Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-03-19


ION This Line"-Or That.
If there was anything to admire IL
President GRANTS inaugural and in thu
men whom he appointed tc Cabinet posi-
tons and the manner in which he ap
pointed them, it was the perfect inditfer
ence, nay, the seeming defiance with which
he coulted the frowns of the politicians Of
the country. It was declaration of wal
against the custom which had formerly
obtained of permitting the leaders of the
party to dictate the policy and fashion the
Cabinet of the incoming Presidents de-
termination to Eight it out On this line. ,
If ever President declared that he could
dispense with the aid or friendship of the
politicians it was GRANT. It was hailed
throughout the South as promising omen
of practical, and not. as a matter OF
course inimical, administration to their
interests
The want of enthusiasm with which the
Cabinet appointments were received in
Congress rapidly developed. first into dis
content, and then into actual hostility upon
the part of the politicians, and breach
with them and the administration was i'm
minent GRANT felt the pulse Of the Senate
by asking for the removal of STEWART
disabilities, but SUMNER was immovable,
and checked the overture. This approach,
thus gently stopped, Was quickly followed
by direct refusal to repeal the Tenure-of
Office Act, and its reference to the Ju-
dietary Committee, decent parliamentary
burying- g-ound. In this movement the
incorrigible SUMNER lead, and was fully
sustained in this, as in the first, by WILSON.
The resignation Of STEWART was filed, and
then came the war between the President
and the politicians as to who should form
the Cabinet.
General GRANT had tried the temper of
the Senate twice during the first week of
his administration, and had been as often
repulsed. His i'll success had taken some
of the egotism out of his inaugural, and his
courage commenced to ooze out at the ends of
his fingers. Beginning to see that he could
not get on entirely without the aid Of the
politicians, he concluded to courttheir favor.
Unable to fight it out on this line, he
sought safety in discretion and determined
to light it out On hot So no surrendered,
if not at discretion, at least upon their
terms. SUMNER was insidiously approached
to procure tho resignation Of Judge HoAR.
but positively declined any interference, as
he had not been consulted in the selection.
Standing firmly upon high grounds. he
preferred to bring the infexible GRANT to
his feet, and he succeeded. New England,
so insignifcanuin population and territory,
yet controlling the Senate through her
twelve Senators, eight of whom are chair
men of important Senate Committees,
must be soothed. SUMNER and Will
son, leading the head and front of the OPP
position. must first be appeased, and al
though their State had already one repre-
sentative in the Cabinet, their demand
must be needed. boutwell,, al able,
earnest Radical, of the extreme school of
politics, entirely different in every respect
from the men with whom the President
had surrounded himself, and whose fnan-
cial views must necessarily be SO opposite
to those of the leading importing mer
chant of the country, to whose vacancy
he was appointed, was forced into the i'm
portant position of Secretary of the Treas
ury. We look now for speedy repeal of
the offensive Act and the renewed friend
ship of the Massachusetts, Senators.
When General GRANT dispatched from
the Wilderness that he would Eight it
out on this line" he reckoned without his
host. Changing his base, however, he &C
complished by force of numbers and the
tactics of attrition what he was unable to
do by military strategy. Now as then, he
has superior numbers with him and supe-
rior skill against him. If he will only dis
play the same logged pertinacity in civil
as he did in military affairs, he may yet
triumph over the politicians in spite of
their important advantages in the start
As we believe ne is more honest, less vim
dictive and more patriotic than they, we
declare ourselves his friends in the contest.
If he begun the contest with too much
confidence in his powers, let him make up
his mistake by untiring energy and deter
minatien. If he fail on this line, at least
he must fight it out on that
English Estates and American Heirs.-A
Letter from Hon j. p. Benjamin..
In the New Orleans Times of February
2Sth, we find the following letter from
Hon. j. P. Benjamin, which should put an
end to prolific source of anxiety and out