The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-03-12
our foreign relations, they are fain To cry out,
'sOh for one hour of Marcy or of Seward r'G
And what is the policy Of The administration


'tOh for one hour of Marcy or of Seward! !'s
And what is the policy Of the administration
on financial questions, the leading issues of
the future? Has it got policy OF any sort? II
so, do we find 1t in the votes Of the sixty Re-
publicans in Congress, who went with Mr.
Marshall for strictly revenue tariff, or in the
votes of the eighty or ninety Republicans, who
favored protection? Do we find 1t in the votes
of the large majority of the Republican mem-
bers, who supported Mr.. Loughridge's resolu-
ton for the issue of fifty millions more of
greenbacks. or in the votes of the Republican
minority, who resisted his proposition? And
what are General Grants opinions on these
vital questions? Does he know any more
about them than the veriest tyro in political
economy? Has he got financial creed? If he
has, pray what is it ? Can Schenck, can But
Ter, can Corbin tell
But there are loud and reiterated promises
about the reduction of expenditures. Mr..
Dawes informed the people of New Hampshire
that General Grant was In favor Of cutting the
appropriations down'to the lowest possible
figure, and that wherever he could see chance
to save single dollar it should surely be done;
and the only result of this promise which the
country has yet seen, 80 far as the President
personally is concerned, is the raising of the
salaries Of his two or three doorkeepers, and
the appointment oftwo or three needless sham
secretaries on his official staff. When the peo-
pie begin to realize that their taxes are re-
duced, they will begin to believe that llnne-
cessary expenditures have been cut of. and
not till then And even when that auspicious
hour arrives they will be apt to attribute this
reform more TO their own vehement 0utcrles
for relief, backed by the reiterated demands
of the independent press, than to the admins
tration's skill or Its desire for retrenchment.
The public debt has been reduced, as 1t GER
tainly ought to be In view of the enormous sur
plus In the treasury, drawn from the pockets
-of the people by an eXorbitant and remorseless
system OF taxation, When both the debt and
the taxes are reduced. the public will begin to
feel that the plan now pursued ls not merely u
new application of the old scheme Of robbing
Peter to pay Paul. The reduction of the debt,
and the credit of all the really valuable results
in this behalf Is due very much to Mr. Bout
well, and not at all to General Grant.
But, after oil, one of the most marked and
disastrous failures of the administration, In Its
effect upon the Republican party, and upon
General Grant personally, springs from his
distribution of official patronage. From the
members of his cabinet and his foreign min
lsters, all the way down to the very tax col
lectors and tide walters, no President ever
made so many weak, incompetent, aud,
viewed from party standpoint, utterly worth
less appointments. The great majority of
them impart neither dignity nor strength to
the President, his ADMINISTRATION, or the Ke-
publican organization, while many OF them
bring all three into disrepute. Ncpotism,
always disgracetu; favoritsm, admirably fitted
to excite jealousles and hcartburnings; and in
capacity, which breeds contempt, have charao-
te-.zeda 6 large class Of General Grants ap-
pointments; while many of his most favored
benehclaries, though they have been able to
accumulate fortunes, had not the slightest
claim to the rewards OF the Republican party,
never rendered it any services ere they took Of
fee, and have been only q damage to it ever
since And worse than all, the President has
bestowed some of these offices for pecunlary
considerations.
No administration can survive such waste,
such q venal prostitution Of Its patronage as
this.
In short, General Grant has, at the close Of
his first year, proved SO lamentabe failure
both as a statesman and politician, that nc
well-informed and far-seeing Republican con
templates his denomination rs possibility
while large body of the party apprehent
that his course must Inevitably break 1t II
pieces before the next Presidential election.