New-York tribune., 1877-03-13
4 SETTLEMENT BY COMPROMISE.

1t would DC satisfactory no doubt, not ONLY
to The white people Of the South but to a great
many Northern Republicans, il the new prcSi
dent could settle the Southern difficulty this
wecl; by calling off the troops, sending Pack
ard and Chamberlain about thcir business. end
enabling the Conservatives TO take full pos
session of the governments of LOusiana ana
South Carolina. To some laSty rct0rmcTS Sdch
d course seems not only right but easy. As
general rule a prompt act Of justice is prefer
able to a deliberate compromise, and If we
considered only the poetical side of the question
we should certainly wish TO see the President
or Congress decide the long ana scandaloIS
contest at the South by immediate action IL
support Of the right side, whichever that may
be, and stern, unhcsitating, final suppression
of the other But there is no poetry III politics.
Statesmen must deal with affairs according to
their means, and when conflict mas gone on
as long as this has at the South the boundaries
Of right aud wrong become 50 indistinct that
a theoretically just decision ii often practically
impossible.
In the two States in question it is clear that
there has been for several years nothing cor
responding to the American idea of Il popular
representative government. There are certain
officials sustained by armed force from the
outside, aud although they profess to have
been elected by a majority of the voters they
can hardly be said to derive their powers from
the consent Of the governed. Whenever the
Federal guard has been withdrawn they have
pro,ed unable to sustain themselves a single
day. Nearly all the intelligent, educated, pub
Hc-pirited, and tax-payiug inhabitants are in
ilcxibly opposed 70 them--not merely quarrel
ing with their politics, which would he d small
matter, mt denying their right 10 hold office,
and refusing them any recognition or obedi-
enco except such as may be extoited at the
point of the bayOnct If it is true that nu-
mercal majority voted for these men, then
the numerical majority is too weak IN character
10 glve either moral or material support 10 its
own representatives, and does not supply
safe basis for popular government
Gen. Grant.hcld up the Southern Republican
administrations 10y main force for more than
four years, and they got no stronger on their
lees. but rather weaker aud weaker. We can
not continue that policy after experience has
so fully demonstrated its futility. But the OPP
poste course is 10y no means clear before u.s.
The plea that the Republicans of the South
who stood by the party through danger and
evil report are entitled to Federal protection
is merely a sentimental argument. They are
enlisted TO Federal support within the letter
and spirit of the law just as other citizens are,
and not otherwise. The trouble lies in the
difficulty of ascertaining which of the contest
ants is really in the right, or which is the
more in the wrong Question the carpet-bag
GERS tide, and he points to the table of votes
and the laws creating his returning board.
demonstrate with the bulldozer and be retorts
by showing you the forged affidavits upon
which votes are Cancelled, aud the clerks who