The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-11-15
AeEdorfiaern -lssxftcR2' ssonrsanI ON aaae
presfdenss New Southern PeIicJ


.Asssorfhern slssssicaa ssonrsanI ON alae
presfdens,s New Southern PelicJ.
& isIlaaeIphia Bulletin. sth.l
81 The President regards with Indignation
the frauds BY VIII ch:certai OF the southern
States haYe beer, carried by the Democratic
party, and the violence and terrorism by
which negro citizens In those states have
beer deprived OF their CONSTITUTE onal rig hts.
So deeply have these things moved him that
he has adopted vigorous measures Tor the
arrest and prosecution Of guilty parties
against whom evidence can be obtained, and
some OF these already have been held Tor
trial. The President, indeed, makes frank
confession that the concilatorv policy
from which he Hoped SO much IS
practically failure. The South re1oiced
when he withdrew the troops; but the
feeling, which he mistook for gratitude,
was only sentiment OF satisfaction that
the policy OF intimidation could now DC
pursued without interference. The South
was iubilant when the President visited IL
arm in arm with Wade Hampton; put
while the President was congratuiatinS
himself that he had conquered HamDton,s
friends by kindness those persons were
chuckling over the fact that the President
had called Off his dogs and given them
license 10 fog, friShten, and murder negro
voters wherever they threatened the SUI
prenlacy OF the whites. The President
high hopes have been dashed by sad and
terrible failure. He has learned, what
some other people perceived clearly
from the beginning, that to expect the
southern people to be persuaded to 90 JUS
tice by treating them with extreme gene
rosity is as reasonable as to try to tame q
Gagged tiger by giving him liberty. A CON-
munity which responded to absolute 1of,
giveness by the nation OF its Tour years
struggle to destroy the Governments: D!
general indulgence in the crimes OF ku-
kluXism, was not likely to be persuaded to
do right by smaller act OF magnanimity
which it never for a moment regarded as
anything but its Just due.
The arrangement OF the Republican party
from the President is attributable to the
fact that the party perceived the futility OF
the Presidents conciliatory designs while
vet he had faith in them. Now that he has
determined to try to interpose in behalf
OF the robbed and injured Republicans
of the South, he will surely have the sup
port OF the party. Public sentiment in the
North will be behind him. But it must be
confessed that not much is to be hopcd
for from this new movement. The rascals
who are to be prosecuted will have their tate
determined by jurymen; and 1t is more than
absurd tc suppose that southern lurles are
going TO help the law TO end system Wnch
has the sanction OF the great mass OF the
southern people. And when the President
has taken the cases into court his power Is
ended. There is no other available ma
chinery bv which he can right the grleVous
wrong OF which he complains. He cannot
send troops into South Carolina and Louis
isiana to defend and protect the oppressed !;
for even il there were in those States Re
publican authorities to call for assistance, 1t
is positively certain that Democratic Con-
eress would strike the army to pieces rather
than suffer such thing to be done. 1t Is
evident, then. that while the wrath OF the
President is justified, his desire to apply
4 remedy for the evils in tie South Will DE
defeated because our Government, to Its
shame be it spoken, provides no means by
which the Executive can secure the black
race in the enjoyment of its rights, and none
that VIII enable the Federal authorities, I'M
der conditions now existing In the South,
to guarantee truly republican form OF gov
eminent in the States where the negroes are
in the majority.
There is only one thing to do il justice
fails in the courts, and that is to walt. we
have never blamed the President for with
drawing the troops from the South. lie
bad no choice in the matter. lie was COM
pelled to take them away, and wise men re-
garded the process with contentment be-
cause the military policy had actually
failed. It could succeed only by placing a
guard at every poll and every cabin-door.
Under it we lost all but two or three OF
the southern States, and we should have
parted with these at the next election.
But the President made two mistakes
He trusted too much to southern honor
and southern gratitude, and he manifested
want of moral force. The South knew
that it could trifle with him, and it did. 1t
knew that lie had faith in its honor, and it
PLAYED upon that faith in manner that
was most disbonorable. If he had declared
that be Withdrew the troops because he
must, but that in so far as was possible the
power and the influence OF the National
Government would be used to prevent and
punish outra9es against individual rights
and republican principles in the South, he
would have had at his back not the divided,
disconnected Republican party OF the last
two years, but the party as INIT, and he
could have commanded at least partial
respect from the unruly South. lie can see
now that q solid North is as possible as Il
solid South, and fur more powerful. And
this is one of the hopes OF the future. 1t
was wildly foolish to expect complete rev.
olusion in southern public opinion within
two Years. Such q change requires time;
but it is bound TO come at last in the sepa-
ration OF at least large minority OF
the southern people from the Democratic
party. The weakening OF that party in this
region possibly will promote its decay
there. At any rate, even in the elections
lust past there were distinct indications
that the party yoke is rot Worn every
where in the South with patience. II the
North shall be firmly Republican, and
shall have supremacy, there will be some
southerners who will find that their in
terests lie away from Democracy. The
black man will have his rights secured
to him when southern sentiment is divided,
and we doubt il human ingenuity can give
them to him before. Our laws provide no
means of overcoming the resistance OF an
entire population. So long as the whites OF
the South are unit upon this question, so
long will the black man suffer; and the only
way out of the difficulty is to encourage by
every means the division Of the southern
people. What the best means are may be
an open question, but that the plan devised
by the President has failed is certain.
The Proof.
New York Tribune.l
That the President means what he says is