outh, who identified themselves with the Republican party between
1868 and 1876, subsequently left it, will not be denied, but the
reasons for their action are not those given by Mr. Rhodes. In fact,
there is no truth in the allegation about the drawing of the color
line and very little in the one about corrupt or questionable
financial legislation. The true reason why so many white men at the
South left the Republican party may be stated under three heads:
first, the Democratic victories of 1874 which were accepted by
southern Democrats as a national repudiation of the congressional plan
of Reconstruction; second, the closeness of the Presidential election
of 1876 together with the supposed bargain entered into between the
Hayes managers and southern Democratic members of Congress, by which
the South was to be turned over to the Democrats of that section in
consideration of which the said southern Democrats gave their consent
to the peaceable inauguration of Hayes; third, the decisions of the
Supreme Court of the United States by which the doctrine of States'
Rights was given new life and strength.

It is true there are some men whose party affiliations are based upon
principle and convictions regardless of consequences personal to
themselves. Occasionally there are found some who are even willing to
be martyrs, but they are exceptions to the general rule. The average
man is politically ambitious. He desires political distinction and
official recognition. In determining his party affiliations,
therefore, he is more than apt to cast his lot with the party through
which he believes that ambition may be gratified. After the
consummation of the events above referred to, the conviction became
settled in the minds of white men at the South that the Democratic
party in that section would be, for a generation, at least, the only
channel through which it would be possible for any one to have his
political ambition realized. Hence, thousands of those who had
previously joined the Republican party returned to the Democratic
since that party presented the only hope of their future political
salvation.

Mr. Rhodes would lead one to infer that the southern white men who
came into the Republican party in the South between 1868 and 1876 were
not among the most intelligent, cultivated, refined and representative
men of that section. As a rule, they were men who belonged to, and
were identified with, what was known as the "Southern ar