The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-03-24
The Old and the New.

closed and that of Mr.. Garfield begun.
Mr.. Hayes retires to his home in Ohio,
whence he came four years ago to take
the oath of Chief Magistrate, to be
spoken of hereafter as an ex-President,
and to be blamed and criticised and
praised by the people whom he has
tried to serve according as the spirit
may move them. Yesterday Mr.. Hayes
was the central figure in Washington
society, the foremost citizen of the
proudest Nation on the earth, and
everybody was crying. "Long live the
King" this evening the faces of the
populace are turned towards his sue
cessor in office; they are worshiping the
rising sun, and "the King is dead' so
far as Mr.. Hayes is concerned. The old
has passed quietly and peacefully away.
and new regime has been established
in the Republic by the Inauguration of
q new Chief Executive.
That Mr.. Garfieidgoes into the White
House under more favorable circum-
stances than Mr.. Hayes did is a fact
that cannot be denied, and for which
the former ought 10 be truly thankful.
The election Of Mr.. Hayes was clouded
by his opponents denying his right to
the Office and formally contesting it be-
fore q tribunal created by Congress for
the purpose of deciding the case in q
manner altogether novel and different
from any previous counting in OF q
President since the first one was
elected. Mr.. Tilden had received q
large majority of the popular vote, and
the Electoral vote of Louisiana and
Florida, on which Mr.. Hayes had to
rely for success, was surrounded by so
int hot "
honest people on both sides were in
clined to give Mr.. Tilden the benefit of
the doubt and decide the question in his
favor. When the Electoral Commission
declared in favor of the title of Mr..
Hayes to the Office by an S-to-7 deci-
sion, the verdict was too close to carry
with it, to the minds of those who voted
against him, the conviction of honesty
and fairness. They admitted that Mr..
HAYES had been declared the President
by the new process, but they stoutly
denied that he was the choice of a ma
jority of the people of the United States,
or that he had fairly secured legal
majority of the Electoral votes. This
CRY of ..fraud" that has been perpet-
ually sounded in the ears of MIR. Hayes
ever since he assumed the duties of the
Presidential Office, has embarrassed his
official action and added much to his
personal discomfort II is an annoy
ance that his distinguished successor in
the Office will not have to encounter,
for which he has good reason to thank
an aroused people and united and
aggressive and victorious Republican
party.
Mr.. Hayes surrenders the Presiden-
tial office, it is but the truth to say,
with as clean an official and personal
record as any man ever carried away
from the White House. The country
has been eminently prosperous under
his Administrations; the Government
has resumed specie payments under his
rule, after q forced suspension of near
ly twenty years. and peace and pros.
perity and rapid progress have marked
our career as Nation. Mr.. Hayes ha,
not signed any obnoxious measures
that will unpleasantly connect his name
with the past, and has urged no public
policy upon the attention OF Congress
or the people, that was incompatible
with the general welfare. His Cabinet
has been composed of gentlemen o.
marked ability and conspicuous fol
their statesmanship, and his whole
course has been eminently wise, pru
dent. conservative and successful.
General Garfield begins his official
career in Washington with none of the
embarrassments and impediments thai
hedged about his immediate predecess
or, either in regard to the legality ol
his election, or the effort that ought tC
be made to conciliate the South, or the
doubt that existed in the public minG
as to resumption. He is not called
upon to repeat the experiments thai
Mr.. Hayes made to bring those people
lately in rebellion into closer and
friendlier relations with the Admins
tration. His chief difficulty will be tG
harmonic the different factions in hi.
own party, SO that he may have the
cordial and united support of the
dominant party in the Union. Judging
the new President by every reasonable
test that has ever been applied to him
in public and in private, in peace ant
in war, in evil and good report, the
whole people turn their confiding face.
towards him and exclsim, 'Welcome,'
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