Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1868-02-15

cOiupleIeNis OMluS u GhS P'SSinNiio AO
ing fire. His reply is not forth coming,
and his situation is somewhat like that
of holding the wolf by the ears, there Is
an unplcasantness about letting go as
we'll as holding on. TIE reply, which is
said to be written, and exceedingly bit
ter, is withheld because OF the tears OF
, impeachment. The movement of the re-
construction committee in that direction,
awakens his apprehension. 1t IS also
said that his Cabinet Ministers fail to
come to time, and refuse to endorse his
statements against Grant. Should the
President get his courage up to an at
tempt to meet the Generals well-eonsid-
ed, and well put points, We shall endeav-
or, by all means, to let our readers see
how the thing is DONE 1t will be both
interesting and instructive to see the clos
ing up of this correspondence, and to wit
ness how A. J. will draw his launches
through the hole, into which he has so
Silly thrust his head. The crafty are
sometimes takes in their own crattiness,
and if the President does not realize the
force of the proverb in this affair, he will
prove himself great deal more clever
.han he has the credit of being.
Since writing the foregoing, we met
with the following synopsis OF the cores
pondence in the Cieceldnd Herald, and
as it gives intelligently all the points of
difference, concluded to give it herewith.
Remarklng, by the way, that Gen. Grant
has shown himslf a firm, unselfsh, true
friend of his country, while Johnson ex-
hibits the low trickery, of bitter parts
an. Johnson's aim was to use Grant as
an instrument to defeat the laws of Con-
gress, while the purpose Of the latter was
to yield full and prompt obedience to
them. johnson, verbally, directed Grant
TO disregard the orders of the War office,
thus attempting to shirk the responsible
ty of obstructing the execution of the re-
construction laws, and placing it upon
Grant. The General of the Army refns
ed to be involved in any such inconsis-
tency and wrong. That Gen. Grant full
ly appreciated the situation the following
significant and pungent extract from one
of his letters to the President will show:
And now, Mr.. President, where my
honor rs soldier and integrity as q man
have been so violently assailed, pardon
me for saying that can but regard this
whole matter from beg ginning to end ae
aq attempt to incoyce me ia tie resistance
Of laar, for achich y0a heSdGted to assume
tie responsibility, in order thus to destroy
my character before the country. l am,
in a measure, confirmed in this conclu-
sion by your receUt orders directing me
to diso6ey orders from The Secretary Of
HIdr, my superior and yoar subordinate,
without having countermanded his au-
thority, l am to disobey.
In regard to the law which the Presi-
dent wished Gen. Grant to disobey, the
latter in one of his letters to the former
pointedly says:
''The law is binding on me, Constitu-
ton or mot, until set aside oy the prop
er tribunal"
These are the words Of a patriot and
an honest man.
The reading of the correspondence in
Congress elected from Republican men,
bers expressions of unbounded satisfac-
ton, and that satisfaction will be re-echo-
ed by the great masses of the people who
trust and confde in Gen. Grant. The
n. Y. Times concludes notice of this
correspondence in the words following:
Not less certain is it that. from the be-
ginning to the end, Gen. Grant acted un-
der an imperious sense of duty. lie ac-
cepted the dd interim appointment, he
explains, in order that some enemy Of |
Congress and its measures might not OBJ
tain control of the War Department, and
he relinquished it the moment Mr. Stan
ton was reinstated by the action of the
Senate, under the terms Of the Tenure of |
Office law. He would gladly have seen
a collision on the subject averted by the |
appointment of man acceptable to the |
Senate, and the withdrawal by Mr.. STAR
ton of his claims. But this mode of avert
ing difficulty having been found impra,-
ticible, he followed the dictates of his
Judgment, fulfilled his intimatinn to the
President, and obeyed the law by allow
ing Mr.. Stanton to resume his place in
the Department In all this we fail to
discover any trace of partisan or person.
al feeling. AT every step We see the sol
dier, considerate, conciliatory and just
clear in his IDEAS of duty and unbcnding
in their application. The same motive
which induced him to undertake tempo
rarily the labors of the War Office impel-
led him to give effect to the proceedings
OF the Senate and forced him to define
he causes and extent of difference with
he President.
Representative Democratic General.
The Democracy don't like Union Gen
erals. They are unreliable as allies.
Grant was once nearly cursed with their
but be is now the incarnation
IF evil in their eyes. Then Sherman