lab NEW PRESIDENT'S FIRST ADDRESS.
THE quotation from the English Prayer-Book with which President Hayes concluded his "inaugural" was quite in place, as well as rather effective. The entire speech was of the nature of a political sermon, an edition of the Beatitudes writ- ten down to the comprehension of fierce political partisans. Blessed are those who reconcile State-rights with Negro claims to justice. Blessed is honesty in the shape of "hard money." Blessed are those peace-makers who acquiesce in the decision of the Electoral Tribunal. Blessed is a pure Civil Service. And blessed above all men are "the Senators, Representatives, Judges, and Citizens "who strive so to settle things that" peace and hap- piness, truth and justice, religion and piety may be established" in the United States "to all generations." Amen It is very well done, though we cannot help smiling; and remembering the circumstances of the hour, the Address is by no means gro- tesque; but considered as a serious political document, it is not of much value, except as showing what one knew be- fore, that Mr. Hayes is a very good Christian and a thoroughly well-intentioned statesman. The doubt about him is not whether he seeks any evil, but whether he is quite strong enough for the high place to which his des- tiny has called him ; not whether "he demands the arrests- lion of all rogues and fools," but whether he is pertinacious enough to compel compliance with his demand. It is not of much use, for example, for him to nominate an excellent Cabinet, unless he makes the Senate feel that, whether reluctant or contented, it must sanction the nominations. Mr. Everts, his proposed Secretary of State, is one of the ablest and most trusted lawyers and politicians in the Union,—a man whose views will be embodied in despatches worthy, at all events, of the dignity of the Republic. Mr. Sherman, named as Secre- tary of Finance, is thoroughly competent, and though, like most other prominent men in the Union, he has been occa- sionally bespattered with mud, and though his record is not quite clear as to the propriety of separately taxing bondholders, he must agree with the President as to the necessity of financial honesty. He has been selected for that end. Karl Schurz, the reported Secretary of the In- terior, is a reformer "dyed in the wool," has from the days when he took prizes at Bonn among men now high in Prussian service, perpetually risen in the confidence of the German citizens of the Union, and would absolutely terminate pecula- tion in some of the worst managed divisions of Union business, notably the Indian Office, which is administratively one of the many sub-offices under the Department of the Interior. Mr. Key's nomination is a proof that the President is not a party fanatic, and is a compliment not only to the South but to the hard-money Democrats who may yet ally themselves with Conservative Re- publicans. But then all these men have to be confirmed as well as appointed ; and the Senate dislikes two of them very much, and is probably not very eager to accept the third. We suppose Mr. Everts will get through, though his success must be a pill for the old Ring ; but we greatly fear the Opposition may yield only on condition that Mr. Donald Cameron, the Secretary for War, and a man who, whatever his personal character, is too much liked by wire-peers, should be retained in his great post. Mr. Key will be opposed by Radical Republicans, indignant at see- ing the control of the post-office patronage transferred to hostile hands ; and against Mr. Schurz every corrupt politician in the States will do his very utmost, knowing quite well that with him in the Cabinet the Eighth Commandment will become a reality throughout the Administration. Unfortunately, they can point to the fact that Mr. Schurz is not a born American, that he is still very German in many of his ideas, and that his countrymen may be expected to exercise great pressure for office on the Department ; and it remains to be seen if Mr. Hayes, who in his own State is supported by all Germans, has the strength to resist that cry. If he has, he will have a trustworthy Cabinet ; but the appointment is still to be completed.
There is just the same doubt about the policy which the President shadows out in his Address. He will stick to "hard money," no doubt, because he has always done so under diffi- cult circumstances, and will veto all Bills pointing to Inflation, but he has. still to show the resolution to disregard the West and the clique of mine-owners, who fight so hard for the adoption, of a double metallic standard, or to insist on metallic payments, in face of the great and increasing rapidity of the decline in the premium on gold. We do not, on this point, doulit.his intentions in the least, but he will need all the tenacity of his character to resist the outcry which will be raised against him, and which will seriously strengthen the reluctance to adopt his next and most serious proposal,—that Presidenin shall be elected for six years, and debarred from a. second term. That proposal may be wise or foolish—we, doubt the wisdom of compelling oneself to dismiss a success- ful agent—but it will, at all events, immensely strengthen the hands of any President who chooses to resist the will of the, people; and that result is sure to be perceived by all, the fanatics. of Inflation, and greatly to imperil the proposed change,—a change which Mr. Hayes seems to think essential to the reform. of public patronage which he has pledged him- self to effect. Upon this latter subject the President is as, right as man can be, going honestly and straightforwardly, as, he said he would, for a permanent Civil Service selected by. means other than patronage ; but he is no more right than President Grant at one time was, and President Grant was beaten. The first object of the Democrats must be to baffle the execution of such a project until they have power in their own hands, and the permanent desire of the Senators is to retain the immense personal importance which their patronage secures to them within their own States. They will never heartily approve a projeat which reduces their individual rank so greatly. To beat down resistance of this kind, the President must not only be very determined but very persuasive,—must not only secure the approval of the electors, but something like enthusiasm for a reform which, even in England, has not evoked the attach- ment, though it has obtained the full consent, of the majority of people. It is of no use on such a subject to issue counsels of perfection, even though they take the form of personal and official pledges ; the President must insist and insist, and appeal to the electors again and again, and make the lives of Senators uncomfortable and their seats unsafe, until he has carried hiir point, and endowed the Union with a Civil Service which shall not think it the first duty of patriotism to " carry " Representatives who will retain its members in office.
Lastly,, there is the great question of all, the treatment of the South ; and upon this subject President Hayes is very kindly, very upright, and just a little vague. Nothing can be more satisfactory than his promises in general. "Let me assure my countrymen of the Southern States that it is my earnest de. sire to regard and promote their truest interests—the interests of white and coloured people both equally—and to put forth my best efforts on behalf of a civil policy which will for ever wipe out of our political affairs the colour-line and distinction be, tween the North and the South, to the end that we may have not merely a united North, or a united South, but a united country." That is the aspiration, of course, of every patriotic American, and of every Englishman who desires the lasting prosperity of the Union, but then it is an aspiration for an end, and the difficulty is the choice of means. The North says the road to a united country lies through the concession of equal rights to all colours, and Mr. Hayes, in the words we have copied, endorses that opinion, and in a paragraph subse- quently quoted, pledges himself to act on it as emphatically as he can. But then the South says the road lies through white ascendancy and black acquiescence, both to be secured by a restoration of State-rights, and Mr. Hayes in some sentences of his speech seems to endorse part of that opinion also. While acknowledging, in the most direct manner, his duty under the Constitution towards all citizens, he trusts that his duty can best be performed through the State Governments them- selves :— "The sweeping revolution of the entire labour system of a large por- tion of our country, and the advance of four millions of people from a condition of servitude to that of citizenship upon an equal footing with their former masters, could not occur without presenting problems of the gravest moment, to be dealt with by the emancipated race, by their former masters and by the general Government, the author of the act of emancipation. That it is a wise, just, and providential act, fraught with good for all concerned, is now generally conceded throughout the country'; that a moral obligation rests upon the National Government to employ its constitutional power and influence to establish the rights of the people ite act emancipated, and protect them in the enjoyment of those rights when infringed or assailed is also generally admitted. The evils which afflict the Southern States can only be removed or remedied by the united and harmonious efforts of both races, actuated by motives of mutual sympathy and regard ; and while I am in dnty bound and fully determined to protect the rights of all by every Constitutional means at the disposal of my Administration, I am sincerely ansiousio UBO every-legitimate influence in favour of honest and effloient Meal self-government, as the true resource of those States for the prontotian of the contentment and prosperity of their citizens."
Furthermore, "it must not be forgotten that only a local government which reorganises and maintains inviolate the rights of all can be true self-government," an utterance which is capable of at least two interpretations, according as we emphasise or otherwise the word "local." If Mn.Hayes were an ordinary Republican, nothing could be more satisfactory than thole sentences, which contain the first principles- of good government as,moderate Americans understand them ;but there are chtrumstemces in his position which make its pause and ask that they may be interpreted by his actin Mr. Hayes stands pledged in treat the South as consisting of " States.and not Provinces," and in American phraseology that meant; a great deal; and the first effect of his election was a kind of manifesto from General Grant informing the Louisianiana that the people no longer approved of the interference of Federal troops in State elections, while the majority of the Representa- tives are at this moment trying to weaken the Anny till the duty of guarding the Indian frontier will absorb Milts energies. Without Federal troops, held in strict reserve; thelairnent of internal elections in the South is.not yetaufficiently guaranteed, and the exact meaning which the President attaches to his own words has still, therefore, to be ageertained from his future acts. lire hope for the best, nevertheless, both from his character and his Cabinet, and can at all events welcome the man who, next to the English Premier, is most important to Englishmen, with the declaration that we have not a doubt, even a latent one, of the new President's thoroughly good intentions.
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