Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-02-10
Cen. Gran. and tho President.

stanton nhu ueciincut OF "ou'u ueo""ei
TO recognize the President IL seemed
very amusing at the time, and the public
were inclined TO regard 4 as a good joke
IA sort Of retaliatory bon mot OF the
lonely and repudiated secretary. But,
after all, there is something more than
mere piece Of official humor. II appears
that Stanton and Grant both decline TO
recognize the President, and have re-
solved TO conduct the business Of the War
Department and the army without any
reference TO the Executive, From the
very brief telegraphic synopsis which has
reached us ofthe correspondence between
President johnson and General Grant,
we learn that the General OF the army
perem ptorily refuses to obey the orders
ofthe constitutional commander-in-chief
The latter directed the General to obey
no orders given by Mr. Stanton. Gen.
Grant replies that he will obey Mr.. Stan
ton orders, and declares that the Presi-
dent ought to restrain Mr.. Stanton from
issuing orders which he (the President)
does not approve. He aflirms that MIR.
Stanton is his superior officer, and that
he cannot refuse to obey that quasi
official. From the manner in which
General Grant has been acting during
the last six months, it seemed as II he
did not acknowledge the existence OF
any superior officer. The legislation OF
Congress was we'll calculated TO impress
a weak or an ambitious man with the
idea that the Office Of commander-in-
chief had been abolished, and that the
general of the army had succeeded TO all
the powers and duties of that position.
General Grant has acted on that theory,
whether he believed it to be true the
ory or not. He has been, practically,
the dictator Of the Southern States; he
has set up his opinion in opposition to
that of the President in regard to army
movements, the assignment OF officers,
and the execution Of the reconstruction
laws; be has conspired with a rejected
cabinet functionary to thwart the wishes
of the President as to the selection OF
his official advisers; and, finally, he
tells the President fatty, and with a
brusaue flippancy which is equivalent to
contemptuous characterization, that he
declines to obey an order given by the
highest military authority in the country.
After assuming so lofty and arrogant a
position, it seems strange that Re should
admit the existence of superior officer
in the person of quasi official who
ia not recognized by the constitu
t;oral ommander-in-chief. The ex-
traordinary character of this position is
we'll calculated to divert attention from
its absurdity. Yet it is really 80 absurd,
that it appears impossible for it to have
been assumed by any one possessed OF
the faintest imitation of ordinary COM
mon sense. If General Grant can be
supposed to know anything at all, that
thing must be the relations of army
officers toward each other, and their
relative powers and duties. Yet of these
he seems to be as profoundly ignorant
as a Camanche chief of the binomial
theorem, or Caffre warrior of the de-
ferential calculus To be sure no one
would think of applying to a Camanche
chief or Caffre warrior for the solution of
a mathematical problem but we might,
reasonably, call on Gen. Grant for infor'
nation as to a question of military eti-
ouette or military law; yet it appears
that an application in the latter case
would be quite as hopeless as in the
former. The soldier who can delibe-
rately say that the Secretary of War
is his superior officer, to the exclu-
sion of the President of the United
States. exhibits an ignorance so deuse,
an inaptitude so insuperable, that 1t is
wonderful that he should ever have
gained credit for ordinary intelligence.
The fact is that the Secretary of War is
not military officer at all. de is sim
ply the head of one of the executive de-
partments, and, in that capacity, he re-
fleets the will of the President, and trans
mits the orders of the Commander-in-
Chief, to his subordinate officers, just as
an Adjutant transmits the orders of q
Major General to the brigade command
ers. No military order of the Secretary
of War is obligatory on an army officer,
nnless it is given under the express or
implied authority Of the President. In
this case it has been officially notified to
General Grant that this authority is
withheld. In persisting in obeying the
orders of the Secretary of War, it IS,
therefore, clear that the General of the
army contumaciously disobeys the con-
stitutional Commander in-Chief 1t is
gross, willful, inexcusable insubordina-
ton, such as would subject any other
officer to dismissal from the army. 1t
is perfectly plain that this position
is assumed by General Grant, in
pursuance of an agreement with
the Radicals to assist in consum-
mating their revolutionary plans. 1t
is the undisguised confession of design
to usurp control of the War Department
and of the army, not to aid the Execu-
tive in maintaining the Constitution and
the laws, but to overthrow the Executive
branch Of the Government, to establish
Congressional despotism, and to perpetu-
ate the ascendancy of the Radicals by
violence and fraud. General Grant thus
identifies himself with the worst phases
of Radical rebellion against the Constr
tuition. To call him a conservative Re
publican is simply nonsensical. To ask
him to speak would now be superfuous
He is more thoroughly committed TO the
Radicals than if he had written a hun
dred letters, or made a thousand
speeches. Between him and them the
people are not now called on to choose.
The question is not which party in the
alliance brings the more strength to the
other, but which does the other the less
harm. 1t may be difficult for Grant to
stand the Radicals, but it will be still
more difficult for the Radicals to stand
Grant They are now before the coun-
try as competitors and allies in infamy.-
Neto Orleans Crescent.
The greatest coon fight on record took
place in Montgomery county, Ohio, last
Sunday. We take the particulars from
the St Louis Democrat;
A ,o,nr man named Skvles seized the