The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1872-08-08
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President, not General.

A Liberal Republican paper that
once supported Grant thus puts its case
against him now.
at is with Presiden. Grant that we
have to deal. And it is because he has
ANONYMOUSLY failed to fill his high office
as Chief Executive Of the nation, and
has degraded that office in the estima-
ton of the people and the eyes Of the
world, that we oppose his reelection.
His Cabinet has not single first-class
statesman in it, unless it be Mr.. Bout,
well. His chosen associates are. men
whom few of our best citizens. would
invite to their tables. He has blleted
his personal relatives and fsvorites upon
the country by appointing item to
offices for which they are VIGOROUSLY
unfit. He has used the vast patronage
of the Government as though it were
one of the perquisites Of his position,
without regard to the public service or
welfare, pledging every appointee to
labor for his reelection. He has &C
cepted presents from all sorts ofpersons,
and rewarded the givers by official
honors. He has filled the Southern
States with his creatures, and enforced
their extortion with the military power,
until one-third Of the Union stands to-
day on the verge of ruin and anarchy.
He has bullied Congress into the sup
port OF his pet measures; winked at
corruption and fraud; retained infa-
nous officers. long after their unfitness
was demonstrated; surrounded himself
by staff OF military officers, in viola
ton of the Constitution; lowered the
standard of our public service abroad
compromised the national honor in bis
dealing with England; insulted honor
able and p triotic public servants who
have opposed his wild or wilfull
schemes, and finally divided the Repub.
lican party by Insisting upon his own
denomination. and using all the power
and patronage of the Government to
secure il. Nothing he has ever said or
done gives the impression that he knows
or cares anything either about the letter
or spirit Of the Constitution, the genius
of our institutions. the great principles
on which the welfare OF the Republic
rests, or the policy OF q sound, consist
eut administration of public affairs.
His government is q complete failure in
every respect and its failure would
have been disastrous but that the coun-
try has been at peace. 1t is such a
President, whose unftness for the chief
magistracy Of the nation Is striking and
notorious, whose reelection we oppose
on every ground of national policy and
honor. 80 '-l-. g. ~
at is no answer to these solid objec-
tons to tell us of General Grants noble
exertions and heroic exploits in the war.
Admit all that may be claimed for
him on that score: It is not . General
but q President that we are TO elect.
General Grant WAS elected to the Presi-
sidency in 1868 solely on his military
record His election was an, expert
ment, and the experiment has disgrace.
fully failed: He comes before the peo-
pie now and demands reelection, not
as General but as President, and on .
civil record which should cover his
name with obloQuy,,-and make every
patriot hang down his head for him in
shame. And it's this incompetent
President who has net D single qsalif.t
cation for the trust he holds, and whose
unftness has been demonstrated by
over three years Of corrupt misrule,
whose, reelection we shall do our
utmost to prevent ,n;rava-s5rn>