The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-02-06
GIN. GRANT AND THE PRESIDENT.

mot Of the lonely and repudiated secretary
But, after all there is something more than
mere piece Of official humor. It appears
that Stanton and Grant both decline to recog-
nize the President, and have resolved to con-
| duct the business of the war department and
the army without any reference to the execu-
| tive. From the very brief telegraphic
| synopsis which has reached us of the CORE
| spOndence between President johnson and
General Grant, we learn that the general of
| the army peremptorily refuses to obey the
orders Of the 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.. Stantons
! orders, and declares that the President
! ought to restrain Mr.. Stanton from issuing
orders which he 0he Presiden) does not
approve. He afirms that Mr.. Stanton
is his superior oficer 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, itseemed as if he did not acknowledge
the existence Of any superior officer. The
legislation of Congress was well calculated to
impress 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 lie a true theory or not. lie has been,
practically the dictator of the Southern
States; he has set up his opinion in opposi-
ton to that of the President in regard to army
movements, the assignment of officers, and
the execution Of the reconstruction laws; he
has conspired with a rejected cabinet func-
tionary to thwart the wishes of the President
as to the selection of his own official advisers;
and, finally, he tells the President fatty, and
with blusque hippancy which is equivalent
to contemptuous INSTRUMENTATION, that he de-
clines to obey an order given by the highest
military authority in the country. After as
suming SO lofty and arrogant position,
it seems strange that he should admit
the existence Of a superior officer in the person
Of quasi official who is not recognized by the
constitutional commander-in-ehief The ex-
traordinary character of this position is well
calculated to divert attention from its absur-
dity. Yet it is really so absurd that it ap-
pears impossible for it to have been assumed
by any one possessed of the faintest imitation
of ordinary common sense. If General Grant
can be supposed to know anything at all, that
thing must be the relations of army officers |
towards each other, and their relative powers
and duties. Yet of these he seems to be as |
Hlr n, IL
tLe binomial theorem, or a Caffre warrior of |
the differential calculus To be sure no one
would think of applying to a Comanche chief
or Cattre warrior for the solution of a mathe-
NAUTICAL problem; but we might, reasonably.
call on General Grant for information as to a
question of military etiquette 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 deliberately saw
that the secretary of war is his superior
officer, to the exclusion Of the President of the
United States, exhibits an ignorance so
dense. an ineptitude so insuperable, that it is
wonderful that he should ever have gained
credit for ordinary intelligence. The fact is
that the secretary of war is not a military Of
ficer at all. lie is simply the head Of one of
the executive departments, and in that capa-
city, he reflects the will Of the President, aud
transmits the orders of the commander-in-
chief, to his subordinate officers, Just as an
adjutant transmits the orders Of a major gene
raj to the brigade commanders. No military
order of the secretary Of war is obligatory on
an army officer, unless it is given under the
express or implied authority of the President
In this case it has been officially notified to
Gen. Grant that this authority is withheld
In persisting in obeying the orders of the
of war, it is, therefore, clear that
the general of the army contumsciously dis
Obeys the constitutional 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 Gen
Grant, in pursuance of an agreement
with the radicals to assist in
their revolutionary plans. It
is the undisguised confession of design
to usurp control of the war department and
Of the army not to aid the executive in main.
tanning the Constitution and the laws, but TO
overthrow the xecutiye branch Of the govern
ment, to establish congressional despotism,
and to perpetuate the ascendancy of the rad-
calls by violence and fraud. General Grant
thus identifies himself with the worst phases
Of radical rebellion against the Constitution
To call him conservative Republican is SIM
ply nonsensicaL To ask him to speak would
now be superhuous. He is more thoroughly
to the radicals than if he had writ
ten hundred 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 country as
and allies in infamy
The following marriage notice appears in a city
Of yesterday: