The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-25

invest They arc all poor and to turn an
HONEST penny seemed desirable. The sy
and deviish Ames ave them b oppor-
tunity for the Investment without fully
acquainting them with the transaction
Our author does not subscribe 10 the cpl
thets sly and devilish' applied to Ames.
and recognizes that the latter bad no idea
that he was doing an immoral or indslicate
act In facilitating the acquisition Of q little
money by personal friends In Congress
who in any event would have supported
the legislation he desired.
It Ia well known that HOLSTER, the bicg-
| rapher Of Woe President Colfax. made
an earnest plea for tho innocence OF his
hero. In Mr.. Rhodes's opinion the plea
does net carry conviction. With regard
to Garfield, while Il h acknowledged thai
his friends and admirers may wish tnse
his transaction with Ames had . better
aspect, tho ~indisputable fact IL recalled
hat he won his case on appeal 70 very
intelligent juriesI In q district OF the west
| ern Reserve, a district celebrated for fs
intelligent and high minded people, he was
reelected to Congress in 1874 and again IN
1870 and In 1873. Two years later he re-
ceived a unanimous nomination from the
| Republicans Of the Ohio Legislature for
United States Senator, but on the day on
which otherwise he would have taken hts
sea in the Senate he was inaugurated
President OF the United States. IL In no
| doubt true, as the historian AYERS, that In
all these contests intelligent and honest
men carefully considered Garfield's record
in the Credit Mobilier case, and most OF
them came to the conclusion that his ac-
count Of the transaction was true. and that
Ames and the Poland committee were mis-
taken. Even Of those who doubted the
accuracy OF his statements, the greater
part believed that he was in all events in
nocent of corruption and Of perjury.
The effect Of the disclosures on public
sentiment is not minimized in the book be-
fore US. After one OF its greatest victories,
the Republican party was put on trial. 10
the.trusting constituents II was a siokening
thought that 90 many of their leaders had
apparently beer found wanting. That
Henry Wilson, Dawes, Kelly, Bingham and
Garfield should even be suspected OF cor
ruption, and that Colfax should have sworn
falsely 10 cover up his operations. struck
dismay to Republicans, 20 whom the safety
of the country had seemed bound up in
the dominance OF their party" A sentence
quoted from the Poland report reads as
if it had been written yesterday, instead OF
more than thirty years ago.: This country
is fast becoming filed with gigantic corpora
ions welding and controlling immense
ag~gregations Of money, and thereby COM
handing great influence and power. H. Is
notorious in many State Legislatures that
these influences are often controlling, so
that, in effect, they become the ruling power
OF the State. Within a few years Congress
has to some extent been brought within
similar influences, and the knowledge OF
the public on that subject has brought
great discredit upon the body"
".
The section of Mr.. Rhodes's seventh and
concluding volume which deserves most
careful consideration will be found on pages
iss-l74. It. is frankly conceded that no large
policy ever adopted and for a considerable
time carried out In this country has been
SO conspicuous a failure as that OF forcing
universal negro suffrage upon the South.
The negroes are not held to blame for the
failure. They simply acted out their nature.
With their crude ideas Of honesty between
man and man. what could "a been ex-.
pected Of the blacks when they got their
hands in the public till1 The scheme OF
Reconstruction pandered to the ignorant
negroes, the knavish white natives and the
vulturous adventures who iocked from
the North; and these neutrali1ed the work
of honest Republicans who we're officers OF
State. Intelligence and property stood
bound and helpless under negro-carpetbag
rule" Nor is the fact overlooked that
the existence Of such Governments, the
support OF them by Federal authority and
the defence OF them by eminent Republ-
can had a share in the Generalization of
politics at the North. Moderate Republi-
cans, aghast at the corruption prevailing
in the carpetbag regimes, mlled an uneasy
conscience with the assurance that the
Southern people had brought the trouble
upon themselves, an assertion which they
seemed to think justified them in sticking
TO their party when it waved the bloody
shirt" as an issue in an exciting Presidential
campaign. Evidently full relief could only
come through THE Democrats and indie
pendent Republicans of the North, and our
author recognizes that il required a re-
markable balance of mind to support Hayes
as Lowell did in 1879 and at the same time
take a Just view Of the Southern question.
the whole condition of things at the SOUTH
wrote Lowell, SIS shameful, and l am ready
for a movement o TO emancipate the
whites. No doubt the Government is bound
to protect the misintelligenoe OF the blacks,
but surely not at the expense Of the inteli-
gence Of men Of our own blood. The South.
on the whole, has behaved better than 1
expected, but our extremists expect them
to like being told once a week that they
AVE been licked
1t Is the verdict OF this history that no
real good came to the negroes from the
Republicans policy. Most OF them de-
veloped no political capacity. and the few
who raised themselves above the mass did
not evinoe a high order Of intelligence. At
different periods two served in the United
States Senate and thirteen in the House,
but they left no mark on the legislation of
their time, and lone Of them, In comparison
with their white associates, attained the
least distinction. In some of the Northern
States they are politically very active, and
numerous enough to form a political force
that has TO be reckoned with: vet few, ~