Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-03-11
THE NEW ADMINISTRATION.
fhe Late IHauguratlOn-The New Ca b.
met and its Probable Reconsfrue-
ion-Deeiine eff tue Presidents Pres
iige- Possible War BefWeen Grant
and the Politicians.

preStiSe during the four DAYS viii,
have elapsed since his inauguratic
as President than his. bitterest tr
Queer could have expected him
lose in as many months. The il
auguration itself was so awkward
conducted, and surrounded viii
such trashy mimicry of Europea
lpomp, as to seem rather farcic.
than imposing. A heterogeneou
street procession, made up of fin
companies, Republican Invincible:
negro Boys in Blue, cotton cape:
United States soldiers, militia CON
panies from the rural districts an
brass bands, trudged along benin
Gen. Grants carriage to the capitol
When the General entered the Sen
ate Chamber, he was not directed {,
a seat, and was obliged to inquir
for it. He pointed appealingly t
one or two chairs before finding tn,
seat assigned to him, and looked 81
lonely when he got into it, that Sen
| atOr Cameron went over and stoo,
by him a little while to keep hin
company. The eagerness of all per
sons admitted to the Senate Cham
Der to witness the Inauguration GER
emory outside was so great that the
procession, headed by the Justices
of the Supreme Court and the Pres
ident elect, was disorganized and
almost overwhelmed by the rush of
Senators and Congressman before il
reached the central portico of the
capitol. There it had to descend
halfway down the fight of marble
steps to the platform-a proceeding
which, in full view of the multitudes
assembled in Capitol Square might
have been rather stately and i'm
pressive if it had been attended with
decorum. Once out of the door,
way, however, the retinue sacrificed
every appearance of dignity and
order and engaged in a pell nell
scramble for good places on the
platform below. The crowds who
had descended from the Senate gal
leries also came on at this iuncture,
overwhelming the last remnants of
the procession and hustling even the
diplomatic corps out of its staid
prOpriety.
Thus General Grant, hemmed in
and jostled on every side, advanced
to the front of the platform more
like criminal pursued by a mob,
and about to be hanged, than like a
citizen decorously attended and
about to receive the highest hOnOrs
of the republic He looked, in fact,
helplessly taken in hand by the stal
wart politicians who surrounded
him; and Il certain expression on
his face seemed TO indicate that he
was himself not quite pleased with
the manner in which he was being
thrust forward into the glare of the
public eye. Disregarding the Gus
tom of his predecessors, President
Grant took the oath of Office before
his inaugural address.
AS no intimation that he would do
this had been conveyed to the mas
ter of the public ceremonies, the ar
tillery salute, ringing of bells and
braying of brass instruments which
were intended to follow the address,
rent the AIR with a beTilderment of
noise, Immediately after Chief JUS
tice Chase administered the oath.
This caused a delay of several mos
ments, during which the new Presi-
dent was also saluted by the cheers
of his countrymen. Those appro-
bative patriots, having tried their
lungs once, tried them again. Yells
of every graduation pealed along the
and did not cease after the
President commenced his reading.
the engine bells and brass
bands would not intermit their clam
or; so that nobody a hundred feet
off could hear a syllable of the adj
dress on account of the noise. Pho
tographers, perched on temporary
stands in the centre of the square,
leveled their cameras at the platform,
and succeeded in taking an indis-
tinct likeness of the scene for the
benefit of their pockets and the
of pOsterity. And then
President Grant bowed, and the
Chief Justice bent forward and con-
him; and Senator Conk-
ling had the honor of saying some~
thing to him, to which he responded
by sphynx-like stare and the
multitude roared again, and the as
semblage on the platform removed
its hats and said in a loud voice
"Hurrah for Grant, President of the
United States ~ How the politi-
clans swarmed around him then,
each to utter his honeyed little sen
tence, you can imagine.
In this wise the presidency was
conferred upon man who accepted
it, as he said, without fear" and
with, perhaps, over confidence in
his independent ability to manage
it. His inaugural address was evil
IDENTIFY written by himself. Nobody
else had anything to do with it. Its
strange, selfconfident tone discOm-
posed his friends and nettled his
adversaries of the Radical party in
Congress and when the nomina-
lions for the new cabinet were sent
in next day, some Senator'S on the
Radical side of the chamber were as
disposed as ever men were to initiate
row. Policy alone kept them ST.
lent; but the chagrin of Senators
like Sumner, Howe, FentOn and
CONFESS, (whO had long anticipated
for himself a portfolio under the
new administration manifested
itself in muttered sarcasms. There
was an uneasy, dissatisfied feeling
in the Senate and in the House all
that day and night, which was not
at all allayed by the ironical express
sions of Democratic members of
both houses, 1t was felt that this
incongruous cabinet which Presi-
dent Grant had called about him
was not only absurdly lacking in
craftsmanship and experience, but
of altogether too conservative
a complexion. Dir. Washburne's
years and long public service have
won for him in the House a defer