The Portland daily press., 1866-08-20
The Presidcn. and the Soldiers.

President johnson, practising In Washmg-
ton the arts of demagogue which he had
found profitable in the interior Of Tennessee,
made haste some months ago to issue gen.
eral order directing his subordinates to give
the preference to soldiers in their appoint
ments! We pointed out at the time the trans
parent motive Of this superfuous circular
superfuous because an act of Congress had
previously covered the ground which the Pres
ident sought to appropriate for himself The
Presidents enthusiasm for the soldiers Of the
Northern army is not SO steady as could be de-
sired. His satellites at Philadelphia voted
rather grudgingly that ut is the duty of the
National Government to recognize the success
of the Federal soldiers and sailors" but that
recognition comes too late from the Tories
who voted the war failure two or three
years ago. One of these men within two
months uttered more truthfully the feeling of
the party, when in the columns of the Argus
he described the Union soldiers as asuppliants
without manliness, beggars without gratitude"
Well, we have just had an illustration in
this State Of the value ofthe Presidents pro-
testations. Ofcourse the circular to which
we have referred went to the Secretary of the
Navy, and Mr.. Welles is as much bound by
its directions as any other officer of the gov
eminent. Indeed Mr.. Welles has for some
time exhibited a Spartan virtue in this mat
ter appointments, steadfastly opposing to the
recommendations of Northern Congressman
his fixed determination to make no appoint
ments for political reasons, or with reference
to any supposed local Claims 1t was given
out by the venerable Secretary that no con-
siderations except the legitimate needs of the
service, would be entertained. Capacity and
talent were to be the only sufficient recomen-
dations; spolitics" to be ruled out altogether
All, Mr.. Welles, if this were so, it would be
an honorable fact for you'll But if il is all a
pious pretence for excluding from the affairs
of the government, the men whose votes elect
ed this administration, 1t is the reverse Of hon
orable. Col. Mark Wentworth, whose remov-
al from the Office OF Naval Storekeeper at
Kittery we noticed the other day, was man
whose fitness for the Office had been tested
and improved by experience. he was a SOL
dier and bears soldiers wounds. At the
turning point of the nations fortunes,
just before the battle of Gettysburg,
the time Of Col. Wentworth's first regiment
expired. Apart of his command came home.
He with another portion of the regiment
chose to remain in the works around WASH
ington. When the safety of the capital was
assured, Col. Wentworth came home, but
soon took the field again with the 32d regi-
ment. He was severely wounded and nearly
killed before Richmond. This man who risk
edhis life willingly for the defence Of the city in
which Andrew johnson now sits President,
who faced death again in the trenches before
the rebel capital, this man whose vote and in
fluence contributed to raise Andrew johnson
to the Office he holds, is now displaced by the
arbitrary exercise of the despotic power un-
wisely left in the Presidents hands, dI
Is it necessary to add anything to this plain
statement? p. The Argus, abiding to this case,
but without naming Col Wentworth, saws
the people twill endorse the decapitation Of
all office-holding Radicals" These Tories
know nothing Of the people. The .aplain peo-
ple,s the people who elected Abraham Lin
coin and upheld his hands SO steadfastly and
well, and delighted to honor his modest intec-
rity, are not well pleased with the insolence
Of climbing demagogue who spurns with up
lifted heel the men upon whose shoulders he
has been borne into place and power beyond
his deserts. They are not to be captivated by
circulars and resolutions coldly recognizing
the success" of the soldiers who were bone Of
their bone, while the President and his min
listers are openly and daily showing by their
acts that military service is in their eyes Of less
account than the most palty political job
work. az. lltA