The Republican journal., 1869-04-01
Grants Significance.


Grants Significance.
The kennebec Journal commences an
article on the nomination Of the ex-rebel
General Longstreet to lucrative office, as
follows
The appointment of General Longstreet as
Surveyor at the Port of New Orleans Is an act
of great significance on the part of President
Grant.
That is true. 1t has significance, and
very sad one, to class of men among us.
We meet daily in the streets those who
fought on the other side of the contest from
that espoused by Sen. Longsreet, and who
are qualified to fill the offices in the gift Of
Gen. Grant in this vicinity. Col. Hersey
received painful and disabling wound in
Louisiana. Capt. Fogler will carry to his
grave the marks of rebel bullets. Capt.
Bean got a severe hurt at Bull Run. There
are others Of similar record, who might be
mentioned, but these will suffice for exam
pie. These gentlemen are qualified in every
way to fill the local positions of Collectors,
Assessors, Postmaster, &c. Will they get
them? Who, in the scramble for place
that is going on, has heard the name of one
of them mentioned as having show for
success? No-iu despite of past pledges
and promises, in the face Of all that appeals
to a sense of fairness, justice and right,
such men are thrust into the ground
left with the loss of health and the sacrifice
of property, to shift for themselves, while
shrewder and sharper men and more ex-
perience politicians, clutch the prizes This
| is too VIGOROUSLY true to be for moment
denied. Such is radical gratitude to the
soldier.
Now look at the other end of the Union,
and note the practice there. Gen. Long
street, who was educated at the public ex-
pense at West Point, who fought for four
years to destroy the Union, using all his
skill to kill and main Union soldiers, re-
ceives one of the best offices in the country.
Why is this? Is it to reward virtue ?-or
stimulate patriotism or as an example to
the rising generation: Oh no-none of
these. The Journal itself tells why it is
done
If score of men like Longstreel would take
Office in the South on President Grants terms,
the Democratic party would feel the loss Sc
| and lioa rtu ha
respondingly strengthened.
That's it. We must overlook the claims
of Union soldiers, and reward treason, i'll
order to strengthen the party! No matter
how long he fought against the Union, or
how red his hands are with the blood Of
the North, if he will now lay hold of the
drag ropes and help along g our party
No matter that he first swore to support the
| United States, and then the Confederacy,
and now re-swears for the Union. Per jury
is nothing, even when double and twisted,
if he supports the party
One of the recent Presidents announced
at the outset that he had mo friends to re-
ward, and no enemies to punish" Giant 8
appointments thus far Indicate that he has
enemies to reward and friends to punish, in
abundance And of all the barefaced sac
rifce of principle to bald party expediency,
this particular act Of Grants must bear
away the palm.
Such transaction, like pitch, defiles all
who touch it. Longstreet cannot fail to
sink into contempt in the estimation of every
honorable man. The meanest confederate
who stacked his arms and went back to his
ruined home, must despise the man who
becomes an aposta.e, and cringes for dirty
pelf to the radical whips. To fight four
years for State rights and then espouse cen
tralized despotism-to combat for white
mans government, and then embrace the
fifteenth amendment ~ are positions too
wide apart to have been honestly taken.