National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-01-17
building
"THE PRESIDENTS CHARACTER
1858 .. ISTIGH. q, .-z.Frf-. r7s.s.

good deal of unnecessary anxiety lately
over;what they call the Presidents 9''char
acteristics. The journal we have named
complains that the President in making
nominations for the principal, if not for al
she Offices in his gift, does SO entirely upon
his own responsibility; that his favors arc
distributed as to him seems fit, without
consultation with his party. Referring y
che Chief Justiceship our New York cotem
porary says: "His dealing with this momen
tous business of his second term is marked
throughout by true qualities of Independence
of judgment and action which, have been
hitherto most admired by his friends. The
lRsinuation that Gen. Butler or any other
man has had any influence in the case Is
gratuitous and improbable. And sgain:
Cup to this time he has been steadily con-
sistent. So Gar as we may judge, from the
intimations which reach us from Washing
ton. he is likely to be true to himself
The idea intended to be conveyed in
these criticisms is that General Grant, in
thus acting for himself, is guilty Of grave
offence, which the people, without distinc-
lion of party, should unqualifedly con-
denim. Perhaps General Grant is wrong in
pursuing this independent line of policy
wrong in not throwing the responsibility
which the Constitution and the laws repose
N him of selecting his own agents and Off
GERS to carry on the Government upon some
body else. There can be no doubt that if
The late Mr.. Greeley were elected President.
ne would have acted in an entirely differ
INT way. The gentlemen who had nomi-
aated him, who had conducted his cam
oign. who had subscribed their money and
lone all the cheering and hurrahing, who
had slandered and detained their opponents
IN the interest of their candidate as one
party never detained anothcr-these gentle
men, if he had won in November, ~,
would, We have no doubt been allowed to
dictate all of his nominations. Mr.. Doc
little would have been given the appoint
ment Of all the postmasters and the gauges
IN Wisconsin; Mr.. Schun would have been
given Missouri, and directed to distribute
he Offices there according to his supreme
will and pleasure; Aleck Mcclure would
ave been made the satrap of Pennsylvania,
md official heads would have fallen by the
hundred and the thousand at his mere nod.
The immaculate General John Cochrane
you'd be the lord paramount of the New
FORK custom house, the post Office and the
mb-trcasury, with power to coward his
friends and punish his enemicS and the
enemies of his iege lord in the White
House. That, according to the Tribune,
would be the proper way to run the party,
nold it together introduce civil service
,efor1n, and place the Administration above
'eproach. General Grant, in pursuing the
opposite course, only shows how much
more ably and efficiently the whole thing
would be managed by the DISTINGUISHED patri-
Dts whose unsin,ely fate eighteen months
ago the Tribune new bcwails in anguish
md tribulation. r .-s.-...,... .... - -.
We are inclined, however, to believe
that the people when they come to think
sbout the whole subject viii approve rather
ihan condemn the Presidents characterb-
acs in this respect and rejoice that IN tho
infringement of his administration he. has
eft the old and beaten path In which every
President almost from Madison down had
'ccn travelling. The era in our politics
Which the Tribune 80 commcuds Yves the
.ra Of fdiekeg, and had its best exempli-
ication in the Jacksonian period, when
1vcry Office in che country. from the secre-
aryship Of btatc down. was parcelcd out
With strict eye to the succession when
he party leaders quarreled over the Cabi-
act offices and the Speakership of the
House and the foreign missions; wbe., Tho
claims of States and of sectiorS wore an
nicely weighed and bals- led. and thu. he.
howul Of sn ,ortaat Office upoa .
state. Whtcr was not supposed to be entitled
o y, Ias almost sufficient to disrupt the
orr.on. The lament of the 1ri6sne that
Inc Presidents 'tcharacteristic' have
changed all this is not very likely 10 find
much sympathy among tirs pcplc. He
nay commit mistakes occasionally, but the
masses who have elected him will, in cur
opinion. be better pleased to see him exer-
Use his own Judgment in the distribution Of
he offices in his giftinstead of dealing them
,lt at the command Of number of poll
icians The Tribune, however, is true to
IS old instincts, for it is matter Of history
hat if it and its friends had been allowed
o distribute the patronage Of New York
lily and State, we should never have heard
# it as Reform and Liberal Repubhcaa
,rgan. .s-...r sl-r. rr7erarssrr a. -
PERSONAL RECORDS OF. TIE
WAR