The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-04-01
SPIRIT or THE PRESS.
EDITORIAL OPINIONS or rae LEADING JOURNALS
UPoN CURRENT ToPIos-ooMPILRD KvBRT
DAY PoR THE EVENING rRLReRAPH
President Grant

at the outset OF his administration with the
vindictveness shown by the Democratic press
to President Grant. In all free governm ants
the least courtesy auy party in opposition
can show to a new administration is patience.
The transition from one rule to another Is
awkward and oftentimes attended WIN jars
and stumbling. The men who come In now
are new to their work, aud to each other.
Until they gain this knowledge, matters VIII
90 slowly. A new government generally
means a new policy, and any new policy is, to
a certain extent experimental. There ls the
Olamorous appealing of men who want office.
Their claims are eagerly pressed, and IN
many cases their claims are just. The
old politician who wants rest, the young
politician who Graves for honors, the
s'friends" of Senators and Representatives and
men high in station - the multitudinous
gathering OF ambitious party men-who de-
msnd recognition" all press upon the new
President. Every expectant goes to Wash
ington with his own ideas of his services 10
the party. AS these ideas are only limited by
the vanity or the ambition of each particular
candidate, a slight knowledge of human nature
will show the vastness and turbulence of the
currents of offce-beggars which sweep around
the President. We presume there are ten
men asking for Office to one that can be ap-
pointed. The disappointments that cOme from
this form a large part of the veXation and
criticism which attend the beginning OF every
new administration.
There is also peculiar trouble attending
any new Government that begins with the
pelicy of reform. General Grant is the Pres-
dent of reform. The Republican party dwelt
upon that feature of it's platform with repeated
emphasis. We know how slow every reform
must be--how patiently an administration
must labor to accomp plish 1t, and how very
difficult 1t is to realize the dreams OF enthusi-
astio and imaginative supporters. Andrew
johnson was a bad President and the tone Of
our Government was reduced by him to a
lower pitch than at any former period of our
history. It was bad enough under Jackson
and Tyler; but with all their faults they COM
manded personal respect. Mr.. Johnson was
disliked both as man and President, except
by a small circle of bad men, This dislike
eliminated in yesrning for Grant, SO general,
so deep, we might almost say 80 plaintive and
sentimental, that when it was really known
he was President the joy was rapturOus and
exulting. Men said in their gladuess:-"Now
we shall have peace, security, reform, econo-
my, strength, good harvests, stimulated COM
merce, better currency, and every blessing
of good government Well, men may vow
reformation, and declare that seven half-penny
loaves shall be sold for penny When an
unpopular minister was once overthrown in
England the poets sang of ministry by
which 'private life" could be by "wise acts
ner5 framed. The fall of Disraei and the
accession of Gladstone and Bright we have no
doubt meant to many hopeful Englishmen the
instant remedy of every evil under which the
British people have suiered-Irelaud pscifed,
labor happy and more content. These good
results, and all good results, only come with
patience and effort and time
After fever the body is weak, and after
dissipation the natural sources are clogged
and sluggish. Thus it is with man-and to a
certain sense with nations We have gone
through war, and have been dissipating with
an inflated currency, and a vast debt, and a
weakened credit, and wasting our substance
in a hundred ways. For eight years we have
suffered from the war and Andrew Johnson,
and because the President in the twenty five
days of his government has not succeeded in
reseuing us from all these evils, he is held up
to public scorn as a failure-as a ruler who
does not comprehend the duties of his station
as mere "man on horseback" F" insensible
to the wants and wishes of the country. He has
done nothing but blunder, we are told His
Cabinet is q ''blunder." Well, let us look at
that The Secretary of State cannot have a
policy less in harmony with the country than
that of the former "deacon." The Secretary
of the Treasury is as much better than the
one who preceded him as it is possible for COM
parison to express. In the place of Browning
and his Indian and railroad scandals, we have
mau OI commanding aDihty ana purity Oh
character. Randall has given place to Cres-
well, and Evarts resigns the Office which he
bought with price, to one of the wisest and
best men in Massachusetts,. Mr.. Borie takes
experience, culture, responsibility, purity OF
character, and business eminence into the
office where Mr.. Welles has sat so long like
the Old Man of the Sea. With the exception
of Washipgton's first Cabinet, which contained
Jefferson and Hamilton, and Mouroe's Cabinet
which had Quincy Adams, Crawford, Calhoun
Mclean, and Writ, aud probably Polk's, will
Buchanan, Walker, Marcy, and Baucroft
the Cabinet of President Grant is as stronJ
in intellectual force as the Cabinet of an,
former President. We exps3t great dea
from Mr.. Boutwell, in mis- great Office, anC
especially from Mr.. Creswell aud. Genera
Cox. The Cabinet is not the only "blun
DER" however. The appointment OF MI
Well lawyers like Hendricks voted for tn
confirmation, and many men leafns
in the law argued that AIR. Stewar
could take his portfolio. We did no
agree with them. Mr.. Stewart would hav
pleased us as Secretary, but we were no
pleased with the manner in which he pro
posed to be Secretary. We differed with tn
President. He was wise enough to change hi
mind. After four years OF the irresolut
mulishness of Andrew Johnson, let us than
Heaven that we have a man who can chang
his mind. The Stewart business was, pei
haps, clumsy but it was the clumsiness OF a
honest man trying to do wise thing. Th
smallest of A. J.'s vetoes did hundred Tins
more harm. AS to the patronage thus far, "
have better proportion of good men goiu
into Office than We have seen for many yearI
The clamor about family and personal a,
n0intmanta ia onlv tho old cry of tI,o 49,, II