The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-06-03

oates.
General Grants letter Of resignation as It
may without improperly be called, has one
good and very important effect upon American
politics-it deprlves them, for the next years
canvass, Of their purely personal drift. While
the President was universally believed to be
determined on his own denomination the re-
publican leaders were busy only in thinking
OF how to defeat him in the nominating con-
vention, and the democratic leaders thought
only Of what candidate could most surely
defeat him before the people. The moment
General Grant steps down and out resigns
his pretensions, as he has just done, that
moment he leaves the people and the politi-
clans at liberty to plan broader policy, to
select candidates not alone for their capacity
to beat Grant and to look to the general
interests of the country, where heretofore
their solo study necessarily was to save it from
the calamity of ''third term" from being
saddled and ridden for another four years by
an over-ambitious, ignorant and INSCRIPTIONS
man, whose administration Of affairs in the last
six years has brought general distress upon
the country and disrepute upon the party
which chose him, and which is held RESPONSE
bic for his mismanagement
! It is not too much TO say, therefore, that in
writing his letter General Grant has per-
| formed one of the most important public SER
\ vices of bis life. If he has done it in q chur-
lish as well rs disingenuous spirit we are in
ciped to blame for that less himself than the
/ boon companions and intimates who make up
/ his kitchen cabinet, and who naturally oppose
every act which initiates against a third
term. The President may be wearied of
Office; the statesmen in his Cabinet may be
thoroughly satisfied that he ought not TO run
for another term Of Office but the kitchen
and back stairs members of the administra-
ton are sure to disepprove anything which
will force them to step down and out. IT, in
stead OF taking their advice, General Grant
/ had sought that of his best and truest friends;
! ii, for instance, he had not merely read the
good counsel which the HERALD has showered
/ upon him, but had sensibly acted upon it, he
would long ago have given public notice that
he sought no third term, and he would have
done it in language which would have
shown good temper and patriotic and I'M
selfish desire for the public good. 1t is but
melancholy satisfaction to US to think that the
longer General Grant lives the more clearly
| he will see that one of his most grievous errors
in the Presidency has been that he failedto act
upon the good udvice which the HERALD lib
orally and patiently gave him.
The letter of resignation is SO important q
political event that it has forced the leaders
OF both parties to begin recastiHg their policy
for 1876. Fortunately for tho country it has
come in time to allow the wisest statesmen on
4 both sides to survey the field and consider
maturely what the condition of the country
4 demands. They have task before them
which calls for all the wisdom in their possess
sion. At the close Of the war the party IN
power had the South to reconstruct; but the
men who are to be chosen in 1876 will have
/ the whole country to reconstruct The next
President will have more varied and more i'm
portant interests TO manage and e7ils to rem
edy than any President since Washington.
In the South it will be his duty by wise and
prompt frmness to discourage the wicked
men Of both parties. The federal influence,
honestly and judiciously used, has there to
bring to the front as federal ofice-holders
the best and wisest men of those long dis
tracted communities, which can no longer as
every one now sees, be ruled by the brute force
of federal soldiers aud federal enforcement
acts. That reformation of parties which is
slowly preparing in the Southern States and
which, by finally breaking the color line, will
give peace and good government to the South
ern States, needs but little except federal nom
intervention, to help it; but that little is ex-
tremely important 1t consists in the selec-
ton Of honest, capable and moderate men to
fill the federal offices and to replace the vile
and dishonest politicians who, for the most
part, have been General Grants favorites in
the South.
In the country at large the next President
I will have to devise measures to relieve in
dustry Of burdens under which it has sunk to
the lowest level during General Grants adj
ministration. rredeemable paper money,
extravaganza and corruption among office
holders, tariff which has prevented the re-
vival Of our foreign trade aud disabled MS
from selling our surplus manufactured prod
nets abroad-these causes have demoralized
American industry and caused prolonged
siagnation in business which seems hopeless,
and which covers the country with gloom and
apprehensiors for the future, in spite of a
succession Of good crops Wherever one
looks he sees only laborers oat Of work, me--
chants out Of business, shopkeepers in dis
tress, mechanics seeking employment maui
facturers vainly looking for a market for their
goods, farmers crying out against exorbitsnt
if tho universal depression and stagnaton in
business did not so greatly narrow their mar
kets.
There 10 q general conviction among the
people that we cannot longer 60 on as we