The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1873-05-09
q,he Presiaesst,s Wamdertngs.

Congress adjourned two months ago,
and the President has been absent from
the capital more than half the time since
then. in search of personal pleasure and
qualification, without giving thought to
the urgent demands of official business, or
manifesting the least concern for the high
trusts which are unfortunately committed
to his keeping. Incompetent as he noto-
liously is to fill the great office which he
merely occupies, his constant and culPa-
BILE neglect of the most ordinary duties rem
ders this ineficiency not only glaring, but
seriously injurious to the public interests.
And il is not redeemed by the slightest eff
fort to satisfy public opinion.
Gen. GRANT regards and treats the Pres
idency as perquisite and pension for his
military services. He has never risen and
never can rise to an appreciation of its
dignity and duty, from the want of educa-
/ ton training. and taste. A stranger to
| the anxicties which the disturbed condi-
I ton of affairs naturally excites, without
/ elevation of thought OF practical outlook,
he seeks recreation among cOngenial minds,
and finds fellowship with those who wor-
ship power and fatter the low infirmities
of its possessor. He considers his re-elec-
! tion as an approval by the people of all
his acts and omissions, and the doubling of
his saIary-which he inGecently urged in
personals a recognition by Congress of
/ unrewarded merit.
| Thus fortified in his own estimation, he
/ defics opinion, dIsrcgards criticism, and
treats with scOrnful Indifference public
questions upon the happy settlement of
which the peace and prosperity of the
/ country may be said to materially depend.
/ The President is directly responsible for
the anarchy which exists in Louisiana to
day. Without his official aid, intervention.
and authority, there would be order and
harmony. After fair popular vote had
rejected the corrupt faction, which was
only upheld by Federal patronage dis
pensed through the hands of the notorious
CASEY. the President entered the State
with military force, dispoSsessed the cho-
sen authorities, and installed the vile crew
upon whom the people had passed judg-
ment of the sternest reprobation. He did
all this wilfully, and to sustain his own
brOther-ip-law in uSurpatlon and outrage
And when this criminal Interference cul-
minated, as was easy to toreSee 1t would
do in new aggreSsionS on the part of the
protected pluuderers and resistance on the
part of the oppressed people, that Prcsi-
dent, instead of striving to correct his
former errors and to do partial Justice to
comm unity which7he had revengefully
tramplCd under foot, leaves the response
bility with his subOrdinates, tells them to
send more bayonets, and starts out upon n
journey of amusement. lie cares not fig
for the suffering people of Louisiana. He
does not see how the destroyed commerce
of New Orleans reacts harmfully upon
New York and other great markets nor
I does he heed the mutterings of the storm
which threaten destruction, unless there
be more wisdom in the conduct ef national
affairs.
While the President is indulging his pas
sion for diversion and enjoyment, and ViO-
lating all prOpriety by such unseemly tri-
fling, the telegraphic wires from the Pa
cific coast are weighed down with the
cries of the wounded and dying, As well as
with the grief of survivors, whose kindred
and friends have been made the victims of
/ Executive incapacity and negligence. At
such time as this, when every thought
and energy should be strained TO protect
! the exposed settlers in Oregon and Califor-
mia, and every resource of experience en-
! ploycd to make this little. .cOntest-for war
! it can hardly be yet called, though it may
soon become so-shOrt, sharp, and dsci-
sive, the President is junketing round the
/ country, seeing sights, and snufling in the
! incense burnt by his official satellites
/ That is his occupation as cOmmander-in-
! chief of the army and navy, while the lives
of gallant soldiers are daily sacrificed by
scores to defend what has been boastfully
called the Presidents policy.
in the Presidential office, it ought to be in
the direction of military matters and in
the treatment of Indians. Previous to his
| involuntary retirement from the army as
| Capt. GRANT he had been stationed in
/ Oregon, and had had experience and rela-
/ tiOns with the Indians which ought to be
of some value in this emergency. But
whether that past contact be useful or not,
the absence of the President from Wash
ington in the presence of existing facts is
a shame and a scandal which deserves uni
versaI rebuke. 1t not only evinces his
stolid indifference to duty, but a heartless
absence Of feeling which justly provokes
popular Indignation. And as fitting PEN
dant upon the Presidents wandering, the
Secretary of War, who at least ought to be
at his post, has been amusing himself for
several weeks past upon an excursion to
Texas while the ModOcs have murdered
one of our foremost generals, and III COM
bat slaughtered more than their whole
number of our troops These public
functionarles who have had their pay enol-
mously augmented, and this is their manner
of requiting that mistaken generosity
Y. !. Sun.