Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-10-18

to carry out needed reforms.
We recall these facts because thew
make more pointed q letter from Senator
Hill, which we print elsewhere, in which
be sharply, but as it seems to us Justly.
criticises the course of Mr.. Hayes, and
compares his abundant and excellent
promises with his lameHtable lack of
performance. He remarks. rightly. that
the Southern policy of the President was
inevitable. Even Gen. Grant saw 10 the
last days Of his administration that the
army could no longer DO used as part of
the partisan political machinery in the
Southern States, and be refused to
recognize or support Mr.. Packard in
Louisiana. But Mr.. Hill desired to ace
the civil service Of the country reformed
especially, as be says in the Southern
States, and he appears to have been
granhed by the Presidents unequivocal
declaration of a determination to IN.
dertake this work. "Mr. Hayes" he
writes, las failed because he has shown
himself utterly unequal to his opportu.
NIFTY, because be has utterly failed TO
realize that the Chief Magistrate Of a
great country has no personal friends
no personal enemies, and owes no per.
sonal obligations, but is under obligations
only to his country. He has thrown
away the grandest opportunity ever given
to a man, only that he might give Offices
and rewards to as worthless a set Of
rapscsllions as ever ~disgraeed humanity;
a set OF men, he adds, who we're the
guilty c%oncoctors Of the frauds in the
South, by the help of which Mr.. Hayes
reached the White House"
MIR Hill indictment of the President
is good as far as it goes. 1t is too true that
Mr.. Hayes has been weak enough to an.
point to office, 30 far ss known, every man
OF all the disreputable crowd which In
Louisiana and Florida manipulated the
election returnsin 1876. Black or white.
obscure or prominent, a vigilsut search
has failed to discover a single man who
had anything 10 do with this ~dIsgraoeful
work who has not been given some Office.
large or small, in bis own State. or of
tener in Washington or in some distant
locality. They tell a story In Florida
that among the hungry political small
fry there II became SO we'll known that
connection with election sffairs in 1876
would bring Office in 1877 that some in.
genious scamps confessed falsely to mis-.
conduct, were promptly taken care OIL"
az the saying is, but we're as promptly
dismissed when later it was discovered
that their confessions we're unfounded
There is no doubt that Mr. Hayes fallen.
ated from himself a great number OF
honorable men by his course in the mat
ter, which has long been a public scan.
dal, and 1t Is an open secret that in
weakly making or consenting to such
appointments be acted contrary 10 the
advice which was given him by such Re.
publicaus as Charles Foster, General ]
y. Cox, Wayne MacVeagh aud others Of
tqual prominence and high character.
VINO urged upon him that such men az
Madison Wells, Anderson, Stearns and
persons OF similar antecedeuts and char.
acter could moi properly be recognized
by him, and lacked the principal quail.
hcations which he declared necessary In
a public officer,
When, therefore, Senator Hill severely
arraigns the President for the gross mis-.
use Of patronage, it is impossible for Mr..
Hayes best friends to defend him. He
is guilty, sud he has sacrificed bis own
character and reputation in a way which
has surprised and grieved all who placed
confidence in his early promises, But
after all, it strikes US that Mr.. Hill. in
his zeal for civil service reform and his
Indignation at disreputable appoint
ments, deals only with an incident, and
leaves untouched the main body of the
Presidents shortcomings That we con.
ceive TO be that he has belittled his high
office, and shown himself regardless Of
the public Interests intrusted to BIZ. care
He has not acted the part Of Chief Mag
istrate OF the country, but of a petty
peddler of small Offices. He has neglect.
ed the most vital public interest and
spent his time in useless and fruitless
quarrels with the leaders Of his party.
He has totally failed to grasp the situa.
ton of the country or its nete sites, and
has seemed not even to see the opportu-
nifty which lay before him to impress
upon it, by perfectly legitimate means, a
wholesale financial policy, which was
needed.
II at this moment it remains an open
question whether the country shall not
be flung back into the frighiful morass
Of q deprecated and vacillating curren
cy, that is entirely bis fault who foolishly
faucied it craftsmanship to have no
policy; to express no convictions, to
exercise none of the influences which
the Constitution gives him to encourage
the friends of good government and to
further the most necessary means for The
revival Of prosperity. If he had been q
a OF force, OF convictions, OF states
manlike insight, Of will, we should not
to day be discussing once more the worn
out fallacies of imitation; for nothing
could have been easier for him than to
unite friends Of a sound currency in the
last congress, to inspire them with an
aggressive spirit and enable them to not
merely prevent the dangerous follies he
tolerated, but decide the whole question.
he has lost the confidence and support
of his own party; he has alienated the
regard aud lost the respect Of those
Democrats who stood periodically ready
to give him an independent support for
good measures; be has not reformed the
civil service, but, on the contrary, has
brought that promised and needed reform
into such discredit as it is not likely TO
recover from for many years; he has
imperiled the most vital interests Of the
country, and, by his iDdecision, given a
new lease Of life to the most mischieyous
and dangerous political heresies.