Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. III.djvu/193

 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 157 his nature and kept him in active contact with public-spirited men, by whom he was highly es teemed. He died after a short illness at his home in Fremont, Ohio, January 17, 1893. While he lived, the prejudice against him among some of his fellow-citizens owing to the cloud which hung over his title to the presidency had never entirely dis appeared; but after his death even his former opponents admitted that there had never been the slightest reason for holding him responsible for the conduct of the returning boards in the southern states, or for the decision of the electoral commis sion which awarded the presidency to him, and that, when he had been declared elected by the competent authority, it was not only his right but his duty as a good citizen to accept the presidential office, and thus to put an end to one of the most perilous crises in the history of the republic. It was also univer sally recognized that the conduct of his adminis tration had been conspicuously clean and blameless, as well as fruitful of good results, and that he rendered the country especially valuable service by the statesmanlike wisdom of his conciliatory course toward the south, by the unflinching and defiant firmness with which he upheld sound principles of national finance, and by his efforts in the line of civil-service reform, after his predecessor, yielding to the impetuous pressure of his party friends, had abandoned the whole system. He was not a man