The New York herald., 1869-05-06
Tho Assault Of the Republicans and Copper
heads Upon President Grant.

Ahcio arc to-uay tnTee Doluly iuai nou oA'A
sions in American politics. These are the
dominant republican element, the copperhead,
and the less noisy yet stronger force which
supports the President. The former repre-
sents radical victorious body of men, who,
having had unlimited power placed in their
hands, are intoxicated with it, In all the
worlds history there Is no parallel to their
lavish expenditures of treasure. We have
seen Rome rocked by civil wars and foreign
conquests; have seen empire ride into power
upon the ruins of the Roman republic; we
have seen France, England and the German
countries run through centuries Of war; but
the debt, the expenditures, the corruptions
and the plundering which have followed the
wreck of their national morality have been
light in comparison to those which have charac-
terized our own civil strife. North and South,
those who were the Legislative leaders during
the rebellion appeared to make it rule to
rake into their own pockets and into those of
their friends the wondrous wealth which mod
ern prosperity had poured upon the United
States. In the North Congress has held the
reins, and, mounted upon our national treasure
box, with the people in harness, has driven in
a manner which can only be estimated by the
of debt which mark its track. So firmly have
its members seated themselves in power that
they no longer represent the people whom they
originally used as stepping stone to political
preferment. Congress is, in its unity, our die
tator. Each State has furnished a larger or
smaller number of particles to form this dcta-
torial element.
But how of the copperheads? They are a
curious combination. Among them are men
who, too cowardly to have well defined
opinion, maintained sort of political vaga-
bondage during our war. During the same
period they furnished from their ranks that
element which, behind our backs, was worse
than q rebel army of two hundred thousand
men. Since the war they have taken advan-
tage of the character of that ''bull in china
shop" Andy johnson, and have stirred up
large masses of the people, North and South,
with the fallacious idea that the war settled
nothing, that slavery still exists that no polit-
cal conditions have been changed, that three
hundred thousand shareholders even now hold
the power, that steam and electricity are
Dreams, that all the gentlemen are South and
that their education North counts for nothing,
that England cannot breathe without American
cotton-that, in fact, eight years of desperate
war and political turmoil have had no results.
They surrounded the Presidential bull and per-
suaded him that, in the MAN, they were right
He, with horns down, gored by friend and
foe, charged here and there. He beloved for
s'my policy" and the 'constitution" to the de-
light of Congress, to which he gave more
power, and to the joy of the copperheads,
whose sole hope of office was and is the keep
ing of the country in an unsettled condition.
There is another element. 1t is that off of
which all this republican and copperhead war
scum has grown fat It is the sturdy conser-
vative heart Of the country. 1t represents the
yeoman who, back of the seaboard cities, gives
the nation its sinew and power. II comprises
the soldier who on both sides, fought from the
conviction that he was doing his duty 1t il
this clement that, firm as rock, has saved us
from disintegraiion since the war closed. 1t is
this both copperhead and republican have tried
to control-.he one trying to gain power, the
other to perpetuate ii. Both parties felt thai
President Grant had the strongest hold uppr
this sturdy backbone of the country, and 1t be-
came desperate game which should nominate
him for the Presidency. Grant took the repub-
lican road because of the two offered it was the
cleaner. The republican party got the name
of electing their President /; but this party in
the election of Grant simply recognized the
silent but irresistible governing force of the
United States-the common sense of the
people.
We have thus pictured three distinctive
political elements. Two Of them were even
before the war too vile for national good, but
now they are reeking with the corruption which
testers in the last eight years Of our history.
Congress represents the dominant one. Cop
perhead and democrat, in their attempts to stir
civil hatreds into action, represent the second.
President Grant represents the third. He
lS tuc bOlt cApOutHt vi ah tAt iViOc that
gives us national cohesiveness at home and
national respect abroad. II is to him that the
common sense of the country turns, with the
hope that he will express, by word and act,
the will of the people.
1t was in opposition to the contending repub-
lican and copperhead elements that Grant took
his seat. The hounds at once set upon him.
The force they brought to bear was terrific.
The vast and intricate system Of ''rings" that
held and dictated the methods Of public plunder
were at the heels Of Congress and urged its
members to the attack. Congressional saliva
tion hung upon its power to force its instru-
ments into office. United States Senator'S
went so far as to dictate to the President
who sbould and who should not he nomi-