Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-03-26
The Union Press.

The Union Press.
In an article under ths above caption,
the ~Sandusky Register condemns with just
severity the venal course of the Cleveland
Herald:
To the promptness, earnestness and
unaaimity with which the Republican
Press of the nrtion, speaking the will Of
the American people, d%isspproved the
principles of President Johnson's veto
message, and condemned and reprobated
his Birthday speech, do we mainly owe
the apparently returning harmony be-
tween the President snd Congress, the in
tegrity of the Union party, and the pres
emit hopeful aspect of national affairs. Had
the Union journals of the North and the
State legislatures and conventions bri-
died their tongues, or yielded a preten-
ded support to Mr.. johnson in his
marvellous course, there cannot be a doubt
that the Union party would have been
disrupted, a conflict between the Execu-
tive and Congress would have been pre-
cipitsted, the cause of justice would have
been retarded and the honor of the nation
furnished. We believe that Mr.. johnson,
supported by some members of his Cabi-
net, entered upon the February move
ment deliberately, and that he had a
definite end in view; but he had failed to
take the loyal people into his councils, and
that failure was the ruin of his plans. He
had reekoned without his host.
The overwhelming verdict of the people,
expressed through an untrammelled press,
has appalled, the advisers of the President,
and the indications are now strong and
substantial that the prodigal is returning
quite satisfied with the husks of Demo-
cratic fattery and Southern support"
Should these indications be verified by
Mr.. Johnson's approval of the Civil
Rights Bill, or something equivalent, none
will welcome back the wanderer with
a more cordial greeting than the very men
who were most deeply panied and most
indignant at his acts.
In strange disoord with the loyal and
manly tone of the Union press have been
the utterances of two or three Republican
journals. The New York Times and the
Cleveland Herald are the only papers, out
side the copperheaG lines, that haze persis-
tently tatoHed upon the President IN all his
recent course, endorsing his ueto, approving
his birthday speech and erpendiNg their
best energies IN SlaEdeTiRg Congress and en-
deavOring 10 make Mr.. johnson believe
that a respectable portion Of the peo-
pie apprOVed his entire policy. At first the
Herald approved unquatyfedly the Presi-
dents harranque sohich humiiiated the
nation. Since the ground slesLI Of
popular TePrObatioH has passed By,
that paper mas been guilty of a
double cO1Dar6iee. II dares not longer
insult the intelligence of Northern Ohio By
praising the Birthday speech withoHt ess-
eeption, and 1t has therefore adopted the
drireliHg n'akeshyt of regretting the Pres
dents personalities, 1ohiLe 1t reLieUes him
from all blame By charging a heroic Con-
gress with being the guilty cause of EpecH-
the iadiscretion. But tHis is not the tOl0-
est deep. While claiming that Mr.. John
son has the approval of the people in his
course, the GeUeLaEd journal claims 1t as
one Of the most shining merits thai he has
not t0hoLty deserted the party ghic6 elected
MN, PrOUeH false TO has pledges and become
the standard bearer of TIE mongreL Democ-
racy. "a less conscientious President,
when so bitterly attacked, would have
rushed to the oqtstretched arms of the
copperheads," says the Herald. Well
may Andrew johnson blush with a sun
set crimson at this damaging defence by
his Western agent. Such AFFECT a6Gsement
such grim determination to make a de-
fence i0here no crease Is possible, auere
ReUer seen outsideG ParisiaR government
organ.
Now that the President begins to see
the error of his ways, through the en-
l~ightenment furnished by an honest and
outspoken press, and to show a DISPOSE
ton to act with the true men of the ma
ton for the solution of our difficulties, the
Herald, with senile a~laority and charac-
teristic f%eebleness, cries, " We told you sou
and then goes on to show that the Presi-
dent has been going straight forward all
the time, while a ~disorganizing and de-
structive radical Union press, with vii
famous unanimity, have been maligning
him and attempting to drive him into the
copperhead lines.
VIC have said thus much because the
good name of the Ohio press demands it.
No journal should be allowed to utterly
misrepresent the community in which it
is supported, and the party of which it
claims to be an exponent, for the sake of a
contemplate personal advantage, peeu-
mary or otherwise, without being called
to account for such a prostitution of its
influence.