The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1863-02-27
Who is Che President?i

VINO Is tne froSldonti
There is aapower behind the throne. Th
c President is said to Ia weak man, and mos
!. people think there is no injustice in the state
, ment. ''He lacks backbone" say some of th,
radicals ale lacks brains," say others. "Back
| bone and brains ought to be supplied by Iii
friends" say the Abolitionists; and straightwa,
| they mark out his course, and commence pres
sure. They hedge him about, on all sides, il
} the particular direction they would give to hi
| travels. They praise him. kick him, abuse him
spit at him, coax him, and bcckon him. If HI
: complains that their prescriptions render him
uncomfortable, they tell him as the quack told
his patient who had swallowed three boxes oil
/ Brandreth's pills in single night and felt nc
u better, that he hasn't gone qatc far enough
They keep constantly ahead of him-are con-
stantly grumbling that he does not travel faster
-and they succeed, undoubtedly, in making
many honest people believe that they have not
much faith in him. But the great fact, after
i all, is, that HE FOLLOWS THEM. He is gradual
II ly little way behind--sometiines almost out
j of sight--but on the track, somewhere, he can
1 almost always be found; hating and hesitating,
il may be, but still on the track; facing the
! rear, possibly bly-arguing wiihbis drivers, perhaps
i eating peanuts and telling anecdotes, now and
! then-but always, or almost always on ttet track
We are in tile habit of saying that this is the
result Of pressure. But isn't i! remarkable that
only the pressure from this single source, should
! ever have amy influence upon the President?-
4 The Democratic and Conservative presses Of the
country have warned the President against fol-
lowing the radical policy. ThurolwNeed and
other Republicans, have implored him to turn
back and stand by the Constitution and the old
4 flag. The November elections were a warning
| which even deaf man might have noted. But
not at all has this move him from his path.---
\ lie las hailed, and argued, and stammered, and
/ mpored to be let alone; but he has not, after
all changed his course Down, down, down.,
he has Travelled, until all his own original pled-.
4 ges and even the creed OF hsparty which he So
re,erehtiy worshipped in the start, are out of
sight. How shall we account fer 1T J ~
Il We think the National Inteliigencer accounts
for it,. If its words mean anything, they mean
that Wendell Phillips IS really the lposcerl Jeltnd
| the throne He is President He abuses the
| President, it is true; but thatlis evidently by
arrangement He says the President is weak,
/ is partially biind---s Mt best only a Kentucki-
an But he is honest, says Mr.. Phillips Mr.
/ Phillips visits him as though they were--(we
| do not doubt, that they are) WARN friends
Andt he goes out into the lecture iela,, and
tells the people what to do and what they will
get If they do it. His predictions arc almost
| always verified. Heiealis for a proclamation,
and ii comes. He denounces Buell. and Me-
CleIlan, and they are removed lie praises But
ler, and lie is carcssed at the White House. q
He denounces Seward and he gets a prom
ise, from somebody, that he shall be dismissed.
lie asks for negro regiments, and they are au-
thorized. He demands that the South be colo
nizod with Puritans, and Ell Thayer is straight
way told to execute his plan. He says '.take
away the commission Of every Democratic oiii-
cer," and the a''weeaing OUT process at once
commences. Right on his track follows Mr..
Lincoln. Who wonders that the people say,
Pxilips is Pi$atient7 Apparently, even Sumner
| himself does not exercise half his influence at
tho White House.
We acknowledge our conviction that Wen
dell Phillips, the impracticable abstractionst
and tleorist, is the great man of the adminis-
tration. lie is the man behind the throne.-
His counsels are more invariably followed than
those of any member of the Cabinet. He COM
plains that the President is stupid and slow, but
admits that he comes along, at last He endor- |
ses what he has dono, since he started out on
The negro track. He tells US what is to come.
Fremont is to be Governor Of North Carolina,
in place of Stanley, who doesn't meddle with
negroes. Butler is to go back to New Orleans,
or to Texas. Democratic officers are to be re-
moved. The scre,cs are to be put on again at
the North. Abolitionism is to reign at Wash
ingtor,. The machine is to be run on Garriso-
nian principles; and the people are to submit
All this may be realized, or may not be. 1t
is possible that Phillips may, as matter of
policy, and as a blind to those who have no faith
in his patriotism, predict some things which are
not to come off. But that he is in the Pres- |
dents confidence, and is entrusted with his Sc
crets-nay, that he exercises controlling infu- |
ence in his counsels, we do not doubt. Nor do
we much doubt that the President will follow |
him, as he has followed him and is now follow
ing him, until the cause of the Union is hope |
lessly lost.-Pror. Post. n
t'A 'a.H --l-l- =. L------ !'.iai 1867
AN EXTRAORDINARILY Observation-Disclosures |
Rice, Republican, of Minnesota, who isa MEM
ber of the Military Committee of the United
States Senate, made the following extraordina- |
ry statement in debate last week - bse a6 |
III do not believe there is man In this gov
ernment in one Of the departments to-day that
can tell us whether VIC have five hundred thou
sand or million men in the feld--not one
who can come within fifty per cent OF the
number of sick and wounded in the hospitals,
OF with their regiments, One Department
makes its estimate based on the supposition
that we have one million, two hundred thou
sand men in our army. The simple truth is
that they do not know whether we have that
number or half that number. You may take
thepay department, ,thecommissary department.,
the medical department, tho quartertnaster de-
partment and you may take the commanding
general and the Secretary of war, andyou can
not from all of them. cume within three huns