The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-09-09
Hard Knocks by Wendell Phillips
General Grant, Senator Fcssenden,
sud the whole Radical Congress

From the Anti Slavery Standard.

Grant at last has spoken and-blundercd.
How he stalked into the Sccretarysh1p,
his friends Boosting his great power to
,>ravent mischief! What mischief has ne
.p,-ovented' None. The only power he
spia;ncd against the President moments
,hought oSlces him TO renounce. This IS
orr practical" statesman, whose FIRST
.,n,o - a blupder. This Was our st. Mi
charl whose resistlcss sword was 10 mo"
dnwn the Satan Of the fallen most IN
lad of that we fnd that he does not even
know how to draw 1t.
Tho great popular leader SINKS 10 DC
oriv the Presidents secretary, issuing or.
ders he abhorS; sits Ike anc'e"u So
eating his leck and grumbllng ~ ever
boastlul promise followed by such Its: :.s
ble failure i? The General OF inc nlleo
States is to-day weed caught ia the pre-
s;dential maelSlrom, ana unless soi,'o
better braius than his own come 10 .i'e
rrscuc. sure soon TO DC S"ailo"eu III 'iic
ror,ey Let no Grant man after TINS call
Inbnson clumsy knavc ; he has found wit
anourh TO bc;ool the model leader, whose
Silence passed for the highest wisdom-the
puT of whose cigar was craftsmanship.
Once before there was an animal which
nasscd for a lion till he spoke.
Grants friends excused the shame Of his
taking Stantons office on the ground that
he got thereby so much power 10 prevent
mischief. What power TO prevent mis-
chief has he gained by becoming Secre-
tary? Absolutely none. His remon-
strances are wholly dsrcgarded; he is OBJ
! red. as Secretary, to issue orders he DIS
lles and wal, Till, as General, he can do
something to avert their sad results. Evl.
dan,Iv. then, he has gained no beneficial
mower by taking the War Department.
Has he, hy such an act, assumed posi-
tion which teaches the people! What
valuable lessons do the people learn from
tho sight of their admired and trusted
leader befoolcd into this sorry plight by
brains so mudded that when, as Secretary,
Grant demonstrates against measure,
Johnson, forgetting that Grant is anything
but General, charges him with "insubor-
dination =" as if Cabinet officer could
be guilty Of characterization :" We
challenge the South to produce a negro as
unfit to vote as this mau shows himself to
preside over Cabinet.
Gran; has not, as Secretary, averted any
mischief. Has he by taking the office
reused and taught the people! To fasten
pnhlic attention more thoroughly on tins
plotted treaSon-to rouse them to their
duty-is worth anything but sacrifice OF
conscience. Has Grant done this great
public duty by taking Stanton's Office 7
Does chagrin at seeing bis ignorance, does
disgust at witnessing the Presidents paltry
triumph over him, teach them the needed
lesson? Every thoughtful man sees that,
50 far as Grants Influence is concerned,
the loyal masses are weaker to day than
Yesterday. If Grant had Indignantly pro-
tested against Stantou'S suspension, aud
refused to accept the place, that would
have reused and taught the people, and
made him President of the United States
on lust platform. Instead of this, the
people sec to-day that Grant rushed for
ward to help Dust Stanton, supposing him
self to possess a power Of controlling the
district commanders which lie now COR
lesses he has M title TO. He stands before
the public convicted at once Of ignorance
OF Lis own duties and faitLlessneSs to his
friend.
As matters stand, the only advantage the
masses gain from this event is one more
hollow idol brokcI-onc more sham ex.
plodcd. Grant joins Mcclellan, to stand
forever in history among the Knight have
been" We by no means undervalue this
gain. But the present business of the ma
ton is neither to break nor to mend idols.
Our present business is to save the loyalty
Of the South from plumber and death. In
this great emergency itappcars that neither
the Thirty ninth nor the Forticth Congress
had SENSE enough to draw statute that
would hold water. Ii Grant be blum
derer, he has scores Of comrades in the last
and present Congress.
Ii 1861 will stand in our history as the
year Of treason, 1867 will surely be marked
on the same page as the year OF ounces.
Treason, no doubt, tlouriSheS to-day in
Washington, but incompctency is the domi-
nant characteristic which disgustS this ma
ton and amuses the world. II the real
Government is shown at Washington, then
is it demonstrated that democracy is a
failure. A head Of the State who would
long ago have wrecked it had not Heaven
graciously provided that he should be even
weaker than he was wicked; Congress-
fit body to fit hcad-ruled by conserva-
tism which modestly assumes to represent
the calm wisdom of the nation, and smiles,
Malvolio like, on its critics as scntimen-
talists. The result of this wisdom, code
which, worse than the old sarcasm, not
only lets the big villains through, but can.
not even catch the small ones.
What can we expect of practical COM
mon sense from Senate which follows
Fessenlen as a leader man Of whom il
may be truly said that the nation ha!
taken no one important and critical Stel
since 1861 which bis influence or vote die
not resist until popular good sense shamet
him out of his folly or marched to its pur
pose over his opposition. Yes, Mr.. Fes
senden's senatorial record is a record @
fruitleSs opposition to every measure or
which the nations safety rests to-day
He has never been right, even by acct
dent, at the first presentation OF any crit
cal measure. He has either voted against
it or been felt against it, skulking behind
his tools. Events have always proved him
mistaken. In this race he has never
"come TO time" His wisdom has always
been what the French call "the wisdom
OF the staircase looming to appreciate
matters one moment too late. His states
manship consists in "proposing nothing
aud opposing everything" Yet half the
Senate allow him to do their thinking.
Edmunds is his tool, and Conkling his
parrot. And this mole had power enough,
spite OF Stanton's and Grants and Sum
ner's aud Stevenss entreaties, to leave the
President with the power of removing
Sheridan, and to tie the hands of Congress
till November
The result we see. Congress tongue
tied and handcuted till November; obliged
to stand silent by and see Johnson trample
ON its laws LOYALTY Enntaa ana t.axa l.