The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1878-01-31
THAT "BARGAIN.o
The Administration Side of the Story.

correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette,
has published the administration side of
the story about the alleged bargaining
between certain Southern Democrats
and the friends of President Hayes
Gen. Boynton says:
The attention of Republicans in Washington
was first pointsdly directed to the state of feel
ing among Southern DemocT ats, by the marked
uneasipess of the Northern wing OF their party,
caused by the publication of what will be re-
membered as the Roberts interview with Gov
Hayes at Columbus. For the purpose of this
discussion it is not necessary to inquire whether
that interview correctly Incorrectly
ported, but, printed, it st once became the
handwriting on the wall to Dir. Tilden's per-
sonal adherents. Emissaries from Liberty street
came, post haste, to Washington, to sound
Southern men and see if there was any re-
sponse among them to a sentiment that would
prefer Hayes, with an assured liberal policy,
to Tildea. with the certainty Of general trouble.
Their anxiety and the general uneasiness
among their friends in Congress disclosed the
situation to Republicans, and by the middle of
December some of the most prominent among
the latter had fully grasped its meaning and
its possibilities. Republicans who gave them
selves earnestly to tho study Of the situation
found general agreement among Southern
Democrats upon several subjects.
l. They were more concerned with regaining
local self-government than they were with the
success of Tilden. The national adminstra-
ton had grown to seem of far less Importance
to tEem than the control Of their own State af-
fairs.
2. They had never been reconciled to the
way the New York element had forced Tllden
upon the Democracy of the South and West at
ST. Louis.
3. They we're disgusted with his letter on
Southern claims, not SO much because they we're
looking to their payment, but because they re-
garded it assumption on IIdens part that
he could safely truckle to Nor hren sentiment
at the expense of the South, since the latter
M i'm
bing whatever.
4. They felt that any interference vrith con-
stitutional count of the electoral votes meant
revolution, and as Southern men, and in the
main Southern soldiers, understanding from
sore experience what WAS involved, they were
united almost to man in the agreement that
in no event should the Democrats of the House
be allowed to plunge the country into war.
They saw that they held the balance of power
| in their party, and they patriodcaliy resolved
to use it for peace.
5. A number OF them were considering
whether, in case the utterances of Gov. Hayes
letter of acceptance in regard to the South
meant what the language implied, the South
would not be better off at the end of four years
of such Republican rule than to have the gen.
eral disorder and disruption of social quiet con-
unue, as it certainly would continue, through
a Democratic administration, with the certainty
that, at the end of four years, the same strug-
gle through which the South had just passed
would be repeated. In short number of
prominent SOulnern men were earnestly con-
slderlng whether, In case Hayes should hon
estly and earnestly set himself about carrying
into effect the ideas Of his letter of acceptance,
it would not be far better for the quiet and ma
terial interests of the South, or whether the
shortest road to a just and permanent recon-
structiou did not lie through Republican ad-
mlnistration under Gov. Hayes
| These were the elements of Southern thought
| which a number of Republicans found to be
| questions of earnest though quiet discussion.
! That they should instantly avail themselves of
| this knowledge to widen the opening breach
between Tilden's personal adherents and these
cooler Southern men was entirely natural.
! That they should have been active in this
work was one of the necessities of the situa-
| ton. The country on the brink of an
| archy then. 1t is easy to look back from pres
| ent quiet, and denounce all atteUIpts to avert
| civil war as bargains, but some of those who
| are busiest in such denuncia6ons now-and
| some editors. too-should reflect upon what
they thought craftsmanship and honorable and
| just dealing then.
And now for the bargaining that took place.
| These Republicans who were in a po-
sition to know the Liberal policy tow
ard the South which Gov. Hayes had
| decided upon, and which he had an
nounced clearly in his letter of acceptance,
| simply took occasion to assure these Southern
| Democrats that what Hayes had thus promised
would certainly be fulfilled that carpet bag
! rule, making clear distinctions between South
| ern Republicans and carpet bag element proper
| "outu ho' po SHoon oSeu tiifl' ,o1ai Sos GIL
ment or proper home-rule would be: that all
who desired to come into accord with national
administration for the purpose of completing a
lasting reconstruction and assuring peace to
the South, would be cordially received and
that all the results of the and all new
rights to the new citizens would be insisted
| upon and protected.
There was no promise to individuals, and
nothing that approached the character of bar
| gaining. 1t the announcement of pre-
| determined policy on the one hand, and re-
| ception of it as the best present attainable
| good for the South IN the other.
JuStifiable Homicide.
Kirkwood, a suburb of st. Louis,
has had big sensation, Jack Simmons,