State Sovereignty,
for which the Radicals have recently dis
played such ardent but newborn zeal. II
the purpose is to break up the present sys-
TEN of public school education in the States,
and by Federal enactment to break down
the 'color line, as darkly limited at in the
inaugural, by placing blacks and whites
together in the same schools, then, we say
to his Praudulency that it will be resisted
to the verge of revolution. If he and his
administration fall upon this stone it will
grind them to powder.
His platitudes about ''eivil service re-
form, only serve to excite the smile of
derision. Eight years ago President Grant
amused his auditors in like manner, with
promises of civil service reform. But
what were his promises worth? How did
he redeem them? How did he keep faith
with the people? Even his own organs
and apOlogists have been driven to confess,
that, in this respect, his administration
was an utter failure. VIII Hayes do
batter?
Resumption of specie payments is anoth-
er topic of the address, but nothing new
is embodied in it. The traditional policy