The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-05-01

Serious Bolt az ..Tho Hab,-rho A,iun,i,
= Monthly Attacks Prcsident Grant.
The replies of the friends OF the Ad.
ministration to the charges made against
the President have been from the first,
considered merely as replies, singulurly
Ineffective. The official reply to the
charge of nepotism was that, instead OF
having appointed twenty.four relatives
to Office, the President had only ap-
pointed twelve. But the difficulty with
this method of meeting the accusation
was. that it did not go fur enough.
Obviously the question was not whether
the number of these appointments bad
been exaggerated, but what the proper
tion was between the whole number Of
appointments actually made and the
whole number of relatives. II the Pre-
sident has 1000 relatives clnmorous for
office, the appointment of twelve lit may
possibly have been eleven) was not very
large. On the other hand, if he has
only thirteen relatives who seek Offices,
and are eligible under the Constitution,
the appointment of twelve shows u
different spirit. To have made Its reply
complete, the Official organ in New York
onght to publish not only complete
list of all the relatives Of the President
and Mrs. Grant, but at the samo time
furnish full information on tho other
points we have Indicated To the most
serious charge OF oil, TINT of these
family appointees several were incompe-
tent to discharge the duties of their
Offices in fit and honest manner, one of
them being the notorious Casey, of New
Orleans, no reply has been made. The
country has as yet been spared hearing
by way of official answer that these in.
decent appointments were not in reality
fonr in number, as had been reported,
but only three.
In the second place, tho charge that,
in the face OF repeated remonstrances.
the President has allowed an obscure
and lmpudeDt adventurer to amass q for
tune by systematic system of plunder,
Gnder the protection of the authorities
Of the Government, it was replied that
the general order system would soon be
modified. And it has. been modified,
and no one knows to-day whether Leet
retains the control of it or not To the
charge that the President took no inte-
rest IN the most important political ques-
t1on of the day, that of civil service re-
form, 1t was replied that board of emf
nent men had been appointed to consider
the subject. and that the President would
be guided by their conclusions Their
report was made aud adopted by the re-
sident, and great flourish of trumpcts
was made over this reform, which might
quite as easily have been introduced
three years before; and it had hardly
been adopted. when it was announced
that the rules would be temporarily sus-
pended whenever the Administration
thought proper.
Aud. lastly, to the charge Of present.
taking. the reply made is. that the whole
matter wac talked over in 1857 by Col.
Forney. MIR. Justice Carter. and Senator
Ihsyer and General Grants chief of
etaff, and it was decided that, as General
Graht had saved the rich great deal
during the war, it was only fair that he
should get some of it himself. All these
accusations, however. are merely matters
OF detail. Those who distrust the Ad-
ministration have an underlying ground
OF complaint, which it would require q
great deal to remove. It has often been
repeated. but repetition does not weaken
its force. It is. that when General
Grant was elected, four years ago, it was
the popular belief and understand ding
:hs. 10 would bend ali mis- energies to
the work of purifying the Government,
OF redeeming it from the corruption into
which it has fallen. of assisting those
whose object it is to make political lifo
IN America once more respectable and
honorable. Instead of doing this, he
has allied himself with the very mon
whose names are by-words throughout
the country for those vices which he pro-
fessed his desire to root out; he has lent
his warm assistance to petty factions.
warning not for any political OBJECT, but
for the control Of plunder, un he now
demands his re reelection on the strength
OF these services to the county,.
Atlantic Monthly. for Nay.
A young boy in Lafayette. Alabama,
shot bis mother dead the other day on