Year: 1877

sometimes too early to write history
and 1t is barely possible that the latte
observation may be found to apply Il
what i am about to write more justly
and more forcibly than the former
But 1 will take the risk. propose tt
write q concise history OF the transac
| tions which have led to what is eaIlet
| the


NEW SOUTHERN POLICY"


OF the administration. To begin ut The
beginning, we must go back to thai
memorable interview between Schur,
and Hayes last summer. Some say thai
Schurz stipulated for u Cabinet posi-
ton. / don't know whether he did OF
not. But / do know that among the
conditions upon which he agreed ia
support the Hayes ticket was an assur.
ance that q policy of confidence, con.
ciliation and good will should be
adopted toward the South and tried as
ON experiment at least long enough tc
see whether 1t would not work better
than the old policy OF hate and force
had worked. This policy was not at all
distasteful to Hayes.


He had long been out Of sympathy
with the old reconstruction policy, and
the result Of the elections In 1874 had,
to his mind, been conclusive that the
North had seen enough OF niggerisrn
and carpet -baggery. The only point
ful was with respect to the fate OF the
negroes of the South in case the pro.
tecting arm of the Federal Government
should be withdrawn and the Southern
States entirely given over to


LOCAL SELF CONTROL.


His position was, Nike all positions he
ha. al De-. n "A ,x,.H
He disagreed with the bloody.shirt doc
baggers on the one hand, and he did not
quite come up to the advanced views OF
Schurz, Foster and Stanley Matthews on
the other. But his feelings strongly i'll
clined him toward the latter, while his
judgment, or, rather, his apprehen-
sions, held him to some extent in tole-
rance Ii not in favor of the former. So
far as the regular Republicans are con-
cerned. Foster was the pioneer friend
and defender OF the Southern people.
Sohurz and Stanley Matthews antedate
him in opposition to carpet baggery and
niggerism, but their attitude In that re-
spect was part Of the liberalism OF 1872,
and was In the nature OF revolt from
the Republican party, which events rem
dered futile for immediate purposes OF
practical good. Fosters position, taken
two years later, was in the shape of an
instruction within the party, and it
was Immediately and practically sue
cessful.


possessed in an eminent degree the
qualifications for leadership in such an
insurrection. lie is a man OF quick
insight, clear comprehension and prac-
tical philosophy: not great, perhaps. in
the can't sense Of the term, but strong
and healthy in both mind and body, and
possessed OF nerve and "grit" In q meas.
ure unsurpassed by any man now in
public life; gifted with bulldog-like
courage and a badger-like tenaeity,
which one glance at his round, full head,
thick neck and massive shoulders sufi.
GENTLY attests. Foster was the repre-
sentative of Hayes's district, and his
Hayes had been led to watch his strug-
gle In the last hours OF the Forty-tbird
Congress on behalf Of Louisiana with
unusual interest, and to sympathize
with him to an uncommon degree of
warmth and earnestness. Hayes had
not sympathized with the Liberal move
ment In 1872, and hence 1t may be said
that his eyes were first opened to the true
inwardness Of the Southern question by
the interest he took in Fosters fight in
1574-75. Thus Sehurz, when looking for
q soft place whereon to alight when he
was preparing for his great somersault
last summer, found Hayes In a thor
oughly favorable frame OF mind on


THE SOUTHERN QUESTION.


He was not quite up to the mark of
Schurz in 1872, nor yet up to the score
OF Foster in 1874; for the reason that he
is not q daring experimenter In politics
like Schurz, nor an aggressive, deter
mined inventor Of policies like Foster.
But he was open to conviction. Ac-
cordingly, his letter of acceptance
shadowed forth something like q prom
ise of peace and good will toward that
section upon whose wrongs the Repub-
success for twelve years. The cam
paign went on, the people voted,


MIR. TILDEN WAS ELECTED,


and then the Republican party mana
gers undertook the scheme of counting
their defeated candidate In. You will
rememb Der that, when this scheme was
first made manifest, the possibility Of
its success was secuted by the Demo-
Gratis of the North. They had not felt
the iron Of the bayonet in the flesh,
thev knew nothing about Returning
Boards, and they could not be induced
to believe that the things which are now
historical facts could.eVer come to pass.


But the Southern Democrats reasoned
differently. They knew what fraud
backed by force could do, because they
had suffered the consequences. Men
who have suffered as the Southern
Democrats have for the last twelve
years generally find out what it is that
hurts them. Hence the Southern men
soon found out that the scheme to count
Hayes in meant business, and they knew
that it would certainly succeed unless
the New York Democracy in particular.
and the Northern Democracy In general,
took a bold stand and


SHOWED FIGHT.


Some of the Southern men believed to
the last moment that the Northern
Democrats would in some manner or
other assert their claim to what right
fully belonged to- them. But there were
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