Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1870-01-13
FROM THE NEW YORK INDEPENDENT.
COLFAx ON GRANT.

with March last, when he TOOK the solemn
toath that invested him with the power con-
ferred on him by the popular vote
Econonay.-In every branch of the public
service his orders initiated retrenchments,
which have been and are being carried out
with zeal and fidelity. Useless offices have
been discontinued the clerical force in the
departments has been largely decreased the
army was promptly reduced very many of
the surplus military officers, resulting from
the reorganization of the regiments, have
been ordered into service as Indian agents,
thus saving the salaries of an equal number
of civilians; and unnecessary appropriations
have not been used.
Honest Collecttons.- taxation di-
minished from last year, the revenue has stea-
| Oily increased, abating the discomfort which
always exists when the honest taxpayer is
compelled to bear his own burden, and the
burden that should fall on the dishonest tax
payer besides.
Rings.-With this increased efficiency
and vigilance on the part of the revenue
officers, the whisky ring, one so widespread
ing and powerful, no longer exists in an or
ganized capacity anywhere in our cities or
| throughout the land. And the Gold Ring
which caused such wild excitement a few
months ago, felt the power of the President
and his Financial Secretary at timely mo-
ment; SO that it has not since shown signs
| of life Or action.
The Debt.-Month by month the people
have witnessed with intense satisfaction the
steady reduction of the National debt The
monthly bulletins of the Treasury Depart
ment have been successive campaign d0cu-
ments in favor OF the Administration and
when the year expires over one-twentieth of
the bonded debt will have heen paid.
Gotd.-Steadily with the single exception
already alluded to, the premium on gold has
declined not by any extraordinary attempt
of the Administration to force or 10 hasten
the resumption of specie payments, but by
the improved credit of the nation reactipg
upon it. Already the very narrow margin
between the premium on gold and the sell
ing price of our bonds points Enthusiastically
to the nearness of the time when the debL
can be funded at a much lower rate of inter-
est; enabling the country, in connection
with other savings, to dispense with scores
of millions of dollars Of taxation.
PdrdonS.-Instead of the daily release
of convicted offenders against the laws, the
exercise of Executive clemeney has been
confined within proper and healthy restric-
tions, alike Just to the criminal and the
country he has wronged.
Public O6tcers.- dscontents
there may have been as to this or that ap-
pointment no fair man can deny that as a
whole the nation has ever had any better
array of officers. Ii the President could
possibly have been guided by unerring inspi-
ration, all would not have been satisfied
, with his choice; for even if dozen appli-
cants were thoroughly qualified, but one
could be selected, and eleven with all theiI
friends dissatisfied. Anc, as there is nc
! Congressman who will deny that he some
times made mistakes in selections in his OWE
district, where he knows personally 70 many
/ of his constituents, how could any President
, be iniallible when he must depend iol
+ knowledge as to very large proportion o
applicants on tho Recommendations of 9th
ers?
Reconstruction.- by the prompt and iu
r dicious action o. the President, under iht
large authority given to him last April, il
tho closing hours of the first session of thu
XLIst Congress, the work of reconstruction
draws rapidly to its close, and before thu
resurrection of Spring g.addens our hearts
!. we may hope to see every State in the Unioi
! fully represented to the National councils.
The Indians. Under the Presidents firm
: but humane policy, there have been fewe
!, Indian outbreaks and outrages between the
Mississippi and the Sierras than during an,
I year since 1868. Peace to the frontier settle
K ments is boon whose blessings and Joy few
a here can adequately realize.
!, Custe.-In nothing has the Administration
been more positive and outspoken than il
u the advocacy of the NVth Amendment
8 from the day that it was recommended il
o the inaugural till the present hour, when it
/ final ratification seems so near at hand. And
before its formal adoption, the President ba
- illustrated his beliefin its justice by appoint
~ ~ ing to office, of both higher and lower de
- gree, many whose race and color, irrespcct
=. i've of their intellectual qualifications, ha,
~ previously placed them undor the ban ot Of
70 fetal ostracism. The following terse an,
y y emphatic remark of the President to At.or
:. ney General Hoar, and quoted by the latte
y at the recent New England dinner in New
:, York, is worthy to be printed in letters O
= gold;
81 hope to see the time when every ma
,- in the country may have power to expires
10 his own opinion, to follow whom he pleases
,tp to vote as he likes, and to have his vot
{. counted, without molesiation, or hindranct
l. or insult. If we can only unite in maintain
ut tanning public faith and credit, our politics
IN differences will not be of much account"
Ne The Alabama Claims brief br
n pointed illusions in the Presidents annu,
message to "the only grave question whic
the United States have with any foreign nj
ID ton must be fresh in the memory of al
o. And also his emphatic sentence:
of 'tA sensitive people, conscious of the
,c power, are more at ease under a great wron
ar wholly unatoned, than under the restraint
K ideas of Justice nor their grave sense of til
to grievance"
o. If any amplitication of the ground 0
which the nation stands on this Questio
was needed, the mastery and unanswerabl
at argument of Secretary Fish, recently pull
le lIshed, investing as it does with new intarcs
IL a theme so elaborately argued heretofore
rt shows how faithfully the Administrator
ed vindicating ''the rights, dignity, and honor
in of the United States.
r. Cubo.-The Presidents sympathes wit
in ''all people struggling for liberty and sci
government" are frankly stated in his me
sage. But while thus openly expressin
rs them, he as frankly declares that mo matt,
IN how unpleasant the task, he has endeavore
to TO execute our neutrality laws in good faitl
w On the main subject he thus spoke:
~ s'The people and Government OF the Unite
n States entertain the same warm feelings al
he sympathies for the people of Cuba in the
pending struggle that they manifest throug
"a the former colonies in behalf of the latter
W W but the contest at no time assumed the Co
ID ditions which amount to war in the sen
nu ~ of international law, or which would sho
ev y" the existence of a de facto political organ
~ zation of the insurgents sufficient to justi
a recognition of beligerency."
IN And he adds: "Our course should /
az az ways be in conformity with strict justice al
n law, international and local. which none
he those criticsing him can deny. The Pre-
mt dent believes, as his whole message prove
off in the Golden Rule for nations as well as i
90 diyiduals. Whatever our sympathies m,
be, he holds that we should act toward OF
ere ers exactly as we would have had others a
ing toward us during our recent struggle for n
adj, tional existence, or as we would have the
asst act hereafter if unhappily, another da
en- cloud of civil war should ever overshadow
land. But while thus performing ''the /
pleasant task, he submits the whole Enat
Y. to Congress, which, representing the peoE
Ooo and fresh from their midst, is certainly
ur- proper arbiter on question that mil
ton eventuate in war with foreign power a
ard its possible allies, and the increased debt {
taxes, diminished commerce and renew
bloodshed that might result, if recognit
the uaa not iuetifiad hu tho nfarnatioual il