Year: 1872

Dy law upon naval oh1cers the eloquent Sen
ator from Massachusetts, arises in his plac
and charges corruption. How easy it is, sir
for us to find fault with others whom tn
psople honor, lest we may never bs placed il
position to be so highly favored ourselves


After discussing the question of gift-takins
ne says that MIR. Stewart, of New York, wa
appointed Secretary of the Treasury, and h,
uses that for the purpose of showing the iy
norance of President Grant He saws tina
President Grant appointed Mr. Stewart; h:
does not say it was because Mr. Stewart had
made him present, but that is the inference
from his language, and at the same time he
lntimates the ignorance Of the President te
be SO great that he did not know that an i'm
porting merchant could not be collector oj
the port of New York or Secretary of the
Treasury. Now, I venture the assertion
and1 think can prove it from the record,
that the Senator's ignorance was so great at
the same tins that he did not know it was
the law. Mr.. Lincoln once rendered the ap-
pointment to an importing merchant of col
lector of New York, without a knowledge ol
the law, and the merchant declined. It was
an old statute, unknown 10 any one almost,
unthonght of for years. Mr.. Stewart name
was sent to the Senate Chamber, and in the
message Withdrawing the name of Mr.. Stew
art the President said, after mentioning the
statute:


"1n view Of these provisions and the fact that Mr.
Stewart has been unanimously confirmed by the Sem
ate, withdraw his name"


In view of what2 In view of the fact that
this statute exists, and what other fact2 The
fact that he has been unanimously confirm
ed Tell me how could he be unanimously
confirmed in this Senate if there was a man
in the Senate who knew that law existed at
that time. 1t was not ignorance ON the part
of President Grant any more than it was on
the part of the Senator from Massachusetts,,
who voted for his confirmation with that
statute on our books Yet he brings this
forward as fact to prove the ignorance of
President Grant that he did not know that
the law existed. We are all very wise after
finding out something. If we only fiud out
that which others did not know before, we
are very anxious to tell the world of our
great discovery, and when it was ascertained.
The Senator did not tell the Senate that he
found and discovered this statute. 1t is a
wonder he did not say, 81 arose and objected
at the time, because it was in violation of
law" He did not say that; but the statute
was discovered by clerk in the Treasury
Department, and not by the Senator from
Massachusetts, or any other Senator. Yet the
Senator from Massachusetts, has achieved a
| great victory over President Grant in prov
ing him to be ignorant of statute that he
knew nothing about himself.


| The next suggestion of the Senator is, that
President Grant quarrels with every one.
know that President Grant is not quar-
relsome man. If he dislikes you he has
nothing to do with you, but he does not quar-
| rel. In the army, if an officer did not per-
form his duty he merely sent him little
order relieving him from duty, and you have
never heard General Grant lisp the reason up
to this day why he relieved an officer in the
army, and if you will go and ask him now
why he relieved many officers during the war,
he will not tell you. He did it because he
thought they failed to perform their duty,
but the reason he did not give, because per-
haps he thought others might not see the
fault as he did, and if he was mistaken he
would let it work itself out without trying
to injure the party any worse than by simply
relieving him. This was his mode of doing
business in the army. Ibelieve it is his man
ner to-day. If you dislike him and let him
know it, that is enough; you hear nothing
from him. If he dislikes you it is the same
thing precisely, but he quarrels with no one.
Mr.. President, the speech of the Senator
| from Massachusetts, presented to the country
at this particular time is very significant
| fact I wish to call his attention to one
point in it, but this suggestion I wish to
make in order to show him how fatal to him
| self this speech may be.


He says that at the time he approached
! Secretary Stanton on his dying bed, and the
he had no faith in General Grants ability to
| lody irio f6a ho IN fho
Secretary, "It is too late why did you not
say this sooner?" repeat the same thing
to Senator Sumner. Your speech, to perform
the Office you intended it, came too late.
Hence I am led to the conclusion that it was
not intended to perform the Office which he
says it was intended, but it was to perform a
very different office from that which he inti-
mates he intended it should perform that is
to say, to advise the American people that
President Grant was not qualified to exer-
else the functions of that Office, and hence
ought to be supplanted by some one else at
| Philadelphia. No, sir; if that was the OBJ
ject, it comes too late. That being so, have
come to the conclusion that man of SO much
wisdom and of so many pretensions as the
Senator from Massachusetts, had a very diff
| ferent intention.


Sir, his intention was to strangle and de-
stroy the Republican party, that party which
he says he created. If he did, say to him
he performed great work. If he was the
architect and builder of the Republican party
he is a great master workman-its dome 80
beautifully rounded, its columns go admira
| bly, chiseled, and all its parts so admirably
prepared, and builded together so smoothly
and so perfectly that the mechanism charms
the eye of every one who has ever seen it.
Since the Senator has performed such great
work, appeal to him to know why it is that
he attempts to destroy the workmanship of
his own hands. But let me give him one
word of advice. While he may think, Sam
son-like, that he has the strength to carry off
the gates and the pillars of the temple, let
me tell him when he stretches forth his arm
to cause the pillars to reel and totter beneath
this fabric, there are thousands and thou
sands of true-hearted Republicans who will
! come up to the work, and stretching forth
| their strong right arms, say. "Stay thou
there; these pillars stand beneath this mighty
fabric of ours, within which we all dwell 1t
is the ark of our,safety, and shall not be de-
stroyed. manifestations of applause in the
| galleries.)


Now, Mr. President, let me call attention
to the strange statement of the Senator in
regard to Secretary Stanton's dying declara-
ton about General Grant. According to this
statement Secretary Stanton is made to say,
in regard to his speeches, II never intro
duced the name of General Grant" Sir, l
am constrained to say that the statement can
not be true. I have the record here to prove