Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1878-04-05
PRESIDENT HAYES PROGRESS.

FRIDAY MORNING. APRIL 5. 1878.
PRESIDENT HAYES PROGRESS.
The President is moving amiably along,
acceptable to the people of both parties but
unsatisfactory to the politicians Of either.
And this dissatisfaction is made evident
in many ways both by Republicans and
Democrats in oppositions and contradic-
tions. petty as well as great. Mr.. HAYES
may possibly not be a great man, but he is
man of great endurance. Other men in
his place would long since have gone over
to the Democrats in revenge upon his own
party, or made the most obnoxious ap-
pointments to punish the Democrats for
their uncertain support OF his admlnistra-
ton. But this man has done neither. He
is the outgrowth of the times. just such
public servant as fits into this strange
neutral time in political chronology which
stands between the time that one half OF
nation has been writing under the bur-
den of an oppressive and corrupt govern
ment, and this now happier period when it
stands upright and on footing with the
other half. The history Of his administra-
ton when it comes to be written will be
the most remarkable in the life Of this ma
ton, but it will not seem as strange to
those who read it in after times as it does
to the partizans of to-day. 1t will be rec~
ognized as the most natural symptom that
land recovering from the ravages of a war
fever, should have for it's Chief Magistrate
one who sympathized neither with those
who sought to overthrow the government
nor those who have essayed to turn it into
an engine of oppression and robbery. AS
a President he disappoints our little hopes
but not our great ones; he wrecks the
expectations of the partizan but not those
of the patriot. That he was the choice Of
the majority Of the people of the United
States no man, certainly in the light of
past events, will for moment hold, but
that he is not the legal executive of this
nation is absurd. Testing his title is a
matter of choice and can not be made a
matter of compulsion by those who are
still urging it. A willingness to eject
HAYES or to procure such authoritative
expressions of official tribunals as to
blight his usefulness while they may not
remove him, cannot. by heated partiZans, be
made test of the Democracy of any man
unless he is weak enough to allow it. The
Maryland legislature has at the instance
and persevering canvassing of Hon. MONT
GoMERY BLAIR, adopted resolutions in
structing the Attorney General of that
State to exhibit bill in the q. S. Supreme
Court asking for revision of the decision
OF the Electoral Commission as provided
for in the act creating that commission,
aud upon such revision to declare the votes
of Louisiana and Florida given to HAYES
fraudulent and void, and further to make
a decree declaring that TILDEN was duly
elected. The action has not created a
good deal of excitement in the country,
hardly as much as the famous Brother
JAsPER's sermon On the sun has gwen rise
to, though the subject may acquire more
interest when Congress is called on to pass
law providing for procedure in the
case, which it must do before any action
can be taken. The whole movement as
far as developed seems to be the result of
the misrepresentation on the part of Mr..
BLAIR that he carries the whole Demo
craric party on his shoulders, delusion
in which he is greatly encouraged by Re-
publicans who hate HAYES and his admin
istration as bad as he does. How both are
mistaken in their calculations every ap-
peal to the popular mind clearly shows.
The speech OF Senator HOWE, of Wis
consin, the other day was one evidence
He tore che administration to tatters,
throwing in something about the great re-
belion by way of seasoning to make it
more palatable to his side of the Senate.
1t has fallen quite limp in the political
arena, no response from the Republican
press nor the Republican leaders, no pub
lie opinion to float it up, no applause save
from few claquers appointed in advance.
The country is not ready to be disturbed
yet, nor is the Democratic party. After
the 4th of March next-less than one year
the q. S. Senate will be composed of forty
four Democrats. thirty-one Republicans,
and one Independent, and with this speedy
accession to the responsibility Of power in
reach, the party is not ready to counte.
nance movements which shall give it a
disturbed and unsettled country to rule,
instead of one of tranquility.