Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-02-13
MlscEMMG:
HAYES AND THE SOUTH
A G Buell's Version OF That
Political Adjustment.

A T. BuelIS version OF That
Political Adjustment.
Interior Facts Concerning 1.-The
Conference at Wormley's."
Why the Hon. Charles Foster
Made his Noted Speech and
What Came Of It.
A Democratic Opinion or Me. Tilden
and HIS Electoral Managers.
TO the Editor of the Washington Post Dem
In the Post of yesterday was an in
terview with the Hon. Charles Fos-
ter, in which that gentleman is re-
ported as having referred to me in
the following terms:
"See Mr.. Buell.; explained the
whole matter to him and he knows
more about it than any mani can
think Of"
1t is perhaps proper, under these
conditions, for me to relate with some
minuteness, the facts of Mr.. Fosters
connection with that political adjust
ment which by suppressing the ten
dency of the democrats in the House
to filibuster, assured the peaceable in
auguration of Mr.. Hayes under forms
of law. In order to set forth Mr.. Fos-
ter's share in this transaction with
perfect perspicuity, it is requisite to
60 briefly over
THE ANTECEDENT GROUND,
and show how and why it became
possible for him and other "next
friends" of Mr.. Hayes to meet the
recognized representatives of the
democratic party of the south in con-
ference, for the purpose of-not to
put too fine a point upon it-arrang-
ing terms of mutual surrender in one
sense and mutual conquest in an.
other.
The middle of February, 1877, found
Congress in uproar and the people in
suspense the whole forming q situa-
ton which seemed to need but one
spark of courage from Creamery
Park to 6ndle the land in flames OF
revolution. Mr.. Tilden had retired
to his palatial residence, and no men
ton of him was permitted, except the
daily announcement in the official COL
umns Of his organ, the San, that he
was well. Once the stereotype was
suspended and the country startled
by the statement that Mr.. Tilden had
purchased q beautiful gray mare for
equestrian purposes; but beyond this
the President-elect gave no sign OF
intent to assert his own rights, or to
conserve the dignity of the majority
that had elected him. The legal in.
terests of the democratic party had
been cOnfided to the hands of David
Dudley Field, while the responsible.
ty Of its political management was
reposed in the keeping of an attenu.
ated young person, known as "COl
Pelton," who derived
| AN ABSURD CONSEQUENCE
from the accidental fact that he called
Mr.. Tilden uncle. Mr.. Field seemed
to labor under the Misrepresentation
that the Electoral count was o Beech.
er trial on an aggravated scale, and
tell between Ignorance and arrogance
into double tangle of the adroitnest
OF his opponents and his own repuls.
I've egotism while it was q question al
to the attenuated youth, called Col,
Pelton, whether his weakness pro.
voked more the contempt of the re.
publicans or the disgust of the dem.
ocrats. Meanwhile, Mr.. Abram s
Hewitt, q well-meaning individual
possessed of too many millions to be
serviceable in crisis, and endowed
with too little pluck to be valuable tC
his party, his country, or himself, at q
moment requiring the presence OF
warm red blood in the arterial system
was perorating and perforating, in q
mild way, between the egotism OF
Field and tho inanity of Pelton, in
agony very like that ola patient who
has essayed the remedies of cathartic
and sudorific in the same dose. The
consequence was a distracted condi-
tton of the democracy. The mana
gers were agreed in nothing
EXCEPT THEIR CowARD1cE.
and the sole sentiment that found
common response from them was that
Hayes had better be q thousand times
inaugurated than that one drop of
blood should be shed, to use Hewitt's
words; or, to translate his inner con-
seriousness, better sacrifice the demo-
cratic party, the constitution, and the
rights of the people, than that Gov
eminent bonds should decline a cent
on the market!
With such leadership and under
such auspices, the democrats of the
south saw neither prospect of success
nor hope for respectful consideration
in defeat; and with that fine instinct
as to number one which the an
pearance of the Devil in the
immediate rear looking for his ira
ditional booty of the hindmost, never
fails to arouse into active sentiment,
the representatives of the Southern
people began to make their peace
with Fate. This condition of things
was not lost upon Mr.. Foster, who is
q keen observer of incidents,a shrewd
manipulation of situations, and a de-
voted friend of Hayes. He told me
he would make speech calculated to
give the cause of Mr.. Hayes the ben
eft of the prevailing democratic dis
traction. Accordingly he went up to
the House next day, and made a
speech, in the course of which he for
mulated the well-advised catch
phrase, that, with Hayes as President,
"the flag should wave over States, not
over provinces"
To this utterance there came, in
due course of mail,
A RESPONSE FROM MR.. HAYES,
the substance of which is set forth by
Mr.. Foster in the interview printed
elsewhere. When Mr.. Foster receiv-
ed this letter he showed it to me, and |
said: "Now you see the whole philos-
ply of the situation. The South will |
be better off with Hayes than Tilden. |
This letter puts Hayes squarely in the |
line of my Louisiana report of two
years ago, and enables me to speak |
of and for him er cathetlra 80 far as
the Southern question is concerned. |
Here is CLEAN of light. Here is q |
basis for compromise between the
honest Democrats of the Sonth and
the wise Republicans of the North,
which shall restore local self-govern-
ment to the States, and at the same
time retain the control of the general
government in the hands Of those
who prevented disunion. In no 9TH |
er way can these two results be Joint
ly accomplished; and in their Joint
accomplishment lies, in my Judgment,
the only hope for the substantial
pacification Of the country"
Mr.. Foster then asked me to circu-
late the text of the letter, according
to my discretion, among my South
ern acquaintance, for the purpose of
allaying their apprehensions as to the
consequences of Mr.. Hayes inaugu-
ration, and with a view to take ad-
vantage of their disgust at the
HIDEoUs STUPIDITY AND THE MARVEL
GUS IMBECILIrY
Of the New York management.
Sharing this disgust myself, pro-
foundly impressed with the idea that
the perfect observation-disclosures of the
South had become, under the circum-
stances, the be-all and end.all of the
campaign of 1876, and satisfied that
there was no hope for the Southern
|