The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1869-08-19
A Radical Paper on the Administration.

In his.inaugural address, referring to our
| foreign policy, Gen. Grant told the cOun-
| try that he should deal with nations as
equitable law requires individuals to deal
with each other; that he should protect
native and fOreign-bOrn citizens wherever
our flag floated; that while respecting the
rights of all nations, he would demand
equal respect for our own; and that if
other powers should depart from this rule,
| he might be compelled to follow their pre-
cedent.
These brave words foreshadowed bold
and vigorous policy. They received the
warm approval of our own people, ir-
respective of party, and arrested the atten-
ton and excited the comment of foreign
powers. The English and French Jour
mails, rejecting, no doubt, the opinions of
their leading statesmen, tried to argue
themselves into the belief that these dec
larations were capable of a pacific con-
struction, while they freely admitted that
they betokened determination on the
part of the new President to conduct our
foreign affairs in a spirit more firm, deci
sive, and truly American than had of late
years marked our history.
The past five months have afforded fire.
quent occasions for putting the sincerity
Of Gen. Grants manifesto to the test.
Have the hopes it inspired at home, and
the fears it excited abroad, been realized
On the contrary, have not his sonorOus
words turned out to be the merest fanfare
nadey Is there an instance in the
history of the country when the adj
ministratiOn has been so subservient to
any foreign power as that of Grant has
been to SPAIN
Our neutrality laws, more stringent
than those of any European monarchy,
are in Sntagonism with the genius of our
people. Nevertheless, the most conspicu-
Gus act of the present administration is the
rigorous execution of this code against an
oppressed colony whose republican patri-
OTIS, nobly outstripping every example of
history, began their revolution by decree
ing the abolition of slavery, and are still
struggling to throw off the yoke of n des-
pOtism that has fostered the slave trade,
maintained liccntiOus court, and forbade
the education of the people, and is now
trying in vain to sell its crown in the
market overt of Europe Indeed, so busy
has the Administration been in enforcing
this exceptional code in the interest of
Spanish despots and slave-mongers, that
it has not found time to faithfully execute
some of the ordinary revenue laws of our
own country
And how has the Administration re-
deemed its pledge to protect citizens,
whose rights are not put in jeopardy
merely, but are actually sacrificed? Ameri-
can citizens pine in British prisons for
words spoken on this side of the Atlantic,
and no remonstrance is heard from our
Secretary of State. They are shot in
cold blood and without trial in Cuba, and
our State Department is dumb, while one
of the national vessels stationed in the
waters contiguous to that Inflated island,
and which might have afforded protection
to the victims of Spanish cruelty, is
ordered home to convey the President and
portion of his Cabinet on junketing tours
| to Long Branch or Newport.
AS to the Alabama matter, it remains IN
stotu quo, and its mismanagement has eX-
cited such profound contempt in the
| masses of our citizens, that it is doubtful
| whether the Administration would not
/ lose rather than gain by attempting to stir
it up again. Certainly, unless it handles
| this stale subject with good deal more
| skill and in far loftier American spirit
| than has characterized the rest of its
| foreign policy, it had better let it alone
| AT all events, We ought not to instruct our
Minister to sidle around ST. James Palace
with the air of needy chapman dunning
a naughty creditor, and begging to know
when it will suit the convenience of the
foreign Secretary to look over our bill
In a word, the foreign policy of this
Administration, proclaimed in sonOrous
phrases from the steps of the capitol in
/ March, has thus far proven to be one OF
the most pusillanimOus in the history OF
the countrywide York Sun, August IL.