Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-08-28

tHat OeueISl dhANI mas no respect TOT
ANDREW JOHNSON, but much for the
Commsnder-in- Chiefand President; that
he is content to be the General Of the
Armies, and does not desire the danger
Gus and troublesome Office Of President,
which has become q punishment and not
a reward for great services, and to hold
which under the existing legislation Of
Congress is a dishonour and degradation
and that when the occasion and oppor-
tunity come, as they will, he will be quite
as ready TO head the Parliamentary
Armies, aud afterwards to kick the
Parliament itself out Of doors, as GROIN
WELL was.
To that contamination everything
seems tending. The Northern States
Will soon be ready FOR it, and somewhat
sooner the white men Of the negro
States.
It is significant that, after the letter of
General SHERIDAN to General GRANT,
imputing to the President a fsctious OPP
position to the Military Bill, the latter
General should say to that President
General SHERIDAN has performed his
civil duties faithfully, and his removal
will only be regarded as an effort to de-
feat the laws Of Congress" This is a
pretty broad hint that in removing him
! the President is not actusted by proper
motives. The General would hardly
have been 50 in~decently rude as TO tell
the President, his Commandment in Chief,
that his object tUas 10 defeat the laws of
I Congress, and that to do this he was
willing to punish q Subordinate for per-
forming his civil duties faithfully. It is
quite evident that he intended to give
the President to understand that in re-
moving SHERIDAN on account of the in
| suit or imputatiOn in his letter, with
out undoiug or c~eRsuring anything be
had done, and when not to disspprOve
and undo was to approve and ratify, he
would expose himself to the unjust i'm
putation Of seeking to defeat the exeeu-
ton OF the acts of Congress, while pro-
Tossing to intend to execute them in good
faith.
We have rarely read any thing that
said as much in a few words, as the let
ter we are considering; and there is
more contained in the short sentence
about SHERIDAN, than in any other
equal number of words in the letter.
Its u~uequivocaI endorsement Of Gen.
SHERmAN's acts does not sUrprize US
for, after all, we do not see the reason or
Justice Of much Of the personal vitupera-
ton Of that officer by the press. At the
commencement Of the wal be was, we
believe, a Second Lieutenant. At any
rate. he was so not long before, and
stationed in Oregon and we know from
an officer who was then his comrade,
that out of his scanty pay he managed to
send money regularly to his mother and
sisters, who, We suppose, needed it for
their support. Since we heard that, we
have not felt like abusing him, even
when csnsuring his acts as arbitrary.
As be could have had no influential
friends 10 help him rise in the service, it
is to be supposed thst be rose by merit
to the rank Of Major General. 1t is not
for those against whom he fought, to
depreciate his services. Let us leave
that for the ca~rri0n-crows Of faction in
the North TO do by and by, when he
stands in the way Of their profit or pre-
ferment. II he had on u occasion re-
membered that SHAKESPEARE makes
OCTAvIUs say OF BRUTUs,
d" According 10 his virtue let us use him,
With alirespect and rites % burial.
Within my lent his bones o-night shall lie,
Most like a soldier, ordered honorably ~
we are not SO sure that there would be
much occasion to Judge him hsrshly or
censure him severely.
The President Of the United States had,
In his message vetOing the original bill,
declared to Congress and the world that
it conferred upon the commanders Of the
five Districts all the powers that General
SHERIDAN has exercised, and many more.
Nevertheless, when Congress passed it
without change or amendment, the
President proceeded to execute it, and
has never censUred or formally disap-
proved or annulled anything that General
SHERIDAN has done. By ratifying the
acts Of that officer, he made them his
own. By admitting that he himself was
bound to execute the law, although be-
il unconstitutional, be virtually
declared to General SHERIDAN, to whom
l., a., ~, fp5frur+E,Dg nor "a, apv- nav
bis powers, o subjected his acts
to his own approval to give them force
that he also was bound TO execute the
and had the right to exercise all the
powers which the veto message declared
it conferred upon him. Dhe lar 0as
valid, and i the President was bound to
IL at al, General Sheridan had
the polrer to do all he has done, and ten
more.
He has not, like SICKLEs, the ex-New-
York Democrat, undertaken to enact 3
code Of laws, or to interfere with the
proceedings Of the Courts. He has
stopped to compel the admission Of odor-
ifer.us negroes into the street-raiiroad
cars but beyond that Wedo not remem-
Der that he has legislated. He has re-
GOverner WELLS and other off.
GERS but ns these were mostly Radicals,
snd as the law gave him the power to do
it, while We censurs him for il 81 so SGT
Of despotism for which Congress and the
too sre more to blame than he,
we will not ~yituperste him. He has Ger
tainly not oppressed the people OF LOUisi-
ana; and he has not acted more arbitra-
rily than SCHoFIELD, nor half as much
so as SICKLEs.
We do not find it so singular, there
fore, that GRANT endorses and gives the
weight OF his sanction to all the civil
acts Of SHERIDAN. Neither would it be
fair TO represent this general approval IS
8 special endorsement of the wisdom
and propriety Of every particular act
done by him, IS, for example, bis forcing
the rank and sWesting negro upon the
company Of ladies 10 the Etreet-cars, an
act very little worthy of a MsjoF Gene
raj. and which, when he was q Second
Lieutenant, he would have denounced
with disgust and to spprove which
would be still less worthy Of the General
Of the armies.
The significance Of this endorsement
SHERIDAN consists in the ~snequivo-
cal evidence it furnishes, that GRANT,
like almost every man bred a soldier
and who has commanded men in the
field, sees nothing to admire in the Con-
stitutiOual guarantees Of liberty, aud is
Innstely a desp0t. Hence il Ia that mill
mea have always been dangerous to
the Republic Ia every Commonwealth,
snd that il the Athenians sometimes
Used Il unwissly, they We're most wise in
-et&ining the power TO O~stracise 81 their
mere pleasure, any man whose influence ,
u presence they deemed dangerous to
be State.
Soldiers invariably become Indifferent !
o free Institutions. They exercise des-
)otic authority ~ their men and their {
Gbordinate officers; they know that !