, 1877-03-11
HAVE FAITH IN THE PEOPLE

AafL EdA4d LIE EEUfLEs
The opposition to the Administration o1
President HAYES which is developing al
Washington bodies no good to the Repub
lican party, and yet in result it may not
prove disadvantageous to the country. Mr.,
HAYES is not responsible for the division oi
the party, should 1t occur. He is moving
forward, with honest directness, in the line
of the platform upon which he was nomi-
mated, and Of the letter of acceptance, which
was his declaration of principles to the peo-
PIE, who responded by his election to the
Chief A1ag1stracy. In that letter he COM
mitted himself definitely to two leading
ideas,-the Civil-Seryice reform and the
pacifcation of the South upon basis of
justice and magnanimity, in which the
rights Of all parties should be equally regard
ed, while a wise craftsmanship should
be employed to overcome tho existing diff
cu1ties, rather than the strong hand of mill
tary power. These assurances, taken in
connection with the purity Of his private
character and the patriotism of his military
and civil public career, were so satisfactory
to the people that only one thing seriously
endangered his election, and to that was
owing the narrowness of the escape from
defeat. The multitude of voters who had
become dissatisfied with the Republican Ad-
ministrntion under Gen. GRASr, and who
were tempted to withhold their votes entire
", or to cast them for AIr. TnpEs, as q
rebuke and to secure change, feared to
trust Alr. HAYES as representative of his
party. They doubted whether his ideas vera
more than so many good sentiments
which would never be carried into prac-
tice. They qucried whether the party
had any serious intention of reform, and
were sure that the leaders had no such
purpose. Hence they insisted that alr.
HAYES would be compelled, after his in
auguration, to submit to the policy of those
who more fully represented the party, and
that he did not possess the stamina NECESSARY
for an Independent course. Such doubts
nearly cost him his election, and caused the
sorrowfnl and anomalous sight Of many old
Aboltlonists and reformers voting with the
Democratic party.
But Alr. HAYES is vindicating his party
md himself, and proving the sagacity Of
those who put faith in his avowals as a can
didate. The opposition is not wholly unex-
pected. It comes from the old stagers among
The politicians, the men who have supposed
themselves to own the party, and to have q
light to run it as machine in their own in
crest, and who are determined not to sur
'ender their control over the distribution
# the spois. The trick for concealine their
opposition to the Civil-Servico reform ia |
It is the same upon which
hey relied with too much success, it is to |
'e feared) during the Presidential campaign.
nd consists in diverting the attention of the
'eople to some other exciting topic, which
VII appeal to past passion and prejudice.
thus, no sooner had NIr. HAYES brought
reform to the front, in his letter
4 acceptance, than these willy managers took
ne stump, or sent out their orators, not to
dvocate any such measure, or to make any
hedges for the party on that subject, but to
eeau the old issues Of the War, and to