Two apologies I hear. The first is that he means well, and errs
from want of knowledge. This is not much. It was said of Louis the
Quarreller, that he meant well; nor is there a slate head-stone in any
village burial-ground that does not record as much of the humble lodger
beneath. Something more is needed for a President. Nor can we afford to
perpetuate power in a ruler who errs so much from ignorance. Charity
for the past I concede, but no investiture for the future.
The other apology is, that his Presidency has been successful. How?
When? Where? Not to him can be attributed that general prosperity
which is the natural outgrowth of our people and country; for his
contribution is not traced in the abounding result. Our golden fields,
productive mines, busy industry, diversified commerce, owe nothing to
him. Show, then, his success. Is it in the finances? The national debt
has been reduced, but not to so large an amount as by Andrew Johnson
in the same space of time. Little merit is due to either, for each
employed the means allowed by Congress. To the American people is
this reduction due, and not to any President. And while our President
in this respect is no better than his predecessor, he can claim no
merit for any systematic effort to reduce taxation or restore specie
payments. Perhaps, then, it is in foreign relations that he claims
the laurels he is to wear. Knowing something of these from careful
study and years of practical acquaintance, I am bound to say that
never before has their management been so wanting in ability and so
absolutely without character. With so much pretension and so little
knowledge, how could it be otherwise? Here the President touches
nothing which he does not muddle. In every direction is muddle,--muddle
with Spain, muddle with Cuba, muddle with the Black Republic, muddle
with distant Corea, muddle with Venezuela, muddle with Russia, muddle
with England,--on all sides one diversified muddle. If there is not
muddle with Germany and France, it must be from their forbearance.
To this condition are we reduced. When before in our history have
we reached any such bathos as that to which we have been carried in
our questions with England? Are these the laurels for a Presidential
candidate?
But where else shall we look for them? Are they found on the Indian
frontier? Let the cry of massacre and blood from that distant region
answer. Are they in reform of the civil service? But here the initial
point is the limitation of the President to one term, so that he may
be placed above temptation; yet this he opposes. Evidently he is no
true reformer. Are these laurels found in the administration of the
Departments? Let the discreditable sale of arms to France in violation
of neutral duties and of municipal statute be the answer; and let
the custom-houses of New York and New Orleans, with their tales of
favoritism and of nepotism, and with their prostitution as agencies,
mercenary and political, echo back the answer; while senatorial
committees, organized contrary to a cardinal principle of Parliamentary
Law as a cover to these scandals, testify also. And again, let the War
Department recall the disappearance of important archives bearing on an
important event of the war, so that empty boxes remain like a coffin
without a corpse. Where, then, are the laurels? At last I find them,
fresh and brilliant, in the harmony which the President has preserved
among Republicans. Harmony, do I say? This should have been his
congenial task; nor would any aid or homage of mine have been wanting.
But instead he has organized discord, operating through a succession of
rings, and for laurels we find only weeds and thistles.
But I hear that he is successful in the States once in rebellion.
Strange that this should be said while we are harrowed by the reports
of Ku-Klux outrages. Here, as in paying the national debt, Congress has
been the effective power. Even the last extraordinary measure became
necessary, in my judgment, to supplement his little efficiency. Had
the President put into the protection of the colored people at the
South half the effort and earnest will with which he maintained his
San Domingo contrivance, the murderous Ku-Klux would have been driven
from the field and peace assured. Nor has he ever exhibited to the
colored people any true sympathy. His conduct to Frederick Douglass
on his return from San Domingo is an illustration; and so also was
his answer to the committee of colored fellow-citizens seeking his
countenance for the pending measure of Civil Rights. Some thought him
indifferent; others found him insulting. Then came his recent letter to
the great meeting at Washington, May 9, 1872, called to assert these
rights, where he could say nothing more than this: “I beg to assure
you, however, that I sympathize most cordially in any effort to secure
for all our people, of whatever race, nativity, or color, _the exercise
of those rights to which every citizen should be entitled_.”[171] Of
course everybody is in favor of “the rights to which every citizen
should be entitled.” But what are these rights? And this meaningless
juggle of words, entirely worthy of the days of Slavery, is all that
is vouchsafed by a Republican President for the equal rights of his
colored fellow-citizens.
I dismiss the apologies with the conclusion, that in the matters to
which they invite attention his Presidency is an enormous failure.