The Van Buren press., 1870-03-29
THE FIRST YEAR OF GEN. GRANTS
ADMINISTRATION.
A Record of Failures Review Of Leading
Republican Paper.
[From The New York Snn.l

cOmpllShed IN these tWicNe mOnln>, aht
how does he himself stand to-day in tht
estimation of his party that elected hin
to the Presidency?
We do not misinterpret the public
Judgment when. we say that no man even
chosen to the presidential Office stood Sc
low at the close OF the FIRST J ear Of his
term, in the estimation of the leading
minds of his party as Gen Grant does
They perceive that he has a narrow intel
lcct, very good when backed by a rather
firm purpose, or pushed forward by tho
resolute will of others, to work dogedly
along upon plain, straight line; but ut
terly incapable Of taking broad views OF
subject, or rising to heights where one
may survey the ground all around him,
and look far ahead into other fields, some
of which he may soon be required to oc-
cupy In word, his supporters have
learned that he has not q single states
manlike quality for meeting the unprece
dented exigency which has overtaken the
republican party.
Gen. Grants supporters have like wise
! found out, aftel a year of painful eXpe-
! riencc, that he possesses not the slight
est sagaeity or tact as a politician, and
/ has not the faintcst idea of the method
by which parties are kept together and
stimulated to vigorous action This to
tai absence ofskiIl as a politician is, how
ever, not surprising in one Who while in
civil life, during the stormy eontrover-
sizes of the last twenty years, took SO lit
tie interest in public affairs that he never
voted but once, aud then for James Bu-
chanan.
The natural result of this all but unani-
nous verdict Of leading republicans is,
that not one of them, except he be a re-
cipient of the presidential bounty, con
templates the denomination Of Gen Grant
Il Judgment never before entered up
against any regularly elected President at
the close Of his first year in office
SO much for Gen. Grant personally,
and his aspirations and hopes for the flu
ture And now, how fares it with his ad-
ministration! Has it met the just expee-
tations of the people any better than he
himself has The reconstruction policy
was clearly defined and nearly consuma-
ted before he assumed the executive chair
With plain path before it, the adminis-
tration has been vexatiouslv dilatory and
shametully remiss in completing the work
Of reconstruction. Every State in the
Union voted for President in 1868, ex-
cept Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas
The republicans swept the field; Con
gress assembled on the fourth of March,
1869 aud yet after the lapse of year
Virginia and Mississippi are only just re-
stored to full fellowship, while Georgia
has been partially thrust ont of the I'm.
ion, and Texas has not been admitted at
all. Can this be called success, or does
it not rather deserve the name of con
spicuous and utterly incXcusable failure
Of the administration to carry through
programme SO plain that wayfarine
man, though non-political President
need not err therein
How stands the case in regard to oul
| foreign relations? The course Of the
administration has brought the republic
into contempt both in Europe and Ameri
ca. While the brave, the generous, the
sagacious Rawlins was alive, there was
hope for Cuba for he had long beer
wont to exert great power over Grant
! At his death the cause of Cuba fell into
! the hands of the pusllanimous Fish ant
the pompous Sumner; and since that dis
astrous hour we have witnessed Aaugh'
but base bowing of the knee of this grea
republic at the feet Of dccrepit Spain
AS to the Alabama claims, they ar,
! further from settlement than when An
drew Johnson left the White House
while England views the dullness of tn,
administration with surprise and its i'm
becility with contempt, As patriotic anc
high souled Americans contemplate The
! deplorable condition Of our foreign rola
tions, they are tain to cry out, "Oh, fol
one hour Of Marcy or of Seward"
!