The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-05-07
THE ASSAULT UPON PRESIDENT GRANT

There are to-day three boldly marked divt-
sions in American politics. These are the domi-
nant Republican element, the Copperhead, and
the less noisy yet stronger force which supports
the President. The former represents a radical,
victorious body of men, who, having had un
limited power placed in their hands, are intoxi-
Gated with it, In all the worlds history there is
no parallel to their lavish expenditures of trea-
sure. We have seen Rome rocked by civil wars
and foreign conquests; have seen empires ride
into power upon the ruins of the Roman repub-
lie; 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 owu civil strife. North and South
those who were the legislative leaders during
the Rebellion appeared to make it a rule to rake
INTO their own pockets and into those of their
friends the wondrous wealth which modern
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 manner
which can only be estimated by the two thou
sand six hundred millions of dollars of debt
which mark its track. So firmly have its mem
bers seated themselves in power that they no
longer represent the people whom they ori-
ginally used as stepping stone to political pre-
ferment. Congress is, in its unity, our dictator.
Each State has furnished a larger or smaller
number of particles to form this dictatoral
element.
But how of the Copperheads? They are a
curious combination. Among them are men
who. too cowardly to have well-defned Opt
Mon, maintained sort of political vagabondage
during our war. During the same period they
furnished from their ranks that element which,
behind our backs, was worse than a Rebel army
of two hundred thousand men. Since the war
they have taken advantage of the character of
that "bul in a 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
political 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 main, they were right.
He, with horns down. gored by friend and foe,
charged here and there. He beloved for 'my
policy" and the Constitution, to the delight of
Congress, to which he gave more power, and to
the joy of the Copperheads, whose sole hope of
Office was and is the keeping 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. 1t is the sturdy cOnserva-
tive heart of the country. 1t represents the
woman who, back of the seaboard cities gives
the nation its sinew and power. 1t comprises
the soldier who, on both sides, fought from the
conviction that he was doing his duty. 1t is
this element that firm as a rock, has saved us
from disintegration since the war closed. 1t is
this both copperhead and Republican have tried
to control-the one trying to gain power the
other to perpetuate it. Both parties felt that
President Grant had the strongest hold upon
this sturdy backbone of the country, and it be-
came desperate game which should nominate
him for the Presidency. Grant took the Repub-
lcan 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
nT sir cd thn sill lnt,t
but irresistible governing force of the United
States-the common sense of lhe 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 Copper
| head and Democrat, in their attempts to stir
civil hatreds into action, represent the second.
| President Grant represents the third. He is the
| sole exponent of all the force that gives us
national cOhesiveness at home and national
| respect abroad 1t 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 nitrate system of rings" that held
and dictated the methods of public plumber
were at the heels of Congress and urged its
hung upon its power to force its instruments
into office. United States Senators went so fal
as to dictate to the President who should and
who should not be nominated or confirmed
Their colleagues sustained them in this dicta.
tion. Again the Copperhead press, true to its
principles to create turmoil, immediately opened
upon the Executive The whole hungry pack
which it represents echoed the howl.
The President has stood the assault well. He
has thrown them the bones and they are now
purring over them. This gives him time tC
look about him and study his position. He mus
discover that the Congressional party that haC
him forced upon them are bent upon making
him nOnentity in the Government-that thu
Copperheads and Democrats are but q crowd o
political Rip Van Wrinkles. He can therefore
turn nowhere for support except to the yeo
manry and the common sense of the country
that gave him his fame, enshrined him as thu
commander who saved us from national disinte
grafton, and virtually made him President. Their
is yet greater victory in store for him than an,
he has won. His first step towards it is to reor
ganize his Cabinet and place young energet
and able men in the chairs of those who repre-
sent 1900 instead of 1869. Doing this, the peopl
will feel that their President really places him
self at their head and is willing TO fill the posi-
tion which they have given to him. Doing this
and ignoring Republican and Copperhead, Presi
dent Grant viii take the initiative in the organi
zation of party which can within three year
sweep away the existing ones with all their OF
solete ideas, dictatoral proceedings and corruI
tions.