The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-06-21

nlb unteCo0e0tS. l06fo was never a
public man so capable of jerky in
consistencies. Before he was the Republican
candidate for President he secuted negro
suffrage, and made what Senator Sumner de-
norinced as q ''whitewashing" report on the
fitness of the Southern people for immediate
readmissin. AS soon as he had Joined the
Republican party for the sake of Office he
became an "out- outer" in favor of negro
suffrage, and fully endorsed the Reconstruc-
ton measures. He is the same General
Grant who stood at the right hand of Presi-
dent johnson when he received the delegates
from the Philadelphia Convention, and ac-
companied him when he '''swung around the
circle" making vehement speeches in denun-
citation of Congress- Of course, nobody can
be surprised at any of General Grants ineon-
sistencies. He selected one of the staunchest
free-traders in the country for Secretary of
the Treasury, and Immediately afterwards
appointed a Massachusetts protectionist to
the same Office He was dogged proc Cuban
fanatic during the first five months of his ad-
ministration, and he afterwards "wheeled
about and turned about, like Jim Grow in
the negro song, and last week exploded upon
Congress a violent anG-Cuban message
There is no sequence or connection between
any two parts of this weak mans public
career.
1t is not surprising, therefore, that from
stunning and eschewing the whole class of
politicians, and attempting to conduct his ad-
ministration without their aid and in defiance
of their wishes, this strange specimen of a
President has given his confidence and inti-
macy to the most noted and disreputable poll
tical rogue in the United States. Cameron
came into Lincoln's Cabinet withssa taint, and
was turned out for corruption. The seat he
holds in the Senate was procured by noto-
rious bribery, which was fully exposed at the
time. He is the most unscrupulous intriguer
and iobber thpt ever bought Legislature or
made merchandise of army contracts. And
this corrupt politician, whose whole career is
a scandal is selected by President Grant
from among all the politicians of his party to
be honored with q close and peculiar inti-
macy. A short time before he went on the
fishing excursion he appointed son-in-law of
Cameron to a foreign mission, and the two
facts taken together show that he has fallen
quite under the influence of that crafty, bad
man.
We suppose the explanation to be that
while the more reputable Republican leaders
have repaid the Presidents distrust in kind
and have not sought his intimacy, schemers
like Cameron and Butler have foreseen that
General Grant would be compelled sooner or
later to lean upon politicians, and have prac-
tised every art of cajolery to wind themselves
into such position that they would be the
first to convince him of his error and profit
by the inevitable change. They had more
foresight than the feeble man on whom they
are practising. They knew that he would
not advance far in his administration before
his mind would be engrossed with plans
for his reelection, and that he would
at length see his need of men skilled in
the art of packing caucuses and manipulat-
ing conventions. They knew that the
politicians who should have his ear and
intimacy when he first came to realize this
necessity, would easily gain complete as
cendancy over his small mind. Like pre-
suming lovers, they have made it their maxim
to ''be bold and dare;" and Cameron at least
has achieved success which should alarm all
Republicans who care anything for the credit
and reputation of their party. In surrender
ing himself to politicians, General Grant is
falling into the hands of the very worst of
their class; and the last two years of his term,
when he will be chiefly occupied with in
trigues to promote his reelection, are likely
to be as remarkable for his intimacy with
political schemers as the beginning of his
term was for his scornful estrangement from
the leaders of his party.