The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1872-02-22
From Hnrper'a weekly.
The War on the President
Tho Camnnipn of SIander.

Investigations Of the methods ana eN-
penses of the government. There is no
such disposition in the party. There
was none such upon the part Of the
Senators who opposed Mr.. TrumbulPs
resolution. That there is none upon the
part of the President is shown by the
head of the movement for civil service,
reform. 1t is, however, the policy of
those who are opposed to him to make
it appear that in some mysterious way
he counives at fraud. Mr.. schurz said,
as we stated last week, that no evidence
implicated the President in the alleged
abuses of the general order system. But
he also said, and repeated, and the re
mark has been diligently echoed, that
there was some mysterious power high
er than the Secretary of the Treasury
which sustains those abuses. Yet what
power in that sense is higher than the
Secretary, except the President2 Did
Mr.. Schurz mean him3 We gave him
credit for plainly declaring that the
President was not implicated by any ev-
idence. But if the Senator had no proof
were not his words an unjusti6able in
sinuation?
If the opposition to the President hopes
to brand him before the country as a
dishonest man, it will fail. There is in
politics a legitimate and an illegitimate
method of opposition; one which hon
orable men adopt, and one which they
reject and the policy of personal defam-
alton of the President is not honorable.
But the personal campaign was never
conducted with such rigOr before. In
deed, the inuendoes at the little details
of the Presidents life are so iDcessant
that it is evident that the great meas
ures of his administration are not sup
posed to be very vulnerable.
If he were surrounded by a cabinet
like that of the last Democratic Presi-
dent, for instance, it might be wisely
( feared that he was either coerced by it
or in collusion with it. But the charac-
ter of the cabinet is the pledge to the
country of the patriotism and pure pur-
poses of the Administration. Or, if the
administration in details were proved to
be generally extravagant or corrupt,
there would justly be deep distrust up
on the part Of the country. But while
there have been - as under the old sys-
tenn of the civil service is inevitable
unfortunate appointments and defalca-
tiOns, they are in no sense the rule of
the administration and it would be
found, upon inquiry, that many of the
3 instances of this kind are due to the
characters of the persons whom the
President did not personally know, but
who where pressed upon him or ap-
pointed by some of the very gentlemen
who now urge against him the eharae-
/ ter of some appointments that he has
made. We shall be very much mis-
taken If the same gentlemen do not re-
ceive the Presidents project Of reform
/ of the civil service with a smile of utter
incredulity, not because they think the
scheme Objectionable, but because they
do not believe that he will put 1t into eX-
ecution. When he does that, it will be
remarkable if the Presidents action,
however sincere and honorable, is not
derided as Intentionally insufficient. In
deed, those who have declared that they
think the President unfit for renomina-
ton, are not likely to own that they
were mistaken, as the day for the Con-
/ vention draws near.
If before the Convention meets it can
be shown that he is directly or indirect
Iy responsible for the abuses which may
occur in any Of the Offices, those who
wish his denomination will not be a very
large number. But if the attempt fails,
they will be the entire Convention. For
an effort to diseredit the Chief Magis-
trate of this country does not end with
its success or its failure. Ifit succeeds,
he is utterly disgraced. Ifit fails those
who attempt it lose the respect of hon
orable men. We must not be under
stood as charging malignant motives up |
on those who sincerely move for inves-
LEGATIONS into alleged abuses. But the
character of the President belongs to the
country, and when that character is
stained the country is sullied. There
fore the investigation of the charges
which have been made must be thor
Ough and unsparing. The general order
system must be and will be completely
exposed. If abuses are discovered, and
the blame can be justly laid upon the
President, there will be reason to de-
nounce him. The noble warfare upon
his cigars and his horses will then end,
and we may all well be aghast at the
real reasons OF opposition.
But meanwhile the President is not ,
harmed in the judgment of candid men
and they are the great msjority-by
slander and misrepresentation. Al
though he smokes cigars and likes a fine
horse, and owns stock in Seneca stone,
from which he has no dividends, and
house was presented to him as a token
Of patriot gratitude, and there are a doz-
en- of his relatives in office, some of !
hem not appointed, but merely not re-
moved, by him-althOugh these things p
ire true, it is also true that the great re- !
,ults of his administration are such as
he country contemplates with pri de r
md satisfaction. It sees its wise and
humane Indian policy, its reduction Of
axation, and the diminution of the
lebt; its peaceful and honorable settle =
nent of foreign questions, its protection =
# all good citizens everywhere, its am
lesty, and its reform of civil service
nd the country forgives the President
lis occasional drives and his daily ci- al
.ar. Indeed, when the real services of t
ieneral Grant to this country are con-
idered, the pitifuI character of the vitu-
Grafton to which he is constantly ex-
osed becomes still more despicable. 1
md if any Republican who unwilling =
2 believes that there must be serious
3asOn for such insinuation and slander,
ill only trouble himselfto analyze the
tories, and to reflect upon the immense
to which every con- tn
oicuous public man is subjected, he =.