The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-01 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 18G7.

Political parties in the United States have
seldom a very long respite from agitation, plots,
and counterplots. Thanks to the constant changes
going on, the State elections, the Congressional
elections, and, above all, the Presidential election,
no one who likes the occupation afforded by canvas-
sing, threatening, bribing, influencing, and reckon-
ing up chances need be long idle. Speculation is
just now very busy respecting the momentous
question of who is to preside at the White House.
General GRANT is the favourite, and, strange to
say, both parties are putting him forward. He has
always been popular with the moderate Republi-
cans, and, notwithstanding his acceptance of office
(which indeed he could not help, as the PRESIDENT
was his military superior), he is still looked upon with
favour by that party. They think he is acting as
a check upon the PRESIDENT, and preventing him
from proceeding to greater lengths. As for the
Democrats they are quite ready to accept him,
since he is far prefarable to many other candidates,
and they cherish some hope of getting back to
power under his shadow. Added to all this, he has
the prestige of military success, which tells with the
population generally, and is not likely to do any-
thing very rash or reckless when he gets the control
of affairs. Such influence as Mr. JOHNSON possesses
will probably be given to GRANT, while he will of
course command the suffrages of the army. Thus,
even without the aid of the " Grant clubs,"
which we hear are forming in various
parts of the country, it is very probable that
ULYSSES GRANT will wear the thorny dignity of
President of the United States at the election of
1868. His own consent has yet to be obtained, but
there is not much doubt of that so soon as the
chances of success are such as to prevent his can-
didature from being a failure. He is going on
seemingly unconcerned, while all the orators and
newspapers of both parties are busy with his name,
history, and his achievements ; but the conviction
is daily gaining ground that GRANT will be the
next President, and in the present complicated and
distracted state of affairs all parties might have
made a much worse choice.

In the Southern States General ORD has just been
showing himself in a favourable light in contrast
to some other of the military district commanders.
A newspaper office at Camden, Arkansas, has been
destroyed by a mob of soldiers because the paper
contained articles reflecting on the military. A
good deal of excitement, as may be supposed, was
caused by this unwarrantable outrage, and the com-
mandant of the post, upon being charged with per-
mitting it, took a high hand. He wrote to General
ORD that the censures of the press against public
servants were allowable, but that General ORD'S
and NEIL'S forces were not servants of the people
of Arkansas, but their masters, and "it was felt
to be a great piece of impertinence for the news-
papers in this State to comment upon General
NEIL under any circumstances." This is a fair speci-
men of the manner in which too many of the Fede-
ral military officers are disposed tc treat the Southern
People. They consider themselves as their masters,
and resent any comment upon their conduct as
" impertinence." It is not to be expected that the
feeling produced by such language and conduct can
be other than hostile and bitter, and if the Radicals
had openly proposed to find a means of alienating
and disgusting the hardly reclaimed Southerners
they could scarcely have done it more effectually.
Luckily in this case the commanding officer pre-
ferred rather to play the part of a just and judicious
administrator of the laws than of a petty tyrant, and
accordingly he wrote in reply to the commandant of
the post that the troops had committed an out-
rage, and asked why it had not 133 en pre-
vented. Ile added that the assertion that
General NEIL'S forces were not the servants, but
the masters, of the people of Arkansas was unjust
both to the people and the general, and unfounded
in law. " The laws are for the benefit of the people.
The assumption that a party of soldiers could, at
their own option, forcibly destroy a citizen's pro-
perty and commit gross.violation of the public peace,
would not be tolerated under a NAPOLEON." This
bold and decisive reproof will, it may be hoped,
produce a good effect in other States besides
Arkansas, and induce some of the imperious and
dictatorial commanders to hesitate before they
insist upon the enforcement of arbitrary measures
which "would not be tolerated under a NAPOLEON."
General ORD has ordered the trial of the com-
mandant by court - martial for violation of
the thirty-second Article of War. The PRE-
SIDENT has suggested that all the elections
in the Southern States flould take place
simultaneously on the first Tuesday in November.
The object of fixing the same day in each case is to
pr event the migration of voters from one State to
another, thus unduly influencing the elections.
General SCHOLEFIELD, who commands in Virginia,
has published an order, calling an election on the
22d of October—a piece of wanton disrespect to the
PRESIDENT, which is not a little singular, as General
SCHOLEFIELD is considered the most conservative of
the military commanders. General Titomas, in
Tennessee, upholds the civil supremacy proclama-
tion. A person was arrested by the military autho-
rities. A writ of habeas corpus was sued out
when General THOMAS commanded his sub-
ordinates to obey the writ as required by
the proclamation. This is an important step gained
on behalf of civil liberty in the South, for so long
as force could override command, the positive orders