Des Arc weekly citizen., 1868-08-18
Clerk or President.

1IGEA Ok lEtSAutMts
 Grant, in his letter of acceptance, said he would, if elected, have no policy in opposition to congress. He will be the clerk or constable of that body. He will be the instrument to carry it's designs in- te execution. The question with the voters of the country is whether they will sustain the present corrupt and wick ed congress. A large majority of its members win be renominated by the par ty in power, and, if the Jacobins carry the election, the next congress will be substantially the same as the present one.
 Were Grant a statesman with enlarged views, and comprehensive mind stored with facts concerning the wants and actual condition of the country, his experience and knowledge would not be of any bene- fit to the nation should he be elected. He says he will, as president, be merely the agent ofcongress. He will be ajump- ing-jack in the hands of q faction. He has not the will or capacity to form a policy and attempt to carry it out His doubling as politician has placed him in the hands of the extreme men of the party in power. What they command, he stands ready to execute. Such men as Sumner, and Wilson, and Chandler, in the senate, and Bingham, and Logan, and Schenck, in the house, will control him, because they control congress. They fashion its legislation, and are responsible for all the evils the country has suffered from the corruption and mismanagement of the ruling party.
 Grants proclamation, that he will not in anything oppose congress, or presume to have will of his own, is in fact, an assertion that the presidential office ought not to be anything more than strictly executive one, to which no more responsi- bility attaches than to the office of sheriff or clerk in a court. Since congress first met under the administration of Andrew Johnson, it's principal business has been to be little and degrade the presidential office. It has stripped him of his powers as commander-in- chief. It has divided his authority with the general of the army. It has taken from him the appointing power. It has taken from him control of his cabinet. It has passed laws over his veto without debate; and has tried, by all means its ingenuity could devise, to incul- cate the opinion that it was criminal for the president to attempt to carry out a policy he had formed.
 Grant accepts the degrading view ofthe office presented by congress. He says the executive department ought not to be an independent, coordinate branch of the government. He aspires to the position which has been occupied by the best and abest men of the nations, not that he may, as they did, propose policies to congress, but be puppet in it's hands, acting its pleasures and executing it's will, however criminal it may be.
 Is not this very narrow and con view of the presidency in man who respects himself, and is familiar with the history of the country, and wishes to be elected to that office No intelligent person will say that it was the idea of the authors of the constitution. In making him commsnder-in-c chief; in giving him the pardoning, appointing, and veto powerj in authorizing him to convene congress on occasions, and to recommend such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedieat,-the purpose is apparent to make the office one of high responsi- bility and authority.
 The present congress, in contempt of this purpose, and in contempt of the plain letter of the constitution, has made war on the executive department, and has attempted to reduce the president to nothingness. With proper spirit, he has resisted the aggression; and Grant has condemned him for it. Mir. Johnson, in defending his lawful powers, has defended the constitution. If Grants idea of the duties of president be correct, the office is one which can be as well filled by a machine as a man. He has helped con gress to reduce it to this low and pitiable condition, and now thinks he would be honored in the occupancy of the place he has tried to degrade and make contempti- ble. Do we want president who IS statesman enough to suggest measures of public policy, or do we want mere con gressional clerk calling himself president2 2 Chicago Times.
 Gs%No matter whom we were for on