Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-08-12
WHOLE NO. s,g47.


The New York Tribune, from whicl
we cut the following article is q Re
publican paper, which placed thi
names Of Hayes and Wheeler at tn,
head of its columns Immediately after
the Cincinnati convention, and has
kept them there ever since. The ques-
ton now arises, if the party as repre-
sented in its State conventions should
not repudiate Grant. and we SEQ no
symptoms Of it at present, the editor
of the Tribune has a serious question
to consider-what will he do about it.
The President and His Friends.
In the face of many disoouragements
the people have clung with desperate
energy to their belief in the personal
integrity of the President. Ithas been
sometimes at the expense Of his intel
ligence, but they have preferred % be-
lieve that either from constitutional
inability to discover anything wrong in
his personal friends aud intimate as
sociates, or his obstinate loyalty TO
them which refused to admit question
of their integrity, he has allowed him
self to be placed In awkward and en-
barrassing positions with reference to
them. Notwithstanding his complaints
OF misrepresentation and abuse, some
of which be has gravely put before the
country of official public documents,
the fact is that no person in official
station has ever received 80 much con-
sideratiOn, and had from the people
such charitable treatment, as Presi-
dent Grant. No man has ever been
attended with such loyal devotion,
none ever SO cordially supported or so
earnestly defended. And this has been
at some cost, as the Republican party
well knows, to the party leaders and
the party itself. lt remains TO be seen
whether il has not at last costthe party
Its ascendency in the country, and
turned over the Government 20 tho
Opposition. The few things President
Grant has done during his two terms
which have been creditable to him
have been most heartily applauded by
friend and opponent, aud his grave
mistakes have been judged with much
more charity than those of any other
public man in the history OF the cOun-
try. In the recent developments, how
ever, affairs have reached such a crisis
that the party which elected him, aud
which has given him such unswerving
allegiance aud personal devotion, can
do so no longer without putting in
jeopardy its own existence. IL cannot
be longer denied that President Grant
whether knowingly or ignorantly
does not matter-has elected as his
intimate and confidential friends cor
rupt and dishonest men, who used his
as cover for frauds upon
the Government of the most surpris-
ing character; nor can il be disputed
that the President has used his Office
to protect them in their operations, and
his power to punish and disgrace the
officials who undertook
to bring them to justice.
The testimony of Mr.. Bluford Will
son, late Solicitor of the Treasury, dis
closes state of things which honest
citizens will read of with shame an
intimacy of relation between the Pre-
sident and the whisky conspirAtors
which only falls short Of actual COM
plicity. We do not care 10 dwell upon
it. The removal of honest and efhci-
ent officers who have been active in
out frauds upon tho Treas
ury and bringing rogues to justice, and
the regular Executive certihoatiOn 10
the good character of men who have
been driven out of Office under grave
suspicion, or by the popular sense Of
decency, have come to be something
more than condolences. They illus
trate the character, the tendency, tho
spirit and purpose of the Administra-
tion. There is no need of longer at
tempting to hoodwink the public or
gloss over the conduct Of the Presi-
dent. Nor, we submit, will it do fer
Mr.. Frye, of Maine, TO talk nonsense
10 Congress aud the country, as be did
ON Saturday, about bringing down the
great name Of this great republic in
the eyes of the whole world, by IN
which bring out facts.
The facts and not the investigations
bring disgrace upon the country. The
people have seen the President send
ing certificates Of character TO rOgues
whom the people drove out Of Office,
and himself driving out every officer
who had shown zeal and energy ia pur-
suing rogues aud bringing them to
Justice. That is what is disgracefui
about it, and the sooner Mr.. Frye finds
L out and stops talking nonsense
lbout it the better it will be for his
party. The popular judgment Of Pre-
ident Grants administration is al
-eady made up, and cannot be changed.
There is but one question concern
ng it which has any current interest,
md that is whether the Republican
party proposes TO carry the response
1ility of It and to defend il through
he Presidential canvass. The oppo-
Iition is anxious that it should, and
will leave no means unused TO so han
licap it. The only escape is for the
)arty to say distinctly in It's State con-
rentions in the first place by is nomi-
nations whether il proposes tllc con-
inuance of Grantism, and in the Sec
md place by its resolutions whether
{ approves the course Of the Reior-
ners who have been kicked out by the
President or the conduct of the Presi-
lent in kicking them out. That Is
question that has pertinenee, and it
will be wise in the light of recent Oc-
,urrences TO consider IL seriously.