Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-03-31
mo rru, slate Of ths aame.

A few words will plainly trace out the
state OF the party game which is now
going on with increased rapidity at
Washington.
To go back little, we must remember
that the immediate cause Of the split be-
tween Congress and the President was
their different plans of restoring the
Union. Both plans were unconstitu-
tional. The President, from having
been in the beginning as extreme as
Congress in his rigid policy against the
South, moderated his views considerably,
and presenting plan more expeditions
aud less injurious to the South and the
nation than that of Congress, It met the
approval Of the helpless South, not be-
cause they considered il constitutional,
but because it was more wise and more
humane than its rival
Mr.. Johnson's great mistake was in not
recognizing the fact, apparent to all re-
hecting men, that this is the military age,
and that none but military man can,
for period at least, preside over the des-
TIMES of this nation. He sought TO Sc
cure 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 have had the whole
game in his hands. But he shut his eyes
and proceeded blindly in defiance of the
logic of events" Most strangely, he
quietly contemplated the inroads Of Con.
gress upon his own powers, made no
effective changes through his authority
over the offices, and kept as his counsel
Tors his bitterest enemies.
Congress saw what Mr.. johnson did
not. 1t saw that military man must be
the next President; it saw, as oil many.
headed tyrannies do see, the absolute
necessity of strong military arm on
which to lean. They profted by their
sagacity. They courted and won Gen.
Grant, and they appeased the aspira-
tons of Gen. 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 helpless.
Helpless as he was, he struck weak
blow, vainly relying upon the Constitu-
ton and laws to sustain him ). forgetting
that at time of lawlessness the man who
has no better defense than those silent
protectors must fall Posterity may
pronounce the act which dooms man to
fall thus great crime but that decision
is of little benefit to the defeated, and of
no consideration with the victors.
The President might have allied him
self with the whole army had he been
more wise than ambitious. Grant, Sher-
man and all the really able generals of
the war, were with him in his early effort
to hasten reconstruction and compose the !
troubles of the land. But he neither
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, laeersted, and disabled, by |
the thorns of the tree he himself planted |
and in all human probability is about to |
be driven into retirement, with a long |
period for reflection upon the sad mis-
takes be has within three years commit
Dispatch.