Year: 1876

Hayes.


There is an active curiosity to see Cover
nor Hayes letter of acceptance, because his
personal views are not so distinctly known
as those of the candidate on the other side.
Governor Tilden has been an aspirant for
the Presidency for the last twenty months,
but Governor Hayes was hardly thought of
in connection with that Office until quite re-
Gently, and then only as a barely possible
candidate in case the Cincinnati Convention
should fail to nominate q republican of more
prominence. 1t is easy enough to anticipate
the substance of what Governor Tilden will
say in response to his nomination, for his
views on public questions have long been
clearly defined He has devoted great part
OF his annual messages to elaborate discus
sions Of national questions, and as he has
steadily looked forward to his present
nomination ever since his election
to the Governorship it is not ex-
pected that there will be any vari-
ance with the opinions he was so
forward to proclaim, and which his own
party has 30 signally indorsed by selecting
him as its standard bearer. But Governor
Hayes has been more quiet and reserved; he
lacks his rivals strong and self-asserting
personality; he seems rather negative than
positive man; he represents a republican
compromise and not any well marked pecu-
liarities of individual sentiment The coun-
try, therefore, awaits his letter of acceptance
with deep interest as means of learning
something definite respecting a man for
whom it is invited to vote and whose record
tells SO little. ''Speak, that may see thee"
was saying of Ben Jonson's; and the fact
that Governor Hayes is so little known to
the country except as an estimable republi-
can who pulls quietly in the party traces
is reason why he should give "a taste of
his quality" in his letter of acceptance. Is
he igurehead or man of force? Has he
the intellectual breadth requisite for grasp
ing the great features Of the political situa-
tion? Has he the self-subsistent indepen-
dence of statesman, or is he man of
putty and tame repeater of party shib-
boleths? His letter of acceptance will tell !;
by that he must be judged. He has taken SO
much time for its preparation that when we
at last get it it will be the best that he can
do. The country will take it as measure
of his intellectual capacity and his political
courage. If it proves to be a mere repetition
of the ordinary platitudes of his own party
the country will form one opinion of him !;
if it is marked by the originality and inde-
pendence of a statesman who 'steers by his
own compass" it will form another opinion.
The country is prepossessed by Governor
Hayes modesty amiability, integrity, party
fidelity and domestic virtues but with this
favorable impression Of the man it is watch
ing for marks Of the statesman and the
leader. Is he less than his party or greater?
Can he mould it, or will he be moulded by
it? If elected will he be President himself,
or will the Presidency be in commission for
the ensuing four years. and the admin
istration be directed by q camarila
are points on which the public judg-
ment is held in suspense in the hope
that Governor Hayes will prove by his letter
of acceptance that he understands his
epoch, and that he is man born to lead,





and not to follow.


The fact that he is so little known to the
country proves nothing either way. Expert
ments in this direction have sometimes
been unfortunate, but Mr.. Lincoln was a
noted exception. We never had a President
over whom members Of his Cabinet or other
party leaders had less influence, or who had
greater ascendancy in his own administra-
ton than the obscure Illinois lawyer who
was promoted over the heads of Seward,
Chase, Sumner and oil the old and tried
statesmen of the party Let us hope that
Mr.. Hayes belongs to the same strong and
original type that he is one of those rare
men whose vigor of faculties and force of
character only needs a proper stage in order
to become conspicuous. If his letter of ac-
ceptance should be mastery and inspiring
production the country will indorse the sa-
gacity of the Cincinnati Convention. Speak,
Governor Hayes, that we may see thee!


MIR. Evarts' Grafton.


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