The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-05-12

ing. I did, however, seek that inter
view for the purpose of protesting
against the sweeping changes which
were being made in the officials of my
State, whereby men who we're among
the best Republicans and the bravest
soldier in that State, were being re-
moved for no ~assignable cause, and
an entirely different class of nen in
stalled in their places.
During that interview I was as
founded and panied to hear from the
lips of the President the assertion
that "where any man had held office
during the past year and a half, il
was presumptive evidence that he was
q Johnson man."
I repeat that / was astounded and
panied by this remarkable declaration,
for it plainly said that, n~otwithstand.
ing the fact that fully half the of,
icers of the country, were filled by
earnest, active Radical Republicans
and soldiers, the Presidents warmest
political friends and supporters, they
must all go, to give place to the hordes
of bargaining politicians and place
hunters who for the past few weeks
have blocked the Halls and swarmed
in the of the Capitol.
7 We have in Kansas not less than
thirty thousand soldiers, fully three
ffths of the whole number OF her vo-
tiers. They represent largely the in
telligence, education. and enterprise of
the State. During the last rear and
a half our Federal officers have. been
largely filled by them. The balance
OF those appointments have been from
the civil walks, and nearly all of both
classes are earnest Radical Republi-
cans, leaders of public opinion, and
friends and supporters of the present
Administration; and appointed more
over, in nearly every instance, upon
the recommendation of the united
congressional delegation of the State.
During no preceding two years of
the history of Kansas have those pos
itions been more ably, faithfully, or
ittingly filed, in any respect; if in
deed all the requirements of fitness
have " before been so fully an
swered.
Yet, in the face of this undeniable
fact, and of the oft-repeated declara-
ton of the President that changes in
the offices of the country should be
made only for cause, a portion of the
delegation of that State has demand
ed, and the President has conceded,
their summary dismissal, on the mere
charge of want of fealty TO the Repub-
lican party, which charge, in many in
stances, those making it knew to be
false and s~landerous.
Nor is this all. Scarcely man has
been appointed to those positions from
the ranks OF that great army of heroes
who so largely represent the manhood
of that State. and who went out with
their lives in their hands, to endure
hunger and fatigue, and cold and heat,
that we might sit here as the repre-
sentatives of q country saved.
But in their stead we have appoint
ed over US skulkers in times of dang
ers, and men VIGOROUSLY unfit for any
public trust. In enc instance a gal
liant soldiers, eminently qualified for
the position he held, and who will go
a cripple to his grave, is displaced by
a man who not only enjoyed the secur-
ity OF his freside during the war, but
is known to have been a pro-slavery
sympathizer during the border ruffian
disturbances of the then Territory.
: In another, a soldier is dismissed
to make room for a mere c~amp-follow-
who made it his occupation during
the war to plumber the Government at
every turn, and fill his own purse
with the Ill gotten gains of stolen beef.
In still another, a brave and gallant
as ever drew a blade, who en-
the armya private and won his
eqaulets with his sword, is displaced by
4 man whose only recommendation, in
The eyes of those to whom heowes his
appointment, is his personal hostility
and defamation of myself. This
consideration, in fact, will apply to
nearly every appointment that has yet
been made in my State. The acknowl-
military services and past faith
ful political and official records of the
all 60 for nothing when
weighed against that paramount and
lll.essential qualification of having
been my persistent and fierce calumnia-
tors, and the fiercer the better, in the
of those who are the new
patrons of these appointees.
The faithful, intelligent, and infiuen-
,ial Radical Republican, be he soldier
Or civilian, may go back to his law,
his farm, or his shop. This Admins
has no use for his services,
however valuable they may have been,
The has held Office during the last
year and a half. and has not had the
sagacity to ward off the coming storm
5y a timely and wholesome personal
1enunciation of myself. 1t was not
that these gentlemen should
everywhere, and decisively dis
sent from the policy of President
Johnsen, and from the course which /
best to pursue which / believ-
the Republican party was has
to its own and the country's de-
,truction, but having failed to burrow
into the deeps of SANDER and personal
vituperation, it counts nothing, and
they must go.
i" The soldier may look back with
proud satisfaction upon the record of
Ills -four years gallant service he may
recall the bloody scenes of that history,
all of which he saw and part of which
he was, and count the nights and days
Of hunger and" toll, and of mortal
danger cheerfully b,rne in behalf of the
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