Des Arc weekly citizen., 1869-01-05
Leading Radicals Apprehensfve
 that Grant will JOhnsOnfzc.

|
 The Washington correspondent Q
 the Cincinnati Enquirer writes;
 Will Grant incline to Conservatism Should he so incline, will he be abl'
 to match his inelinations by perform
 amce? These are the questions whict emgross the solicitude of the Radica
 and Conservative politicians here. The
 Democrats are serene. Whether, as they expect, they arc to be- the party of criticism, or whether, as some ol their opponents fear, they are to Sep resent the policy, if not to share the patronage of the Administration, they are equally satisfied to stand on prin- ciple in either case. In no event will they strain point or yield an iota Of conviction to please or antagonize the ensuing Executive. Why do the Re publicans fear, and why are they troubled? For three reasons: First, they are never sure of the tealty of their candidate. They professedly nominated him because he was an available, not because he was a sure man. They do not know to-day whether Grant stands with the party he belonged to at the end of the Lin coin administration, or whether he has stood on the Chicago resolution of 1868. as stepping-stones to success, or from changed convictions. Secondly, they fear the moderating influences of power and position upon Grant, and apprehend that it may work the same change it did ill President Johnson, who began as hangman and ends as a Conservative. Power softens. 1t does not require week for man to learn that he is President of the United States of America and not of a faction. As Executive, courtesy, custom and necessity make him accessible to all parties. They all have their say. They all have reasonst to give, influence 10 press, and they all represent power ful interests and constituencies. Thus it was with the present Chief Magis
 trate. Before he had been in month, the sober and practical sense of Mont gomery Blair, William L. Sharkey. Robert J. Walker, James k. Doolittle, and such men, was potential in his councils. His Cabinet, too, not ex- cepting even Stanton, felt the same sweet odor of place steal away their sharpness ere they were aware. That the same influences will not be pre- scented to Gen. Grant cannot be affirm ed. As President he will be bound to be every mans nearer. That the same influences will move Gen. Grant is a question which the future must solve. IL al. depends on what manner of man he is. To decare that these influences will not avail presupposes remarkable stolidity on the part of the General. This stolidity is a sense he always has had. It has been evident in his siien- ces and in his driving persistence. But it has never. popular impression to the contrary notwithstanding. been char acterized by an indifference to the counsel of others. In all his relations with the Government, General Grant older heads. His singular and stulti- flying attitude in modern politics marks exactly the degree of facing both ways, which has commonly char acterized every politician of the Radi- cal party in tho country. He is an eminently imprcssible man in every thing not connected with his army ad- miuistration and military. tactics. Even in them he is animated in the sense of following the hammer-home course, and in the traditional belief that five can whip two. But in all new subjects he is docile, and in the the new field open before him he will be exposed to the best teachings from the whole country, and from men who, having no personal favors to seek, do seek with self-abnegation the good of the people of all sections. That Gen. Grant will be deaf to all these voices from the press is more than his worst opponents ever painted him. That these voices will be exceeded in per sistence and policy by the opposing counsellors of the Radical party, is an assertion which is so hardy as to ap- prove great ignorance of how senti- ment is made and how influence is ex- erted at the capital.