The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-12-12

General Grant, in the White House, has
two important parts to play-that Of states
man and that Of politician; that of Presi-
the republican party. In other words, he Ii
charged with the duties of the Queen Of Eng
land and the labors and responsibilities Of her
Prime Minister. He is the head OF the
State and the head Of the party In power. His
tenure Of Office, too, as head Of the State, de-
ponds materially upon his course as head Of
the party responsible for his administration.
Elected for one term of fsur years, and can
didate for another term, as the representative
of the republican party, it is his policy, and Is
clearly his purpose, so to conduct his admins
tration as to maintain the ascendancy OF bis
| party in order to secure his reelection.
AS President of the United States General
| Grant has proved himself, to the satisfaction
| of the country, careful, thoughtful, honest
and conscientious public servant. His last
annual Message amply illustrates his desires
and his purpose to give in every department Of
his great Office coed account of his steward
ship. We see that he has fixed his mind
upon reform In the collection Of the
revenues, upon retrenchment In the
expenditures Of the Treasury, upon
the reduction Of our heavy taxations
as fast and as far as possible, consistently with
an encouraging redemption of the public debt;
and we see, too, that while not insensible est.
Domingo) to the universal American idea of
manifest destiny," he wishes to maintain
peace with all foreign nations, in order that
with the largest development of our Astounding
resources Of wealth and prosperity the public
burdens may be lightened and the public con-
fidence in our national credit, faith and capa-
bilities strengthened from still charging
surplus revenue upon still diminishing taxes.
This is General Grants policy, clearly
defined in his late Message, as President
of the United States and, as the policy
of the chief executive officer and guardian
of all the States and all the people, it is very
good. In word, the country is satisfied
from the intrinsic evidence of this Message,
that in General Grant we have good, careful
and honest President, zealously devoting him.
self to the interests, the honor and the peace
and prosperity Of the country.
AS the head, the embodiment and standard
bearer for 1872 Of the republican party, we
have only, then, to consider the merits and
deficiencies of General Grant In the outset
it was apparent that he had resolved to try the
experiment Of running the machine" without
the aid OF the politicians but the expert
ment soon proved failure. With the
failure these important facts appeared-that
the President must be the organ in his Office of
the party electing him that the party electing
him is controlled by numerous local leaders,
and that they, in the distribution Of the spoils
and honors of the government, must be har-
monized, or that the party machine must soon
get out of gear and break into pieces. With
these discoveries General Grant began
to consider the claims of his party politicians,
began the active apprenticeship himself Of .
politician, and, of course, as a new beginner,
I he has made many mistakes. The negro
question being settled in the fifteenth amend
ment, there is no great issue or great idea TO
hold the republican party together. The
offices, too, are distributed so that ''the cohe-
sive power of the public plumber with the
outsiders has lost its force. The disappointed
local party leaders, therefore, are breaking
away, and wranglng cliques and factions upon
side issues and personal griefs are spreading
disorders and decentralization throughout the
party camp.
Where lies the remedy? In general re-
IF tbo rtxy hoe lin
| with the Cabinet. Since Jackson we have had
no President fully equal TO the management
of his party. Van Buren, was q master poll
tcian, but he failed because he was only a
politician; Harrison fell martyr to the rush
of the hungry whig party for Offices; Tyler,
in attempting third party, fell between the
two stools to the ground Polk was brought in
and went out as temporary expedient; Taylor
was a military availability, bat Taylor, in
leaning upon the strong men Of his party,
promised to do well when he was cut off. Fill
more, like Tyler, the lucky Tyler, aspired toe
high in aspiring to be his own successor,
and failed Pierce. brought in with rush
upon HeRry Clay's slavery compromises
was swamped, and nearly swamped his
party at once, in the violation Of hii
pledges; Buchanan was altogether too veal
and wishy- wasby for the terrible crisis of al
organized Southern rebellion; Lincoln wal
borne into the White House second time, no
as the leader Of his party, but as the followe
OF the will and wishes Of the mighty North il
the war for the Union; johnson was lyle
No. 3; Grant, elected as the victorious cham
pion of the Union cause in the war; ant
elected to finish the work of Southern recon
struction adopted by Congress and approved
by the people, has now, as statesman and poll
tician, to depend upon his administration q
the candidate of the republican party for
reelection.
/ Tho nanln Of Iackson than il tha axana