RUTHERFORD B. HAYES

(1822-1893)

UTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES, nineteenth President of the United States, made his administration memorable as the turning point beyond which national politics diverged more and more from the direction given by the sectional contest over slavery. He was born at Delaware, Ohio, October 4th, 1822, and during the Civil War served in the Union army with such distinction that in 1865 he was brevetted Major-General. From 1865 to 1867 he represented an Ohio district in Congress, and was Governor of Ohio from 1868 to 1872. His candidacy for the Presidency against Samuel J. Tilden, in 1876, resulted in an election so nearly drawn that the novel method of an electoral commission was required to decide the result. When the decision of the commission made Mr. Hayes President, he accepted the trust with a determination to restore the Union morally by re-establishing good feeling,-if that were possible,- as in the face of the intense sectional bitterness of the times many might have doubted it to be. Attacked by the opponents of his party as no other President had been, Mr. Hayes challenged a scarcely less envenomed attack from the extremists of his own party by his action in withdrawing all military influence from the Southern States and leaving them to assert themselves through their State governments, under the amended Constitution as they had done prior to 1860. As a result of this policy, President Hayes left the White House in deep disfavor with the majority of both parties, denounced by Democrats for accepting the Presidency at all, and by Republicans for using its authority to "restore rebels to the control of the In spite of this, Mr. Hayes waited with uncomplaining and unwearying patience what he expected would be the favorable judgment of less prejudiced times. The historian passing on his administration cannot fail to acknowledge that no matter by whom the Union was preserved in form, he made possible its restoration as a fact. He died January 17th, 1893, after surviving most of the prejudice which condemned him, and living to see his moderation and devotion to the principles of civil government indorsed by a larger majority of all parties than had attacked him during his administration.

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INAUGURAL ADDRESS

E HAVE assembled to repeat the public ceremonial, begun by Washington, observed by all my predecessors, and now a time-honored custom, which marks the commencement of a new term of the Presidential office. Called to the duties of this great trust, I proceed, in compliance with usage, to announce some of the leading principles on the subjects that now chiefly engage the public attention, by which it is my desire to be guided in the discharge of those duties. I shall not undertake to lay down irrevocably principles or measures of administration, but rather to speak of the motives which should animate us, and to suggest certain important ends to be attained in accordance with our institutions as essential to the welfare of our country.

At the outset of the discussions which preceded the recent Presidential election, it seemed to me fitting that I should fully make known my sentiments in regard to several of the important questions which then appeared to demand the consideration of the country. Following the example, and in part adopting the language of one of my predecessors, I wish now, when every motive for misrepresentation has passed away, to repeat what was said before the election, trusting that my countrymen will candidly weigh and understand it, and that they will feel assured that the sentiments declared in accepting the nomination for the Presidency will be the standard of my conduct in the path before me, charged, as I now am, with the grave and difficult task of carrying them out in the practical administration of the Government so far as depends, under the Constitution and laws, on the Chief Executive of the nation.

The permanent pacification of the country upon such principles and by such measures as will secure the complete protection of all its citizens in the free enjoyment of all their constitutional rights is now the one subject in our public affairs which all thoughtful and patriotic citizens regard as of supreme importance.

Many of the calamitous effects of the tremendous revolution which has passed over the Southern States still remain. The immeasurable benefits which will surely follow, sooner or later, the hearty and generous acceptance of the legitimate results of that revolution have not yet been realized. Difficult and embarrassing

questions meet us at the threshold of this subject.

The people

of those States are still impoverished, and the inestimable blessing of wise, honest, and peaceful local self-government is not fully enjoyed. Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the cause of this condition of things, the fact is clear that in the progress of events the time has come when such government is the imperative necessity required by all the varied interests, public and private, of those States. But it must not be forgotten that only a local government which recognizes and maintains inviolate the rights of all is a true self-government.

With respect to the two distinct races whose peculiar relations to each other have brought upon us the deplorable complications and perplexities which exist in those States, it must be a government which guards the interests of both races carefully and equally. It must be a government which submits loyally and heartily to the Constitution and the laws, the laws of the nation and the laws of the States themselves,-accepting and obeying faithfully the whole Constitution as it is.

Resting upon this sure and substantial foundation, the superstructure of beneficent local governments can be built up, and not otherwise. In furtherance of such obedience to the letter and the spirit of the Constitution, and in behalf of all that its attainment implies, all so-called party interests lose their apparent importance, and party lines may well be permitted to fade into insignificance. The question we have to consider for the immediate welfare of those States of the Union is the question of government or no government; of social order and all the peaceful industries and the happiness that belong to it, or a return to barbarism. It is a question in which every citizen of the nation. is deeply interested, and with respect to which we ought not to be, in a partisan sense, either Republicans or Democrats, but fellow-citizens and fellow-men, to whom the interests of a common country and a common humanity are dear.

The sweeping revolution of the entire labor system of a large portion of our country and the advance of four million 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 was