The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-08-21
Correspondence Me,rs and Courier.

CDGEFIELD, =. o., Aug. 8, 1879.
According to Instructions have inter.
viewed Senator N. @. Butler, and have
succeeded in obtaining his views on some
OF the more important subjects now be.
lore the country. called on him at his
residence, and after the usual exchange
OF courtesies stated the purport of nv
vlslt, ana, with little preliminary
skirmishing, the interview proceeded as
"After the smoke of battle has cleared
away, what ia your opinion of the res,,lt
of the political coniiic. at the extra seq.
sion of Congress
1T ID about what / supposed it would
be when the controversy opened. The
Radicals sounded their gongs. raised n
great hue and cry, and frightened the
tlmid throughout the country; but. as il
progressed, the Democrats gained on
their adversaries and ended in substan-
tial victory. The Radicals have, for
some years, concealed their real princi-
pies under attacks upon the South and
TINS great debate has compelled them to
throw of the mask and show their disre-
gard for the Constitutional limitations
which attach to our Republic, distin-
gulsing it from any other that has ever
existed, and boldly ayow their purposes
to make the Government what they
choose to call strong government
which in reality means nothing less than
q consolidated Empire-built upon the
destruction of the States. Of course the
leaders deny having any such purpose.
but it is the inevitable logic of their DO.
sltion. They cannot escape it, and the
democrats ought not to allow them to
escape it."
"Do you think that that will be tho
issue in the next Presidential campaign p"
"Unquestionably it ought to be, for if
the Radical party succeed in establishing
the doctrines announced, in debate, as
the settled policy of the General Govern.
ment, an entire change of our system of
government will follow. A constitution
al government of limited powers, opera
ting upon the individual citizen through
tne states, except as to those powers
specifically granted in the Constitution.
or such as are necessary to carry out spe-
cific grants, will be converted into con.
solidatod centralism-if I NAV use the
term:-responsible only to the leaders of
the dominant faction, who WELD the su-
preme power for the ACKNOWLEDGMENT of
their party and for the distribution of the
spolls OF office; and this change will fol.
low much more speedily than you SUD.
pose. The exercise of national author
lty, IN their view, II cans the destruction
OF state authority, except as far as the
State governments may be convenient in
strumentalities for enforcing the national
Will. The form of government is much
more effecsIally changed by this means
than by q dissolution Of the Union, or
separation of the States, for in tho latter
case Republican institutions may be pre-
served, but in the former they viii be
entirely and hopelessly DESTROYED"
do you think that Mr.. Hayes sympa
thizes with the extreme doctrines of his
party leaders, and is it your opinion that
the rank and file of the Republican party
concur in them? ?'
Il will reverse the order of your ques.
tlon: do not believe the rank and file
OF the Republican party in the North do
concur in such doctrines or principles as
a genera! thing. The rank and file of
the Republican party in the South have
no opinions of their own, and consequent-
- can scarcely he held responsible. 1
oelieve that Q great many of the more
conservative Republicans Of the North
are really devoted to correct principles of
consututlonal government, but their
ieauers are able, aggressive, and, in many
power Tor the sake of power and the
emoluments and Importance that il eives
them, and not for the good that thew NAV
do to their fellow-man, and. under the
cry OF party necessity and party suprem-
acy, many of these men will be borne
along and committed to policy of gov
ernment which in their hearts they do
mob approve. The battle-ground will be
ut the North, and everything depends
upon the pluck and energy of the North
ern Democracy. If they do not permit
the Radicals to raise false issues and
frighten the people by false alarms, they
can win. But they will have to press
home the real danger to liberty with un-
tirlng pertinacity and tact. The pendu-
Iuni has been swung back in the South
as it was when Mr.. Jefferson went into
power in 1901 and upon similar issues.
AS to MIR. Hayes, have no doubt he is
IN full accord and sympathy with the ex-
treme men of his party on these cues.
tions. II you will read his veto messages
10 the late appropriation bills of Con
gress,. you will discover that he pushed
the right of Federal interference with
the affairs of the States further than anv
man has ever ventured in this country.
NO President, not even Grant, with all
his reckless disregard of civil instru-
mentalities in the administration of gov
ernment, and reliance upon force and
the strong hand of central power, has
ever dared to claim for the executive arm
OF the government the power which BIr.
Hayes insists upon. Read, his veto mes-
sages carefully, and see if exagcerate
their scope and meaning"
"Well, General, the impression got
abroad in the country, in the earlier
stages of the debate, that the Republi.
cans ontgeneralled the Democrats and
put them at q disadvantage. How do
you account for that 9"
ut is due to several causes. AsI have
said, the Radicals sounded their ponrs
and made the most noise at first. and
frightened the timid minded of both par
ties. They talked about revolution and
rebellion and secession and slavery
and treason and confederate brigadiers'
and almost everything else, except the
real issues under discussion. But the
country got accustomed to this, and as
scon as ;t was discovered That the revo-
iution did not begin, and that the Con
federate brigadiers' were the most con-
servatlve and prudent men in Congress
the people began to look at the facts. the
scare wore off, and the Radicals weaken
ed. Another cause for the imnression
to which you refer is to be found, I think
In the coloring which was given TO the
debates in the Associated Press dispntnb-
es from Washington. When 7 came
home sick in June was struck with the
character of these dispatches. In them
the Radicals were almost alwava mads 70
m