Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-04-20
Wendell Phillips ON the Impeach-
nent of the President and ON
General Grant.


wendell Phillips on the Impeach-
nlent of the President and ON
General Grant.
WENDELL PHILLIPS, who is in chief com
mand of the corps of sappers and miners of
the Republican party. or who leads that
party, in the lecture he delivered at Gin
cinnati, on the evening of the 18Th inst,
thus discoursed, rs we are Informed by the
Cincinnati Gazette, of president JOHNSON
and General GRANT; -...u...--.,---.r--r.-. -
TimiI men say it is dangerous 10 inn
peach the President; impeachment is a.
battle, and battles are always dangerous.
1t was dangerous for Grant to go to Rich
Inoud; it cost $4,000 lives. Why did he
go? Because it was more dangerous to-
stand still. Show me path that has no
danger in it, and | will be the first TO tread
it. But do not know OF but one gentle
man that required a battle when there was
no danger b fore he would fight it, and
that was Mcclellan, The man that objects,
to impeachipg the President because
it is dangerous, ought to be mustered
into McClellan's staff. tCheers. There
never will be a PIesidentia lIo deserves i'm
parchment more thorou@hly. AS some one
said, IF this man don't 90 to the devil,
there is no use in levif;' so. Sif this man
| is not inpeached, there is no use of i'm
| peachment. This is not the 9reatest dam
ger. But this man has killed himself thank
| God. The danger into which we are drift
| ing is the election of 1868, the most import
ant that has ever and iilay ever take place
| on this continent; the one that will test, so
far as Cover ,fiielrtf can test the fate of this
| generation and the next. WHO shall hold
the helm the next four years? II Demo-
crat holds it, we will lose two thirds of
the results of the war; if a halfway Re
| publican, we shall lose one half; if man
of the gfhad. Stevens stamp holds it, we
| shall gain ninety mine per cent To-day
the nation draws hetdIessly into the Presi-
dencya great soldier. No name is on our
| lips bnt the hero of Virginia, aud when you
ask men what are his political IDEAS, there
| is not one man who treaoS the continent
that can undertake to tell you what Gen.
Grant thinks. The only utterances men
make is, he has not any ideas, he is in safe
| hands. That is the incubus under which
we groan to-day. Let us not trust the helm
| a second time where the brain resides IN
another body. The nation agoniZes tor its
eXiStence; iG is passing the most critical
moments of its life. And yet you say to
| Republicans, why do you nominate Grant?
The answer is, if we do not the Democrats
will. We propose To put man in the
Chair OF State to savehim from traitors
And yet Grant is not neutral. 1t is false
claim that his friends make for him. The
man who stayed away from New Orleans
in order that his absence might enable the
President to drench the streets in loyal
blood, and who went to Baltimore in order
that his presence might enable the President
| to put loyalism under foot, is not neutral
| Who is Gen. Grant? He is the High Con-
stable of this nation; the right arm of its
| police power; paid $4,000 year to make
the flag respected wherever it floats; to
make the streets in New Orleans as safe for
ME as your streets.
/ know what rot ashes am treading on
| when touch the ideal man of the West
Butall Gen. Grants admirers say Grant
wanted to keep peace in New Orleans, but
the President would not l. him; he would
have ordered him to report at st: Louis,
would have mustered him ouf. Suppose
he had. Suppose the Great West or
East had heard Grant was mustered out
because he wanted TO protect New Or
leans and the President would not let
him; in one day after that President
Johnson would not have had friends enough
to be visible on the surface of public
affairs. If that statement of Grants
friends is true be owed it to us to
have said so i'll August, and Congres would
have removed the President in one hun
dred days. If that fact be true, l hold
Ulysses Grant spOnsible to-day that john
son is President. Let Grant telegraph to
Cincinnati to morrow: - want to protect
Union men in the South, and the President
won't let me-" in ten days Ben. Wade
would be President ofthe United States.
We have no right, in the sight of God, to
run any risks in hero worship, or in magma
nimity, that will make it necessary that
these cradles shall fight the battles over
again See to it that before you trust that
helm again in the hands of another man,
that you find one every drop of whose
blood is loyal to the North. If you fail in
that duty, God forgive you.