The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-03-26
Tho T,,,e State Of the Game.

few words will plainly trace out the state
Of the party game which is now gong on WIN
increased rapidity at Washington.
n, no hack little, we must remember that
.,o Immediate cause of the split between Con
$50. ona tho President was their different
,,sps If restoring the Union. Both plans
were unconstitutional. Inc PRESIDENT, from
having been in the beginning as extreme as
Congress in his rigid policy against the South,
moderated his views considerably, and pre-
senting q plan more expeditions and less iniu-
rious to the South and the nation than that
of Congress, It met the approval of the help
less South, not because they considered II con.
stitutional, but because 1t was more wise and
more humane than Its rival.
Mr. JoHSsoT's great mistake was in not re-
cognizins the fact, apparent to all rejecting
men, that this Is the military age, and that
none but a military man can, for period a,
least, preside over the destinies Of this nation.
He sought TO secure his own election for the
next term instead of picking out. as he should
have done, the military man who was to sue
coed him. and by forming an alliance with that
man, have triumphed over Congress. This Mr..
JOHNSON could easily have done, and thus
uhNb ndu the "HOlp Eillut III III" "'N'''''
ne shut his eyes, and proceeded hlindly in de-
fance Of the "logic of events. MOST strahs'
", ne Quietly contemplated the inroads OF
Congress upon his own powers, mace "o
effective changes through his authority over
the offices, and kept as his councillors MS O''-
terest enemies.
Congress saw what Mr. JoHTaoS din NOT
It saw that Il military man must pe '"e "e'''
hnn LODI
Presidential saw, rs all many-h"'ot" > ''"
nies do see the absolute necessity ol 7s'io"s
military arm on which to lean. lhes pro-
fitted by their sagacIty Ihey 'o"i 'ei anu
won General GRANT, ana they apPeaseu Inv
.spirations of General SHERMAN. While these
two grand movements were made, they had
completely fettered the President; and when
he made an effort to recover his arms and TO
use his legs he found himself entirely help
less
Helpless rs he was, he struck weak blow,
yainly relying upon the Constitution ana
laws TO sustain him forgetting that NJ Il
time of lawlessness the man who has no pet
ter defence than those silent protectors must
fall. Posterty may pronounce the acE "hich
dooms man to fall thus great crime; nut
that decision is of little benefit TO the de-
feated and of no consideration with the VIC
tors.
The President might have allied himself
with the whole army had he been more wise
than ambitious. GRANT, SHERMAN, and all the
really able generals of the war, were with him
in his early effort 10 hasten reconstruction
and compose the troubles of the land. Blu,
he neither propitiated them nor got rid Of the
spies and enemies about him. Congress has
taken out of his very hands the powerful
weapons which were in them. He falls. He
Is torn lacerated, and disabled, by the thorns
of the tree he himself planted, and in all hu-
man probability is about TO be driven into re-
tirement, with a long period for reflection
upon the sad mistakes he has within three
years committed.