Year: 1868

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remarks made by him in reply, he said !:
'You have truly said, in the course of your
address, that 1 shall have no policy of my
own to interfere against the will of the peo-
ple." What is to be understood by this
At the first blush it would appear that the
Generals idea is to be President of the Peo>
pie, and not of any party; but nothing could
be more fallacious than this view. He sim
ply means he will have no policy to interfere
against tbe radical people with whom he af-
fliates. General Grant is not the candidate
of the people, and it is doubtful if he is the
choice of anything like majority of them.
He has been placed in nomination by party
upon party platform, and if elected, he will
insist upon carrying out the policy of that
party. President johnson refused to follow
his party when in his Judgment it departed
from the line of constitutional duty, and for
doing so he has been prosecuted in every
conceivable manner by his old party friends.
The very remark above quoted from Grants
speech, is intended as a rebuke to Mr.. johns
son for adhering to the Constitution against
party clamor. The radicals are great stick"
lers for obedience to the popular will, but by
this they mean the will of the radicals They
totally ignore and repudiate those who do
not sustain Congress. Grant merely intend
ed to assure them that, unlike President
johnson, he will adhere to bis party and
carry out the will of the radicals in Congress.
Should he be elected and at any time during
his administration the democrats should be
in the ascendency throughout the country,
does any one suppose be would change his
administration and make it conform to the
will of the people ?" He neither means
nor would do any such thing. But even
supposiug he honestly meant what be said,
no mao holding such views should be Presi.
dent of these United States. We have a
constitutional government. The powers,
rights and duties are fixed and defined in
that instrument and when any citizen is
clothed with the Executive power, he is made
to take solemn oath to preserve, protect
and defend the Constitution. The Constitu-
tion is the highest expression of the popular
will, and hence it is the duty of the Prssi.
dent to conform to that will, regardless of
temporary partisan clamor, or the mad raw
ings of phrenzied party leaders. Ifthe Presi-
dent is not in duty bound to do this, why is
he required te take the oath above referred
to? Why is he armed with the veto power? !?
Why is be not simply sworn to carry out the
will of Congress? The declaration of Gem
eral Grant that he will have no policy of his
own to interfere with the will of the people
is disingenuOus. It sounds very much like
the language of demagogue, and is unwor-
thy of an aspirant for the exalted position of
President. 1t is noticeable fact that Grant
has never yet in any of his remarkable
speeches" referred to the Constitution He
seems to be in blissful ignorance of the ex-
istence of such an impediment in the way to
supreme power. Indeed, his conduct during
the early stages of the impeachment confirms
the idea that he regards Congress as the
supreme power. The Constitution declares
that the President shall be Commander-in
Chief of the Army and Navy of the United
States. Congr9Ss attempted to take the
power from the Executive and confer it upon
him, and be accepted the usurped power
He refused to obey the orders of his consti-
. tut ' superior and availed himself of q
qG =, ito justify his acts His Whole course
recently, warrants the conclusion that his
regard for the Constitution is of the Aimsiest
character. The fact is, Grap4s5 not states


man, and if elected, he Y, either be th'
creature of circumstances or of Washburne
or some other designing radical leader. HI
is not the man for the crisis. The countr,
needs positive man, and profound states


man. An able aud skilled hand is required
at the helm of State to take it safely into
peaceful and prosperous harbor. There ar,
too many dangers surrounding it to con6dt
its destiny to the hands Of a man who know
nothing of the science of navigation. Ii
quiet and prosperous times it might do Il
elect man who has no experience, or knowl
edge, or well defined ideas but in our pres
ent perilous situation we can never extricat
ourselves under the leadership Of such
Captain. 1t is evident that Grant expect
his popularity as a soldier to secure his elec
| tion. In this, however, he will be disap
pointed. ne is not running for high mill
tary Office merely, but is the candidate of
political party on an obnoxious party plat
form, and hence will be treated Just as an,
= other public man would be who advocate
unpopular measures.