The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1864-1911, 1868-06-17
Military Men tor Presidents.

| S1hN " tAAN HAletAfu VI mummy tANH W
Presidents-a question which is row made
practical by the attempted elevation Of
General Grant to that position. The Fed
eral Government will, on the 4lh of March, !
1869, when Andrew Johnson's term Of Of !
fee expires. have been in operation eighty |
years 1t has been administered By civil> |
iaus, who had nothing to do with military
affairs, ffty-eight years ont Of this period.
OF the remaining twenty-five. years. eight |
were under the adr- inistration OF General
WASHINGTON, eight under the auspices Of
General Andrew Jackson one month under
General Harrison, one year nader General
TAYLOR and tour years under General Pierce.
In all Gf these military exceptions, save
in the instance OF General fayor, the men
elected Presidents were civilians as well as
soldiers. George Washington, save a briet
campaign against the French aud Indians
IL l154-5, Was foriy-inur years old before
he entered any military service. He was
Virginia planter, land surveyor and legisla-
tor Before he wa, General OF tho C0ntl-
mental Army, he was u member of Conti
mental Congress from Virginia, in l775, be-
ing chosen on account Of hlS his high repu>
iatio1 as civilian. as well as a military
man. After the war Of the Revolution he
was elected member from Virginia OF the
Convention 7hicn formed the present Con-
, stitution Of the United States lie was
the President of the Convention. Who,
there fore. was so proper a man to adminls-
! ter the Government under the Co Institution,
as it's first Executive officer, as the Pref
dent of the Cony ntioi, which msde lt?-
That our Revolutionary Fathers had no
disposition to place military men IN high
: trusts seen in the fact that with the ex>
r ceptan Of Washington, who was pre-
t eminent who was much of civilian as he
1 was a s. ldier--with whom no comparisons
+ can be made, no other distinguished Gen
6 pral Of the Revolution was ever elected
t President, or even run by any party for that
r office.
t Our next military President, so-called,
: was Andrew Jackson When he was barely
OF the constitutional age, before lie had
$ seen any military rervice whatever, be was
- elected United States Senator from TenneS-
;. see. He was aiterward appointed Judge
" in that State, he being lawyer by profes-
: sion. lie filed other high civil trusts, and,
:, therefore, when elected Presidedt, had
J, civilian experience unite to military capa'
. city. Bur, as in the case Of General Wash
y ington, when chosen he was in private life
had retired from the army.
The third Yo-caled military President was
g General W. II. Harrison, General Harrison
y was much more civilian than he was sol.
u acr, He had been Territorial Governor.
IL He had been United States Senator. Hc
y ha been foreign Minister. And, in iact,
+ had filed almost every high civil position
u under the Government when nominated
=, for President.
u Oar fourth military President was Gener
~ al Zachary Taylor He was really the only
y strictly military man ever elected, whose
u position is at all analogous with that oI
,, General Grant. We have put Genera
. Pierce in the category of military Presi
u dents. b. cause he had seen some service in
= the Mexican war. But, in truth, he va'
;" essentially. almost entir, 3 a civilian. lie
- was lawyer by profession. had served witt
. distinction for ten years IN both Houses o
" Congress, and it was the reputation that hi
"a nlate thu re that caused his selection.
- 1t is mistake to suppose that military
} ter, including even the case Of these eX
= ccptions, than civilians. General Jackson
i on his first race, in 1924, was beaten by
= civilian. General Harrison ditto, on hi!
. first race, in 1886. The fact that thes
III men were afterwar1 elected, proves tha
something else than military merit did II
y for otherwise they would have been succe SIS
, sYl on their first heats. Genera! Scatt
le who, Ike Grant, was Comlnander-in. chic
~ OF tie army, and who, like him, was Who'll
'e " and entirely a military man, was DIS
u gracefully beaten, in 1852. Tor President
, by Franklin Pierce. In 1856 Colonel Joh'
III &, Fremont, a Western backwo1ds and mil
u itary hero, was beaten by James BGchan
no AIN. In 1861 Gereral Mcclellan was 'bad
u defeated by Mr.. Lincoln These example
pe show that the American people prefer civ
u ilians for civil trusts, just as they wou
"i prefer military men for military trusts
The sole exception was Taylor. His eleC
az ton was owing simply to the accident tina
~ the nomination Of General lewis Cass ha
VI VI rent the Democratic rarty in twain in Ne
~ York, which gave him that State, and tha
We State made him President. His Admin,
o' tration was Il failure. He was grossly il
competent; and il hs had not died, in JuIy
It. 1880, we should have had disunion and civ
." war; and the disunion then wnuld hay
:, been successful.
u' 1t was nearly ten years after jackson
NJ military exploits before he was talked {
ice for President. 1t was more than twen'
~ year. before Harrison was Sc, iously though
|
Fremont and McCleilanl. whpn their nil
We to,, cion,, -, Ell ,,,o, III ,,,, -
lis o1,.,, ;n.tonn, baon hn,,., Tbo tr,th /;
'e, that what popularity attaches to mllitai
t" glory is manifested much more strongly a
o!!' ter generation or so lave passed away,
~ military actors, then it is by the genera tic
which familiar with them.
Good sense-yea, the most common an
NJ ordinary sense--traches men hat, as tht
tor would net select tailor for a house arcl
W. tect, or baker for a sone-mason, ora ca
lty pcnter for printer, SD it would be ahsur
to select man who had been bred sorely
les the military profession to take charge
the highest civil position, and TO mast,
of the abstruse science of political economy.
nd That Grant ha7 had any exj erence in civ
hn no one pretenas, yet it is proposed TO tru
nd him. without experience, in the most exal
les ed civil Office This is proceeding akin
he the folly of calling in man who kne
nothing practically of surgery, to perforl
hn the delicate of leg or arm amputation.
m No one would be so nnthinking or so igno
on ant as to do the latter; and he ought not
ad be so stupid as to favor the former Graz
rs has, in no instance. shown the slightest CT
4 pacity as n leg slator. Ga the contrary
N, bis banisbment of the Jews, and his orde
re relative to the pr .ss, show him to be-
\ s political matters, crminally foolish, il nj
wicked.
lel -. 90. -er.'-
MT THE wife Of Gov. Oglesby, of Illnoi
X did AZ the Executive mansion, Sprngti elt
al Thursday morning, after lingering Illness
in c2ss7gKEZEzsszsHzszEz5sE
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