The Portland daily press., 1871-08-19
DAILY PRESS
PORTLAND
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 1871.


1t being morally certain that Gen. ur""'
will be reelected to the Presidency ii he ID
nominated. the Democrats evince cohsioo
able shrewdness in devoting themselves ailno''
exclusively to attacking nm anu III lie
him into disrepute, so far as possio''' -
own party. They hope to inl'i'''"'
friends. and SO bring about tue iioiiiii'''oi vi
a weaker man who may possibly be defeated.
Pint tho anterprse is desperate one. Gen.
C.,,+ v,;B he renomnated next summer
ualess a more general and more rad
ical change in public opinion occurs than
was ever before known in the space of
single year. His friends are not so childish
as to hold that he is faultless, or that all his
acts have been prompted by the highest wis
dom. But they have too much sagacity to
allow any forgetIuness of the incontestahle
fact that relatively his administration has
been preemnately wise and prudent, and that
it has been crowded with great achievements
any one of which is sufficient to render it ii
lustrous. 1t would be Tolly to deny that he
has given places to his relatives, and it seems
to us that Senator Morton spoke as polite
ian rather thanas patriot when he DEFENDED
this particular line of conduct in addressing
his Kentucky audiences. Grants position Is
so strong that he can we'll afford the utmost
candor on the part of his supporters in con-
cedng that he has been guilty of some de-
gree of nepotism, and that he has extended
his vacations beyond the usual limits, though
by NO means beyond Democratic precedent
But there are things more undesirable than
multitude of cousins, and more worthy OF
reproach than protracted stay at Long
Branch. There are not only worse things,
but they have uniformly attached to Demo
cratic Presidents and Democratic candidates
during the last twenty years. When one con-
trasts the straightforward manliness OF Gen.
Grant, his steadfast adherence to the princi-
Piles of liberty and progress, his fidelity to his
pledges, his personal integrity, the sagacty OF
his home and foreign policy, his patience I'M
der calumny and his submission to the clear
ly expressed will of the people even at the sac
rifice OF his most cherished plans, with the
trucking of Pierce to the slave power, the
abandonment of the country to Rebels by
Buchanan the imbecility of Nc Clellan, the
cord of Seymour and the treason OF
Breckenridge, it must be confessed that our
present Chief Magistrate appears to
possesses character that is altogether adj
mirable. Pierce had much better given his
brothe r-in-law a collectorship than betrayed
the country into the hands of the slave pow
er; and Buchanan had much better have been
at Long Branch than SAID to traitors with
arms in their hands that their outraged
country had no power to coerce or punish
them. Breckenridge would perhaps have
avoided the venial sins of Grant, but the
country would hardly have prospered with a
traitor at the helm. Seymour would have
been gentlemanly President, but how would
the country relish hearing him address the
supporters of the next rebellion as "my
friends" There is no respect in which GI ant
has not shown himself better man than his
Democratic predecessors. 1t is a fact that
cannot be too constantly kept before the peo-
pie that he has so carefully collected and so
economically expended the revenue that, not
outstanding the immense debt that has &C
cumulated and the new financial burdens
that have resulted from the war, the credit OF
the government of the United States is bet
ter to-day than it was under the admnistra
ton of James Buchanan. The significance
of this fact is so great that it is not necessary
to enforce it on anybody's attention, and it is
calculated to cover multitude OF Dents ia the
Presidential character.