Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1878-11-21
CHANGE or POLICY.

The Washington Republican Of the 18th
instant, publishes the following as the views
of the President in regard to the situation in
the South: .,'ol4i.'a. ia.
In answer to question as to whether the
Southern policy had been discussed in the
cabinet, the President is reported to have said :
''That is mistake the time for discussion
has passed. 1t is now too late for anything
but the most determined and vigorous action.
The determination was reached several days
ago, and the deliberations Of the cabinet on
this subject since then have been comparative
ly brief and confined mainly to the cOnsidera-
tion Of the duty of the attorney general in
the premises" ...-'.. ..,J s,s.g..,,.
The President has always thought that his
policy would win back the South. He was
asked how he accounted for the result IN the
face of the fair promises Of the South. "That
question: - said he, 'sleads to a discussion of
what has latterly been termed the Southern
policy of the administration. When that pol
icy was first inaugrrated, it was with an ear
nest desire to conciliate the Southern leaders,
to round off the sharp angles Of a sectional
difference and to soften the asperities of po-
litical strife. No one will deny that the at.
tempt to enforce this policy was most earnest
ly made, nor that it was carried out with a
conscientious desire to accomplish the result
for which it had been ,inaugurated. Of the
personal and partisan sacrifices l made in this
effort, and of the consequent interruption Of
certain relations which had previously existed
between myself and some of my supporters, 1
have nothing to sayjust now. But it appears
that the leaders who made those pledges
either did not exert themselves to keep them
or were unable to do so. In fact / am re-
luctantly forced to admit that the experiment
was failure. The first election Of ,,impOr-
tance had since it was attempted, has proved
that fair elections, with free suffrage for every
voter in tile South, are an impOssibility under
the existing condition of things.Mh tits not
because the Republican party appears as the
sufferer in these results that l complain, y
continued the President; lit is because free
suffrage and freedom Of political rights have
been interfered with that am called upon to
take cognizance of these disturbances. If the
facts were exactly reversed, and If the repub-
licans had committed the ,Outrages upon the
democrats, my duty would be the same. 1t
will not do for me, or for any official before
whom these questions may come, to treat them
otherwise than in a nOn-paftisan way. The
partisan press will naturally take a partisan
view of the case, and I will be held to account
for aiding the republicans stalwarts, l
mean-in Haunting the bloody shirt, as it is
called"
Mr. Hayes isaitf> further ~ can't expect to
hold the office I do without being kicked and
cuffed little, you know, but for all that L
shall do my duty as the Chief Magistrate Of
all the people, democrats and republicans
alike, and if, in the faithful execution Of the
laws, justice shall demand the punishment of
this or that man, whatever his political con-
nectiOns may he, shall not be deferred by
partisan criticism. All that know is, great
crimes have been committed, and it is my du-
ty to aid in the punishment Of the criminals. y
The President said that "GoVernor Hampton,
for example, has tried repeatedly to repress
the violence which has characterized the cam
paign in South Carolina, and failed. Such re-
publicans as Judge Lee and Mr.. Rainey and
ex-State Senator Swails, Of that State, .haYe
advised me of these facts. They say that
Hampton cannot control the red shirts, as
they call them, and they have repeatedly in
formed Inc of speecheshe has made deprecati1lg
violence in the conduct of the campaign And
it appears that Gov. Nichols; in Louisiana, is
earnestly opposed to these proceedings or the
same kind of violence in his State d4uurI
As con6rmatory of the aboveptbe usually
accurate Washington correspondent of the
Baltimore Sun telegraphs that paper as fol.
lows:
1t is ascertained that the purported inter-
view with the President is correct reflection
of the present view and policy of the admins
tration as regards the South The statement
that the President said, in express language,
that he was convinced his Southern policy was
failure is understood, however, not to have
been authorized, although bis apparent, deter
mination to reverse that policy might be un-
the language of member of the Cabinet, the
administration is determined that every vio-
lation of the election laws in every part of the
South shall be ferreted out and the full penal
ty of the law visited upon the perpetrators,
and those that are sent to the penitentiary
may be sure that no pardon Of the President