The Elk advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Elk Co., Pa.) 186?-1868, 1868-02-22
ssencycts Grans,s Surrender.


lf-G Goueral Grant had been placed in
command of fortress by. the President,
he would hardly have considered it
consistent with his honor to surrender
the post except to irresistible force,
without first consulting his lawful com
mandcr .in-chief. Had he been in Ma.
jor Anderson's place in Fort Sumter,
would he have held the post any less
tenaciously than that officer did? How
does his surrender of the War Office
on the first summons, differ from the
surrender of any other post without the
consent, nay, against the known will OF
his superior officer The hopelessness
of resistance alone justifies, to a consc
cntious subordinate, the surrender of
any trust without consulting the party
from whom the trust has been received.
1t would have been no excuse to Major
Anderson Tor surrenGering Fort Sumter
that all lawyers in the land told him
that the law req-l;red him to ev1cuate.
Process of the courts might haee justi-
fed his giving it up, but his own con-
struction of the law, or the construction
ofany numtcr of lawyers whom he had
chosen to consult, would not have clear.
cd him from dishonor if he had yielded
the post without The order of the Presi-
dent The duty Of constituting the
scope and rheating OF laws has never
been dcvolved on the general OF the ar.
my. The duty of.interpretiug the law,
when its meaning is disputed between
parties having an interest in the guess
tion that arises, is conferred on and lin
tied to the courts Of justice. The Pres.
idcnt has the same right to appeal for
protection of the courts as has themcan.
est man in the community. A subor~
dinate in private business, who should,
By neglect or intention, sacrifice the le-
gal rights Of his priucipal; clerk, an
agent, or an attorney who should, Of his
own motion, deprive the principal Of the
opportunity of appealing to the courts,
who should give up to the opponent Of
bis principal anything the possession Of
which was in dispute between that op.
poneut and his principal, would be uni
versally regarded as faith!css, A sub.
ordinate of the President who under
takes to barter away any rights of the
President must be equally regarded as
laithless to plain duty. We have de,
tailed accounts on the one side Of promo
ises said to have been made, by General
Grant to retain the War Office, in his
hands until the law, speaking through
its proper agents, the courts, should
force him out Of it. We have, on the
other side, general, not an authentic,
denial Of any such promise, but no de-
tailed account Of what General Grant is
willing to admit he did say. A verbal
promise in the case is mcra surplusago.
The statements about the promise and
the denial Of them are OF little conses
qucnce. The facts are we'll known and
undisputcd, namely, that General Grant
assumed the Office in obedience to orders
from his military chief just as he would
have assumed any 'other duty assigned
to him, and that he gave up the post
without consulting his superior This
fact it is which has damaged General
Grants repute as straightforward man.
Whether the words connected with this
fact we're many or few or none is mats
tel of no consequence, unless words
from the President can be shown giving
his consent to General Grants abandon
ment OF the post. The Certificate of a
vote of the Senate is not the form il
which military men receive their orders.
The vote OF the Senate may have been
an order binding upon the President,
making it his duty to restore Mr., Stano
ton, but it was for the President to pro
mul gate this order to his subordinate,
and to enforce obedience to 1t. IF the
President was cOntumacious, Congress
had its remedy in impeachment. Gen
eral Grant has deserved we'll of his
country, and the people have not been
backward in comforting upon him subs
stahtial tokens that they recognize his
merit. Men of all parties admired his
manifestations of good sense, and simple
adherence to truth aud duty, when he
was before the Impeachment Commit
tee. We believe him strong enough TO
break through all the snares which willy
politicians might set. They have trip
ped him at last. If he does not hold
himself bound to surrender back 10 the
President powers which he derived sole,
ly from the President, he may not be
ready at the proper time TO surrender to
the people powers which they may en-
trust to him. Instead of being safe
man, he may be the most dangerous
man in the country to whom the people
conld ccnfde their interests.-Round
Table (Indcpepdent)
rSs~ The Democracy of Reading won a
glorious victory yesterday. They elect
ed their candidate for Auditor, Dr.
diester NJ. Maggie, by 4 majority of 1886,