Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-05-20
FRIENDS? THERE ARE no
FRIENDS"
FOrney on Fessenden and Cole ne
fuses 10 be COmfOrted.
From The washingtoa Chronicle, May 3.


From the Washington Chronicle. May Il.
1t is only another melancholy example
of the truth of the old adage, that mems
minds are but parcel Of their fortunes"
| Their day Of leadership has passed. They
have witnessed growing indisposition on
the part Of younger and more vigorous
minds TO submit to their diotatOrial sway.
They have seen that the progressive senti-
ment Of the country had no affinity for
sickly coloring; that il was too vigorous to
be asphyxiated with Conservatism or CROWD
| ed down by indigestion. As the Secretary
| Of State, when defeated at Chicago in 1860,
made up his mind to destroy the Republi-
can party, 10 which end his efforts have
been directed ever since; as Andrew j ohn-
son abandoned the friends who elected him,
and thenceforward used all the powers Of
the Presidential Office to destroy them as
the Chief Justice, soured by disappointment,
has constantly sought to create a division
in the Republican ranks, and if possible to
defeat General Grant-so Senators Fessen-
den and Grimes have united with the COM
mon enemy at the most critical hour in the
history OF our party and of oar country, and
added their names TO the catalogue of dis
appointed men. 5l tsi ~
1t is useless TO close onr eyes to the fact
that the Chief Justice has persistently
sought TO divide the Republican party and
to defeat the impeachment Of the Presi-
| dent, and that in this effort he has been
aided by those Senators whose personal and
| political anlmosity toward that sterling
| patriot Benjamin 4. Wade, has been strong
er than their devotion to their party or
their country.
Sooner than Wade should be President
they would welcome the deluge. The close
connection between the Chief Justice and
Senator Fessenden in managing the finances
of the country during the rebellion, and
the continuance of their influence in the
| Treasury Department, has been alleged as
a reason that they do not wish a change.
We do not know why this should be so.
We must discard the theory that the Treas
ury Department, as organized inside and
outside, has any influence in the matter, for
we cannot divine the motives of men. The
facts are enough for u.s. that they have
abandoned the Republican party that they
have waited for the opportunity to do this
Just at the time when the work of recon-
structiOn is near its completion, and upon
aquestion of executive power which will
enable the President, if acquitted, to defeat
that work.
What is it to us that Senator Trumbull
in an un2nswerable argument, sustained
the civil rights bill over the veto of the
President if the President may now, by
Senator TrumbulPs aid and act, execute his
own veto instead of the law?
1t is said also that Senator Fowler, of
Tennessee, is going to vote with these gen
tlemen for the acquittal of the President
position so antagonistic to all the antece-
dents of this ultra-Radical that it would
be rejected as improbable by those who best
knew his views before this trial commenced.
lie has been constant champion of the
necessity of the Presidents removal
deeming it the one thing needful TO secure
the rights of the Southern people, regard
less of color, and no one has been more i'm
patient Of the delays of Conservatism in not
bringing the recreant son of Tennessee to
the political block. Can he forget the
friends whotusted him Can he forget the
colOred people for whom his sympathies
have been often expressed?