The New York herald., 1874-08-19

desired ends. 1t is, as yet, uncertain how far
the Eucalyptus may succeed as disease-de-
stroying tree in this country, but it is worth
the fullest and fairest experiment.
President Grants summer Residence.
We notice that the opposition journals con-
tinue their invectives against the President
for his absence from Washington during the
summer, representing him as receiving q
heavy compensation for duties he does not
perform. Such carping is not only illiberal
in spirit but selt-defoating as strategy. The
President can be effectively assailed only for
grave mistakes of policy, corrupt administra-
ton, or serious and real neglect of his public
functions. BY raising and magnifying slight
objections his assailants destroy confidence in
themselves not in the object of their attacks.
General Grants keenest foes have not been
able to point to specific instances wherein any
public interest has suffered in consequence Of
his passing his summers at Long Branch
Our earlier Presidents were in the habit of
spending their summers away from the seat of
government; Washington at Mount Vernon,
John Adams at Quincy, Jefferson at Monti-
cello and Poplar Forest In those days there
was no telegraph to keep the. President
promptly informed, nor railroads for the swift
conveyance OF documents yet even then the
despatch of public business was never
seriously impeded by the absence of the Presi-
dent during the recesses Of Congress. In
looking into the works of John Adams we
find that in the year 1900 he began to write
official letters from Quincy on the 11th of July
and continued them from the same place until
October 8. In the preceding year, Congress
having adjourned on the 4th of March, we
find him dating from Quincy as early as May
l3. On that day, in reply to the letter of q
friend telling him that his absence from tho
seat Of government wss criticised, President
Adams wrote: :-"The people elected me to ad-
minister the government it is true, and do
administer it here at Quincy as really as
could do at Philadelphia. The Secretaries of
State, Treasury, War; Navy and the Attorney
General transmit me daily by post all the bust
ness of consequence, and nothing is done
without my advice and direction when I
am here more than when am in the same
city with them. The post goes very rapidly,
and answer by the return of it, so that moth
ing suffers or is lost" In these absences
during the recess of Congress President
Adams followed the example of Washington.
Jefferson and Madison continued the same
practice but their summer absences were
shorter. An amusing story is told by Ran
dali, Jefferson's biographer. of the way in
hav 1a or
contributory to his public duties He had
not yet built house at Poplar Forest, and
WAS confined there for three days during q
heavy rain storm in one of the two rooms of
his overseer's cottage. Finding nothing to
read but an almanac, his restless mental
activity set him at work to compute how long
it would take to pay the national debt. Not
having with him the pocket table of loga-
rithms which he usually carried the compu-
tation was prolix and tedious but after going
through an almost interminabe mass of
figures he finally ascertained to bis satisfac-
ton that the internal taxes could be abolished
and the debt still paid in eighteen years.
The result was a paragraph on this SUBJ
ject in his next annual message which
provoked Hamilton 6ercest criticism.
When Congress is not in session, when the
foreign Ministers are all away on their sum-
mer vacations, when the business of the great
commercial cities is at q stand by the holiday
absence of the men who transact it, and few
questions arise between them and the govern
ment, in this annual ebb of public business,
there is no reason why the President should
not seek health and recreation for himself and
his family in some cool retreat from which he
can maintain supervision over the diminished
activity Of the government at this season of
the year. Our politics will be in most for
tunate condition when nothing worse can be
urged against the President than that he
takes advantage of the summer lull to retire
with his private secretary from the heat of
Washington and discharge his public duties
in more salubrious place.
A FEARFUL CLERICAL. CRrME-It is O very
pathetic story which is told in our news COL
umns this morning of the death of Miss Pom