Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1872-06-04

the Senator from Massachusetts alraigns
the President, and puts ancient and mod
en- literature under contribution 10 paint
him As tyrant and incompetent. Allow
ing him no virtue, emitting to give him
credit for his achievements in the field,
granting to others whatever success the
has had which he could not
avoid mentioning, he depicts our quiet
andmodest President as monster, likening
him to the worst characters presented
in history, and worse than the living GRIM
inals in our penitentiaries.~ The effort of
the author is to see how hideous he can
make his subject appear. If President
Grant is fond of horse, therefore he is
unfit to be President in the estimation of
Mr. Sumner. With the most of men
such trait of character is no disparage-
ment Our best Presidents, Washington.
Jefferson, Jackson. were all fond of
horses and dogs and glad Of the quiet of
the sea-shore Or country place. 1t was
never thought any weakness in them, nor
do we think any man is considered the
worse in heart or less fitted for any public
trust because he loves his faithful horse
or dog. We wonder that Mr.. Sumner
does not reject the Bible and condemn the
inspired writer to infamy because he wrote
and its pages contain the most magnifi-
cent description of the horse yet printed.
1t would be as sensible as his attack upon
Grant.
1t may be in his good nature that the
President has favored his relatives and
friends in the disposition of the patronage
under his control; it is not unlikely that
his appointment of friends may in some
cases have been injudicious; possibly he
erred in the San Domingo bushes: doubt
less he has made other mistakes; but, af-
ter all. who but Mr.. Sumner is able to see
danger or disloyalty to the country in the
course of the President, that he should be
held up as its enemy and scandal to his
countrymen and government When he
was satisfied that the acquisition of San
Domingo was not desired by the people he
yielded his own wishes in the matter and
ceased his efforts to obtain 1t. He reln-
pushed Murphy at the popular demand.
He aimed to make his appointments indie
pendent of the dictation of politicians and
to follow the lead of the people in regard
to them as much as he was able, and in
this way he committed some of the Of
fences with which he is most Indignantly
charged. No President was ever more
ready to revoke bad appointment Or took
more pleasure in making good one.
The very absence of training as polit-
clan, which Mr.. Sumner thinks SO griev-
GUS deficiency, led him to look more d.
rectly to the people and less to the poll
ticians. rs his administration will album
dainty show He is accused of faithless-
ness to the eolored race in his San Domin-
go policy and some affairs at home, yet
Fred Douglass, who went rs commission
sioner TO Hayti, sustained his policy and
sustains him for President, while his en-
forcement of the ku-klux act and all
measures to protect the negroes has shown
his sincerity in the promotion of their in
terests.
This attack of Mr.. Sumner upon the
President Of the United States il without
parallel in the history OF the Senate. 1t
lie without and ahnca &,
ardly as malignant. Sheltered by his posi-
ton he assaults one who can make no re-
ply. Dignity and decency are discarded.
The scandal which it will bring to the
government in other countries is dsre-
garded. The more gross the spectacle of
shame the better it suits the author Every
shaft is winged with the sharpest poison
that long pent-up hate could bring to its
service. Vindictiveness crops out in
every line. The great. intellect is subjected
to the meanest passion that controls man.
But the very fierceness, injustice and over
strained character of the effort deprive it
of its power to iniure. There is no man
WIZ Will Ttdu IL l1dt uOeS not KNOW IL Is
as false as venom could make it. There
is no man who has spark of gratitude in
his bosom for the soldier who brought
victory to the nation that will not feel his
Indignation aroused by the brutality and
injustice displayed in it. 1t will make
every copperhead in the land rejoice. To
the rebels it will be the sweetest morsel
for years; but it will rekindle in loyal
hearts the enthusiasm of the times when
Nicksburg fell when Chattanooga was
secured in the Union grip, and victory
greeted orr armies before Richmond.
Had there been any doubt OF Grants re-
nomination at Philadelphia and the ques-
ton were. pending in the caucuses and
conventions of the people this speech
would have settled the question in his
favor. Mr.. Summers speech will be circu-
lated by the democrats rs their best cam
paign document, but it will prove a boom
erang in the hands that use it,