Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-11-22
The Gossip about - Change in the
PresidenIE SOuIhe rn Policy.

In reference to the publication a day or
two previous, Of what purporicd to be an in
teryiew with the President on affairs in the
Southern States, the Washington Star last
Thursday evening published the following edi.
torial which is snid to have been revised by
the President himself Whether or not the ar
ticle was thus revised. it takes reasonable
and common-seuse view Of the matter, and
represents Mr.. Hayes as holding precisely
those views on the Southern question which
we have always supposed that he held
Two positions of great importance in the
politics of the country have within the past
few days been assigned the president-one
that he had abandoned in toto his Southern
policy; the other, that be has, 10y giving way
in that policy, brought about a recoucilia-
ton between his Administration and the So
called stalwar;' wing of the Republican
Party the elements of which have been.
since the inauguration of the Cancellation poll
cy, alienatcd from him. Both of these state
ments are either untrue or are given an i'm
proper coloring As to the reported change
of policy regarding the south, there is moth
ing in it. The method Of dealing with the
Southern States which the President has
seen fit to pursue is the same now as it was
respect whatever an experiment. The Presi-
dent considered, and still considers it. a mat
ter of duty to see that in administering the
laws of the land, the constitutional rights of
every citizen, in every portion Of the country.
equally and alike, should be fully respected
and guarded. 1t if pretty generally conceded
that the South, under bayonet rule was not
enjoying the free government vouchsafed it
by the Constitution. To remove that rule
was a duty the President considered devolv-
ing upon him. and IL was accordingly remoy-
ed He has gone on, with the dissemination
of securing, as far Us lay in his power, that
every citizen shall be protected in the full
and free exercise of all his rights and privi-
leges With this determination has been
coupled a very strong desire not 10 use the
military branch Of the Government, except
TO quell instruction and put down riots. All
violations of the law Should he has always
| held and still holds, be punished by civil pro-
cesses if possible. Therefore, when it was
| learned, prior to the recent elections, that
Republican voters in the South, notably in
South Carolina, Louisiana, and Alabama,
| would certainly be interfered with in the eX-
ercise of their franchise rights, the Attorney
General ordered the United States District
| Attorneys for those States to see that all VIC
lators of the law in this respect were prompt
| ly arrested and brought TO trial and after
the elections, Notwithstanding the advances
| for compromise from those arrested, the At
| torney-G eneral was last Saturday instructed
| TO prosecute offenders TO the utmost limits oil
the law. Neither of these instructions could
be regarded as "a change of policy" They
were but the carrying out of the President
determination 10 see that the laws are en-
forced everywhere. The statement that In,
| President has recently said that he had tried
the pan of Cancellation and found it a com
| plete failure is untrue The President ha,
never made such a statement 1t is true tina
he does not think the South has responded a.
it should to his good intentions but, never
theess does not intend TO change, in any
manner whatever, the course of his Admins
| tratiOn upon this account. This course, a.
! has previously been said, is not Southern
policy. II is not in any true sense a mar