Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1876-12-09
THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE!

.
President Giant will doubtless have
disappointed the public, both as to ITS
character and scope, and also III the
matter of omission as well as coinlnls-
sion. There is nothing luminous in It
In the outset the President says: 1T
was nv fortune, or misfortune, to be
called to the office Of chief executive
without any previous political training
These words arc a sad echo Of what
Gen. Grant wrote to personal friend
in 1864, before Mr. LiEcolns second
nomination. ''In your letter. ne says
to his friend, (Hon j. n. Morr!s,) YOU
say that | haze it in my power TO be
the next President. This is the last
thing in the world | desire. would
regard sach a contamination as beng
highly unfortunate for myself, il not for
the country. Through Providence l
have attained to more than | ever mop
ed, and witI the position | now hold
in the regular army, if allowed TO re-
tain il. will be more than satisfied.
scarcely know the iuducement that
ccud be held out TO me TO accept office,
and unhesitatingIy declare that l III
tuitely prefer my present position to
that OF any civil office within the gift OF
! the pcopk.
Had Gen. Grant never changed his
mind as expressed in this letter II would
not have been his 'misfortune, as we'll
as the country'S, that he has held the
Lighcst civil office" in the government,
not only without being qualified for i
by any "previuus political training,
but with his instincts, habits and Ideas
as soldier operating as a positive dis
qualification. In this single fact we
have the key to most Of the errors aud
blunders OF Gen. Grants adlnlulstra-
ton and the explanation Of the present
troubles which it has brought upon the
country. That he has made blunders,
particularly in the matter OF appoint
ments to office, Gen. Grant does not
deny, bat he says, apologeticalIy, "hls-
tory shows that no administration,
from the time Of Washington to the
present has been free from these mis-
takes" His own 'failures," he claims,
shave been errors Of Judgment, not OF
intent" Errors in policy, 1t Is to he
noted, Gen. Grant nowhere admits. lie
appendS to his message "a synopsis OF
all recommendations Of Congress made
by me during the last seven years, and
ln at these
concentrations not to have been wise
" conceived. but | believe the larger
part will do no discrediJ to the admin
istralion." Upon one Of his recommen-
dations Of former years which failed to
command either popular or Legislative
approval-his project Cor the acqulsl-
ton of San Domingo-he dwells low
ingly and at length, and attributes to
the failure to acquire that island the fact
that the country is not '''in more pros
porous condition both politically and
financially" Here, again, the President
refers to the subject, he says, not to
renew his recommendation i'll favor of
annexation, but only TO "vind!cate' his
this, as in the portion OF the message
already auoteA, it is impossible not 70
see the hand of Gen Grant himself.
1t is the tone of man who feels per,
sonally injured and agglieved, and who
is disposed TO regard his own failures
not as ofaults" but "misfortuneS, and
TO ascribe them to circumstances be-
yond his own control, including the
.sopposition" of others. Ever the fact
Of his holding the chief magistracy tor
two consecutive terms "w;thout any
previous political training" he seems to
regard as something which happened
toIhim or was forced upon him, and
which he could not help, rather than as
position OF his own voluntary accept
ance, il not his own seeking. 1t is this
touch of Gen. Grants own personality
which gives to the message a somewhat
peculiar flavor. 1t is defensive aud
sometimes Querulous in tone, as if Gen.
Grant thought that he and tot the
country had the best right to complain.
As is usual in similar documents. the
President refers to large number Of
touirs which are more fully treated in
the reports of the several heads of de
partments, rarely however, making
anything approaching a recommenda-
ton in regard to them. From the Sec
letary OF the Treasury he derives me
figures which show reduction Of taxes