can I do?” This is what he had been bound to do, by his managers through the medium of an ante-inauguration pledge, which he felt in honor bound to respect.  Mr. Hayes was not a man of sufficient force of character to disregard and repudiate such a pledge or bargain.  Had he been a Napoleon, or even an Andrew Jackson, he would have declared that no man or set of men had any authority to make for him any ante-inauguration pledge, promise, or bargain by which he would be bound as chief magistrate of the country.  To the contrary, he would have openly and publicly declared: 

“I am President, or I am not.  That I am the legally elected President is a recognized and undisputed fact, and, as such, I shall neither recognize nor respect any pledge, promise or bargain which involves dishonor on my part or acquiescence in the suspension, violation or evasion of the Constitution or of any law made in pursuance thereof.  As President of the United States I have taken and subscribed to an oath by which I am bound to uphold the Constitution of my country, and to see that the laws are duly executed and enforced.  That oath I am determined to respect and honor.  I shall not only do all in my power to see that the Constitution and the laws of the land are obeyed and enforced,—­both in letter and in spirit,—­but it is also my determination to see that every American citizen is protected in the exercise and enjoyment of his rights, as far as it may be in the power of the President to protect him.”  Such a declaration, accompanied by an honest effort to carry the same into effect, even if he had been unsuccessful, would have carried the name of R.B.  Hayes down in history as one of the greatest and most brilliant statesmen our country had ever produced.  But, he was not equal to the occasion, and therefore failed to take advantage of such a golden opportunity.  On the contrary, he decided to live up to and carry out to the very letter, every pledge, promise, agreement or bargain that had been made in his behalf, which involved the dishonor of his own name and the disgrace of his country.  Packard, for Governor of Louisiana, and Chamberlain, for Governor of South Carolina, were voted for at the same time that the Hayes electors were voted for in their respective States.  Each of these candidates polled a much larger vote than that of the Hayes electors.  If, therefore, Mr. Hayes was legally or mortally entitled to the electoral votes of those States, without which he could not have been elected, those men were entitled to be recognized and supported as Governor of their respective States.  But it was a well-known fact that without the support and backing of the National Administration at that particular time, they could not maintain and enforce their authority against the organization of the Democratic party.  The public announcement of the southern policy of the National Administration put an effectual end to any further effort on the part of either Packard or Chamberlain.