Litchfield enquirer., 1878-08-15
Reaction.

| We hear much talk of Republican politi- clans, and of the Republican press, apparent ly desiring reaction at the South to the re- g5me of Reconstruction. Can any intelligent patriotic citizen really wish to see the corrup- tion and nlisgovernment of that period restored? :? l Can any intelligent citizen for moment imag- inc that restoration of Republican power in | South Carolina, in Louisiana, and in Mississip- pi would not involve the restoration of the systems of rascality with which it has been inseparably connected?
 Republican papers like the New York Times speak of Patterson-Bowen Republicanfsm as the party that should be restored to power in South Carolina; of Hampton as usurper the North should put down.
 Put anyone of these ''reG-hot" Republicans in South Carolina as resident and property holder, and would he then desire the restora- tien of the rpet-Bagger and the Robber Governor, merely for the aid they could bring to their party in Congress Would he not con- slider it much too high price to pay for keep ing any political party in power? He may not like Democracy as well as Republication, but he cannot afford to be ruined for the ad- vantage of either party. Is not this, in lesser degree, indeed, the feeling of large part of the Republican party at the North? They would like their party to win victories, and to see it in majority in Congress, but they are not disposed, even if they had the power, to remand the South into the control of it's ignO- rant negroes with their rascally white leaders. They feel that such course would prove the ruin of alarge section of the co,sntry, first; and, ultimately, of the party whose continuance in power was accompanied with so much suffering and misgovernment.
 No doubt the negroas right of suffrage suf- fers serious limitation ander Democratic rule: {: but where his own involves gen. eral anarchy and ruin, is not his temporary disfranchisement decidedly the lesser of the two evils?
 No doubt, too, viewed as mere partisan policy, the Hayes experiment has proved a failnges but, viewed from the broader, patriotic standpoint, it has turned out success Such results are precisely those with which the Re- publican politician is least satisfied. He de- mands that an administration controlled by his party shall adopt policy which rebounds to the advantage of that party. No promotion of the general good meets his requirement. He asks, not that Mr. Hayes should accept the only practicable remedy of fragrant evils, but that he should continue those evils, with all their intolerable injury to the public welfare, for his party's advantage
 Whose fault is it that Mir. Hayes Southern policy has proved political failure Had the Republicans in Congress shown any apprecia- tion of the patriotism of such Southerners as Hampton, Lamar, and Stephens, the fracture of the solid South would have been probable result. It is just as manifest that there is g. Progressive as that there is Bourbon Democ- ! racy at the South but the Blaines and Cam erons, and Conklings who rule our Republican Congress, will do nothing but quarrel with and insult the whole South, and refuse recognition to men who have shown a liberality and pat riotism greatly exceeding their own. Indeed the Republican leaders of Congress have shown neither liberality nor patriotism. They are as bigoted Bourbons as the Tombs and Davises of the South