The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1867-09-05

1t appears that General Grant has requested
to DO excused from all Cabinet meetings except
where military affairs are to be discussed.
Under this simple request We see much that
means good to the country, and lesson to the
crazy politicians, who, in their race for power,
forget ell the rinciples Of statesmanship, and
bequeath, as an inheritance to the future, the
elements Of dozen military despotisms and
countless internal wars. Since the close of the
rebellion we have virtually set up political
school for the education Of our army officers.
Before the rebellion, and even during the war,
politics In the army were ignored by all true
soldiers. and especially was this the case with
the regular army. The officer who furnished
his epaulettes by descending from the lofty
position of soldier Of the republic to the
petty chickering's, jealousles and revenges of
party feeling, lost caste with his fellows. The
subject was degrading, and while the republic
went purely on the officer was true soldier
and pure Now all is changed Our first sol.
der is Cabinet officer and forced partisan
in hot political contest between tn, execu-
tive and Congressional power of the nation.
Five Of our principal generals are placed in
political control Of I've pro-consulslip with
the right to use the mi it,ry power Of the
nation to support them In their civil rule.
The Q gener lis and all their subordinate
officers, with the task imposed upon them by
Congress, are made administrators of civil
law through military power and are rapidly
learning the force Of the combination placed
in their hands.
We are marching to the system Of the Roman
republic, whore every soldier was politician
where ell government hal its birth in the
| military elemen:, and where the military,
finally learning that 1t hid acquired all
power, over urned the republic and estab-
lished the empire upon its ruins. We advance
more rapidly even than the French republic
to the moment when the military polite on
must becoms the man Of the hour, and
where politics, engraltJd upon the army,
become powerful weapon for any
military man who has the brain and
will to handle the forces thus unwit-
tingly placed in his control. The French r vo-
luton in its progress, forced the army to be-
come polite m chin,, and moth ng but the
empire restored 1t to us where il no longer
became q weapon in ts han Is of military
political commanders. The English sold or to.
day is entirely aloof from political contact
which gives him any power to s,ape the des-
TIMES Of England and bis feeling Ill that direc-
ton goes no further than tran lent interest
in change Of ministry. The whole of Span
ish America may be held up as a W srning Of
the effect of m king politicians of sol Tiers for
there every officer Is the exponent of some
political principle or faction, and the soldier Is
virtually tbs government.
We commenced our reconstruction on bad
basis. G vii governors should have be m ap-
pointed over each of the five dis riots OF tho
South, with power to oil for aid upon the
required to enforce the civil law. No of1cer
In the army should have been appointed to
even the most inferior civil Office. In fact the
army should be held in its pos ton and SUI ject
to the purposes for which It was organized
an armed unit Of power to enforc, civil lw
where the ordinary process fails after trial.
Had this me-hod been pursued there would
Sickles to make the people in his district feel
the sting of militia y dictate slip, when he
ordered the Americ IN flg to be sllutei by
those who failed to pay it homage no neces-
sity for General Schoded to suppress news
paper publica ions which were not exactly in
harmony with the radical sent ment of the
country; no necessity Of smo thsr.ng an express
sion of opinion on the part Of any man who
felt that he was living in country which pro-
fessed to give him free speech no necessity Of
boldly threatening the stability Of the repub-
lie, by merging military and civil power into
the same hands and treading Immediately upon
the border Of military despotism.
Congress, by the folly Of its legislation, has
almost wrecked the nation, and m,ny Of Its
most radical members are beginning to see the
effect Of the strokes which they have struck at
Its iundamen principles. They have set two
great powers at work In the South to control
that section-the negro and the soldier. To
the negro they give the vote, and
to the army they give military oon-
troll of the country, while the negro
rides into political power The result Is clear
to impartial eyes 1t means either O war Of
races, the extinction Of white or black, or both,
In the South, or else strong military power to
stand in the breach and hold the two clashing
forces at bay. 1t means, then, ten years of mill
tary dictatorship over the five districts; ten
years Of political education for the army; ten
years Of marching towards military despot-
ism; and, as resultant, the overthrow Of the
republic by the imposing Of the same rule over
the North that now exist, In the South. Tho
politicians have gone mad. The country must
rise, through the votes Of the people, and hurl
back this wave that threatens to engulf every.
thiny-must place statesmen In our Congress-