Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-05-19

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BILE to the place. His is just such :
case as the appointment of the in,
eligible revenue officers, by Mr.
McCulloch, only with this aggrava.
tion-no other suitable men could
be found for the revenue positions
Any number of eligible men could
be found to assume the governor
ship Of the territory. Yet, for al
lowing Mr.. McCulloeh to appoint
these indispensable men to fiscal
positions, Mr.. Sumner says Mr..
Johnson should have been i'm
lpeached and convicted and re-
moved.p How greater is Gen.
Grants offense? g sa-es--ai - ~
The nomination of Mr.. Stewart
was ignorance of law, the message
for his relief an attempted evasion
Of law, the cancellation Of the para
dons notification of law, the nom
ination of Mr.. Grove was known
disregard of law, because his disa-
bilities were understood, and within
the last few days has come to light
the systematic purpose of the Pres
ident TO decline to enforce either in
ternational law or the laws of neu~
trality against and upon such men
as make war upon Spain within the
United States, country with which
Spain is at peace. The breaches of
the neutrality laws by individuals
here, who wish to suecor insurrec-
ton in Cuba, are notorious. The
Presidents pleasure to learn of
this success in these breaches is as
I'patent in this city as the fact that
he smokes. How long would a
Radical Congress have delayed i'm
peachiDg Mr.. Horatio Seymour for
these acts were he in the White
House? How long would Mr.. John
son have escaped conviction on
articles of impeachment founded
not on the trash which those
against him were, but upon the
demonstrated violations and ignor-
ing of law which these facts show !?
How does the Presidents conceded
allowance of the fragrant violation
of the neutrality laws comport with
the loud virtue of his inaugural that
he "should execute the laws whether
he approved of them or not ?" How
does his conduct in the premises
letting the neutrality laws go by the
board-consist with his declaration
that he knew of no way to make
Objectionable laws appear so OBJ
nexious, Sand to get rid of them
as by rigidly enforcing them ?"
Evidently! to him the neutral
ity laws, as regards Cuba,
are obnoxious. Instead of
rigidly enforcing them," he
"gets rid of them" by letting them
alone, and by letting their violators
alone. Mr.. johnson, in the case of
the reconstruction laws, followed
the opinion of Attorney General
Stanberry. Mr.. Grant, in the case
Of the neutrality laws, is known to
be disregarding the opinions of the
Secretary of State. And the Radi-
cal papers applaud him for not de-
ferring to the opinion of Mr.. Fish,
just as they condemned Mr.. John
son for deferring to the counsel of
his law minister. saE
THE CHARACTER OF THE PRESIDENT.
A correct understanding of these
acts of the Executive can best be
obtained by a consideration of his
character as President. | have pur-
posely italicised the words las
President" because, as such, the
character of Grant is very different
from the characters he displayed
as boy, cadet, subaltern, tanner,
farmer, clerk, general and candi-
date, which careers and which char
acters have been adequately written
about. Since II o'clock on March
4, 1869, Mr.. Grant has in character
istics been wholly another sort Of
man than he was in any Of his pre-
vious relations. In classification
he should, l think, be called the
Leaning President, for he has in
every act reposed on some one for
assistance, direction and support.
He leaned on Senator Morton when
he wanted the tenure-o of office law
repealed. He then leaned on Mr..
Conkling when he accepted the
modification of the law. He leaned
on Mr.. Washburne in the original
draft of his cabinet. He leaned on
the Foreign Relations Committee of
the Senate when they told him to
nominate Mr.. Motley to England.
He leaned on John A. Griswold and
jackson S. Shultz when he nomi-
mated Mr.. Jay to Vienna. He leaned
on Mayor Bowen in making the
Washington appointments. He
leaned on the politicians when he
selected Mr.. Boutwell,. He leaned
on Senator Fenton in nominating
Gems. Merritt and Cornell, and on
the Union Leage in nominating Mr..
Grinnell, and on Horace Greeley
in commissioning Postmaster Pat
rick Jones. He leans on Gen.
Banks in reference to Cuba,
and for some time has been leaning
on Mr.. Sumner in reference to our
English affairs. W.
Indeed, in every act which has
been done by the President he has
leaned upon somebody, and, unfor-
tunately, like post men who do not
move, but who are moved, he has
been cursed by bad helpers. In this
city, where the administration is
enaeting, the personal aspect with
which every incident, every deter
mination, and every appointment, is
invested become real and graphic to
| the eve. What at distance seems an
| executive act is here known to be a
Banks act, Fenton act, Sumner
act, according as the case may be.
This suppression of the Individual
| ity of the President is attributed
here to three things: the utter civil
inexperience Of the Chief Magis-
trate, his sensitive and exaggerated
| idea of the intricacy and delicacy of
his duties, and his unconditional
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