The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-06-09
A RADICAL ANTICIPATION ABOUT GRANT.

Congress had, beyond the special aim of Get
ting rid of an obnoxious President, the gene
raj aim of getting rid Of the presidency. In
other words, their quarrel with the present
incumbent of the Office, is an incident and a
symptom of their profounder quarrel with
the Office itself Their great trouble with re-
gard to presidential candidate has been to
effect the nomination Of some one who would
be, if elected, an impersonal executive, a use
full nonentity claiming no distinctive rights
as an individual or as the head Of a co-ordi-
nate department of the government, but i'm
plicitly submissive to the dominant faction
The exigencies of their party, however, COM
PEELED them burriedly TO conclude bargain
with Grant that looked very much like one OF
those hasty marriages which are proyerbially
supposed to be followed by repentance at lei
sure. And some of them had begun to expe-
rience a similar sequence, after Illuminating
on Grants mumbhng and muddy DECLARE
tons about the improperly of laying "down
a policy TO be advocated right or wrong
through an administration of four years, and
about reserviDg freedom ''to execute the will
of the people," when the New York Tribune
came to their consolation with an exegesis
and theory couched in the following words
But let the people bear in mind that by the very
terms of lis pledge the future political and legs-
8tve policies OF the country will not be deter
mined merely by the election of Grant, but de
pend on The msjorties in both Houses of Con
gress. Let the Republican party look discreetly
after its Nominations for the lower House of Con
gress and for the State and legislatures. on whom
he nhoaan s.lo lu
terms Of his pledge. the success Of Republican
principles any question is not won by the elee-
tiOn OF Gen. Grant, but will throughout his adj
miDistration depend upon the ability OF the Re
publican party to maintain its msjorities in both
Houses Of Congress. If Congress remain Repub.
hcan. Gen. Grant executes Republican laws with
out question. II Congress become Democratic.
be executes democratic policies with equal readi-
ness and decision. This we believe TO be in &C.
cordspce with the true theory of republican gov
eminent, and the very highest craftsmanship and
soundest policy possible in an executive officer.
But IL divess the election of president, con-
sidered in itself merely. Of much OF what we have
been accustomed TO regard as its political effect,
and gives US merely good executive, not
| mighty champion OF our fayorite ideas.
Let the Republican party, therefore, look early
snd thoroughly after the next Congress.
This view attributes to Grant, with the ex-
ception of one particular precisely the quail
ties which are desired in chief executive
functionsry by the congressional olgarchy;
the qualities, that is to say, of an official
monstrosity uniting in one figure an acepha-
lous manikin and an automatic Briareus.
The exception referred to is the assumed
readiness of the radical candidate to execute
Democratic policies if Congress become
Democratic. The radical oligarchs want in
the presidential position an automaton that
will continue to execute their policy, even if
that policy should no longer be the policy of
Congress. But in this they demand impos-
sihilities. The unreserved and idealess SER
Witty which they require in President can
only be had in company with correlative
defects, one of which is the liability of such
Presidentto become the slavish tool of their
enemies should the latter obtain a majority in
Congress. The Tribune, therefore, is right
in assuming the possibility of this contin-
gency as inseparable from the kind of execu-
tive service required by the radical oligarchs,
and in reminding them of the imprudence of
expecting Grant to be "merely good execu-
tive" for their purposes while Congress is
radical, and also ga mighty champion" of
their " favorite IDEAS" in case of Congress
cessing to be radical As interpreted by the
Tribune, Grant, when he talks about execut-
ing the will of the people, refers to the vote
of the majority in Congress as the authentic
voice of the will of the people; and when he
talks about the improperly of laying down a
policy to be advocated, right or wrong,
through a whole presidential term, he means
to assert the propriety of executing, right
or wrong, the policy of the dominant
party in Congress, And all this. in the be-
lief of that radical organ, is in accordance
with the true theory of executive duty and
policy. That it happens to be wholly OPP
posed to the theory of the Constitution with
reference to presidential functions and obliga-
tons. does not impair its beauty in the eyes
of the Tribune philosopher and his fellows
and followers, who usually cherish doctrine
in proportion as it is unconstitutional and
subversive. Reduced to plain English, the
doctrine in question means nothing less than
the practical extirpation of the presidential
Office. If conceded generally, presidential
election would be the absurdest of superAui-
ties; for, If conceded generally. the presi-
dental Office would be virtually extinct If
the President is to be the mere minister of
Congress, it is a preposterous circumlocution
to refer his appointment to a college of cleo
tors chosen by the States. If the party in
power are resolved that this shall be the rels-
ton between the next President and Con-
gress, it is as wicked as it is superhuous for
them to convulse the country by running a
presidential candidate. If Congress i,
omnipotent, as this theory implies, it will
surely not brook defiance to its will in the
executive Office, whether the incumbent be
noininally Republican or Democratic, aud
will be able to fnd means of making its will
effective in spite of presidential opposition or
delinquency. In other words, if Congress is
omnipotent, the presidency, as the Constitu-
ion created it, is already wiped out aud tn
country is ruled by a despotism welded by
partisan and sectional caucus of congress-
-