The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1865-09-12

cents for each subsequent insertion. In the
Weekly, 81 4 square.
&I~Special notices Is cents line.
Doctrine-A Popular English View
of the Recent s.War.'
The incontinence of speech in
which American public men freely
indulge is very apt to mislead Euro
pean opinion. We are startled to
read that leading minister has ac-
cused d power in alliance with his
Government, or that q renowned
general has expressed his eagerness
for war. Were M. de Lavalette to
declare that Austria should be expen-
ed from Venice, or were Sir George
Grey to denounce the French occupa-
tlon of Mexico, we should foresee
that war was question not of weeks,
but OF days. The leading officials of
the United States, however, assume
the rights without the reticence of
office, and all do not feel that sense of
mutual responsibility which binds the
English Cabinet together. In the
United States there is no Cabinet,
properly so called. The President is
the real ruler, with so many head
clerks to execute his orders. He may
consult them separately or in assem-
bly,, but none of the secretaries holds
himself answerable for what is done
beyond his own department.. We saw
this abundantly exemplitied during
the late war; on the negro question,
on the best mode of weakening the
South, on the personal merits of the
leading generals, the minister's freely
differed and freely expressed their
dissenting sentiments; until the di-
vergency attained it's largest limits
when the Secretary of the Navy for
mally defended that seizure of the
Trent which, o few weeks afterwards,
was formally repudiated by the Secre-
tary of State. If, therefore, we must
make ample allowance for the ha-
bitual unrestraint even of statesmen
in America, when they meet their
countrymen, we must be still more
careful to minimize the Importance of
anything uttered by military chief
rnaccustomed to politics and writing
with a free pen. General Sheridan,
who commands the Federal troops on
the Rio Grande, is the author of n
le,cer which was read at recent ban
quet of Mexican Republicans endur-
ing exile at New York; and here he
writes: cit is of no use to beat around
the bush in this Mexican matter; we
should give permanent Government
to that Republic. The advent of
MaXimilian was a portion of the re-
bellion, and his fall should belong to
its history" The choleric words of
the distinguished captain are startling
enough as programme, yet they in
dicate nothing but campaign in air,
projected by is very hot and vigor-
ous Irish brain. We must speak of
the man-militarily-with great re-
spect; he was the Desaix of the civil
war, one of the few generals in his
tory who, joining an army defeated,
rc-won the lost battle on the spot by
leading beaten troops to q victorious
charge. But stout and able warriors
are not always good politicians, and
the Washington reply to this irrespon-
sible rhodomontade is an order to
General Sheridan to muster out OF
service all his available troops. So
ends his mad dream of crossing the
Rio Grande.
We can quite understand the obvi-
orls motives of the Federal authorities
in issuing the new order. In the first
place, it is the interest of the United
States to reduce at once the great ex-
pense of their still large military force.
In the second place, we do not believe
that single statesman at Washington
entertains even the most remote idea
ofeyerntinp an intervention in Mexico