Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1868-02-19
The Presidents Little fame.

SuahaCSoI' ne Is PRESIDENT OF the United
States-the Chief Magistrate and first citi.
zen of the Republic. 1t is ungracious to be
always speaking Of our ruler in terms OF
eensure. We have entered into every con
test with him hoping it would be tho last
that peace and good understanding would
oome-that the President and Congress-
would get upon common ground, and labor
for the welfare Of the country. When i'm.
parchment was defeated bv decisive vote
OF the Republican party, we felt sure that
the President would accept this vote ~ q
token OF reconciliation and peace that Re-
construction would 20 ahead uninterrup-
teddy, and we could debate questions of
revenue and tariff We were mistaken.
Every day seems to bring a new grief
Take for instance, this Grant-Stanton
trouble. We have written its history MANY
times, and have no difficulty in coming to q
conclusion. If there is one object for which
the President has labored without fail. it is
the Endorsement Of Gen. Grant He has
generally received it. He played Grant
directly against Congress in the beginning
of this contest when he sent him South.
He whirled him around the circle. By his
aid he effected the suspension Of Stanton
We felt at the time that Grant made q mis-
take IN submitting to the Presidents wishes.
1t is due to him to say that he took this
step to prevent the appointment Of Z crea-
ture Of Mr. Johnson who would war upon
! Reconstruction, and we honor him for it. al
though we would rather have had the fight
in the Summer than now. The President
knew very well that Gen. Grant entered
| the War Office with this motive, and if he
had any doubt about it the Generals letter
would have removed the doubt However,
Stanton was suspended The Tenure-of
Office law was half obeyed. But it was ne
cessary to get some one else in, and here
came the problem. We can almost imagine
the Presidents reasoning. Il have had
good use Of Grant He is an amiabe
man, easily bullied. BE did we'll by me
when he went South and reported against
Carl SchurE, and better still when we went
to bury Mr.. Douglas. Now I've got Stan
ton out. Before Congress meets the
country will have forgotten all about him.
Grant will go back to the army. I'll give
some Of the Radical Senators a tax col
lector or two, and get Steedman or Black
through the Senate, just as l got Rousseau
through. So I'll kill q whole covey Of
cartridges with one shot. I'll have Stan
ton out of the way, and Grant dead
duck, for the Radicals will call him my
decoy- bird, and not trust him. With
that Tenure-of- Office bill thus blown to
atoms, things viii be lovely all around"
Unfortunately, was there a law and ac-
curing penalties A man will do good
deal for his superior officer, but he will
scarcely go to jail and pay large fine
The President says he accepted Grant to do
this-that Grant gave him every assurance
of his willingness--and that, by depending
on these assurances, he was betrayed
Gen. Grant positively cOntradicts this state
ment Here is question Of veracity. We
hate TO call it such; but the President says
one thing, while the Genera says another.
Each means to tell the truth, but one does
not. There is no collateral evidence Ar
guing from the circumstances, we think
these conclusions are plain
/. When Grant entered the War Office,
he was in sympathy with Congress Sub
segment development show the extent Of
that sympathy, and that the President
knew Of it.
II. Grant wanted Reconstruction carried
out, and took the War Office to aid in the
work.
III. He knew there was law which
made it his duty to resign the War Office
after Stanton's restoration by the Senate.
~. He could not remain in the War
Ofice without giving the lie to his whole
career.
We do not see how Gen Grant could
have taken any other course. If he really
made the promise the President alleges,
then he must be fool or a knave, for his
friends were making his canvass upon the
express understanding that in this Tenure
of.Ofice law, as IN all other laws, he would
obey Congress. We do not think there is
we'll informed bricklayer in New York
who does not take this view For the
President to suppose that Grant could fol-
low any other path is to US incomprehensi-
BILE.
Then comes another phase It is very
hard to say just what we feel without ap-
pearing to be Incorporate in speech. The
Presidents disappointed, piqued, chsgrin-
cd. In the first place, he cannot play Grant
as q silent ehessman. The General is not
willing to trust the Presidents assurances
that if he is put in jail he will be protected
Of course Mr.. Johnson desired this With
Gen. Grant nominally resisting Congress,
he would have had glorious quarrel, and
show an enormous quantity Of "vigor."
Bat Stanton goes in and Grant goes out
Plainly, there is but one course. He must
either submit or resist If Stanton has
been absolutely removed, as the President
contends, then be should be turned out as
a usurper by the police, or q new Secretary
appointed, and an order issued to obey him,
and him only This would have been no
moro disobedence Of law than for Grant
to have held the Office after Stanton's res
toration, The Supreme Court was open to
johnson as well as to Grant There was
one plain course. But it required pluck
for over all lowered the Senate and the
House and the never ceasing soughing of
impeachment. The President neither re-
sists nor yields, but scolds He sends for
the correspondents lively scribe named
u. B. S., particularly, and for Coyle, the
tr8gedian of The Inte!liQenCeT-an his ar
ticles written; and in forty-eight hours
all over the country - the General of tho
Army, by the direct prompting and sug-
gestion Of the President Of the United
States, 10 denounced as " liar, q " sneak
and a dishonorRble man
There is some thing rufianly in all this.
We arc no champion of Gen. Grant We
90 not approve Of many things be has DONE
We think he has allowed his ability and
desire Ter quiet to place him too often in a
questionable Position and thus to inure
the cause. In this last business, however.
he has shown Qualities that add to his great
fame, and justify the confidence Of loyal
men. 1t will of course bring upon him /
the howls and impreoations Of the Rebel |
ana Copperhead, especially when melted |
and suggested by the President. Mr. John