Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-10-31
The south, and the Question Of the
Next Precedence.

Next Presidency.
In a recent editorial upon Progress in
the South" the Boston Herald pointedly eau
tons those ofiicious members of the Republi-
can party, who are assiduously trying to
force a Grant boom" upon the country, not
to forget that the South is making rapid
progress, socially and politically, and that the
rate of its progress has been greatly acceler-
ated since the Hayes policy succeeded
the Grant policy" and the South
ern States were made responsible for their
own government Those (snys the Herald
who look to Gen Grant as the one man who
can enforce the laws and keep the peace in
the South should remember that during the
eight years of his administration, when the
bayonet policy was in force, there was much
worse state Of things in the Southern States
than there has been under the constitutional
administration of President Hayes. Where
ten negroes were murdered under Gen. Grant,
scarcely one has suffered under Hayes In
short, the only safe way is the constitutional
way. South Carolina and Mississippi must
govern themselves, us well as Massachusetts
aud Ohio. Under that condition alone can
we expect progress. The situation is full of
encouragement. The South has passed
through a political and industrial revolution.
Naturally enough, reconstruction was accom-
panied by disorders. But local remedies ap-
pear as soon as the pressure of the federal
government is removed and these are the
only effective remedies All through the
South independent movements in politics are
springing up. The white voters are divided
and are bidding for the colored vote This
insures protection for the colored voters 1t
is not essential that the national government
should be Republican but it is essential that
all men should be equal under the law. The
negroes are also improving their material
condition A large and steadily increasing
number own real estate In the city of At
lanta they are assessed for So, 600, 600. In
Kemper county, Miss, the scene of the CHS
ohm murder, one in five own land. In Vicks-
burg one out of ten adults own their homes
"A better average than will be found in Bos-
ton. Yazoo county, where bulldozing does
not respect color, has a dozen negro planters
worth so, 900 each. These are evidences of
u rate of progress absolutely marvellous when
South has passed the bitterness of defeat in
a great war, and the prejudces of race and
color 1t is not to be wondered at, continues
the Herald, that the people of the great,
growing and prosperous North are not will
ing to put the national government into the
hands of the men who tried to destroy it, or
that they are distrustful of that party whose
leaders Numbered so terribly in the last ses-
sion of Congress, but the attitude of the ma
tional government toward the States should
not, in any event. be different from what it
has been under the administration of Presi-
dent Hayes. 1t should be supreme in its own
sphere but to the States should be left the
responsibility of local government. In that
way alone can they be expected to make prog
ress in the future toward equal rights under
the law and all the blessings of civilization
and free government.
That the view taken by the Herald is for
the most part a correct one, there can be no
doubt. One point which should be noted,
however, in drawing comparisons between
the Administration of Mr.. Hayes and that of
Gen. Grant, is the very essential one that, at
the time when the Grant policy ended and
the Hayes policy" began, the condition of
affairs was ripe for precisely the change in
the treatment of the South which then took
place. The "stalwnrt" element of the Re
publican party could not see, or would not
concede, the fact, but it was nevertheless
| true, that the only reasonable and logical
course for the new Administration TO pursue
was to make the change above spoken of as
that from 'bayonet" to constitutional" rule
Mr. Hayes saw and accepted the situation,
and, with the courage of his convictions, he
made one bold stroke and withdrew the
troops from South Carolina and Louisiana
That Gen. Grant also realized the situation,
and, had he remained longer in Office, would
have followed a similar course, we have been
repeatedly assured, and no reasonable man
can doubt the fact. As TO how far Gen.
Grant would have gone in further fruitless
attempts to ''pacify" the South by various
means, as was done by Mr.. Hayes, is not nee
essarily pertinent question in this connec-
ton. We only emphasize the fact that what
Mr., Hayes did in the way of giving constitu-
| tional government to the Southern States
| Grant must and would have done by force of
the logic of the then existing circumstances
What the next President, be he whom
he may, will be able TO do toward meeting
and controlling the present aggressive and
| overbearing spirit of the Southern leaders is
question to be considered in all GOODNESS
and calmness. The situation, as shown dur
ing the late special Congressional session, is
serious, even threatening; but in the absence
of any overt act on the part of the South, its
treatment must be purely by constitutional
methods. Our system of government does
| not provide for the sudden correction of evils
such as prevail at the South, but our meth
DDS, though slow, and through the ballot and
the law, are none the less sure. The voice
Of Maine, California Ohio and Iowa means
that the people of the North will not tolerate
any tampering with the legislation made nee
essary by the war, the political dsfranchise-
ment of the blacks, or Chisolm tragedies and
Yazoo murders.
The New York Times, which for a consid-
cradle time was conspicuously partisan and
ungenerous in its treatment of Mr.. Hayes and
his policy, has apparently seen new light
and now practically abandons its former
ground by urging with statesmanlike yigor
the impractcability of coercing the South by
any process short Of revolution. Gen Grant
might be President says the Times, ''but
he would have no more lawful power than
Mr. Hayes He might intrust the local guar
dianship of Federal laws to more decided
officers than Mr.. Hayes has sometimes ap-
pointed, but the limits would still be narrow
He could not do more than the law prescribes,
] and it is not probable that any Republican