THREE PRESIDENTS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 713, 30 August 1869, Page 4

THREE PRESIDENTS.

(}?rom Examiner.)

Tece working man has had his turn j gnd now that it is over we are very glad of it j for assuredly the lesson taught by placing a man like Andrew Johnson in a position of supreme power |s not likely to be soon forgotten. It Was never contemplated indeed by the jnass of those who voted for him originally as Vice-President, that the duties of the Chief Magistracy of the Union would devolve upon him. His name was placed on the Republican ticket in JB6l, in order to conciliate certain border interests he was supposed to represent, and without whose aid the democrats could not have been beaten. Abraham Lincoln was the man upon whose unselfish, wise, and moderate sense men relied for stability and strength in the Administration. He too had in youthful days worked with his hands for a living; but the rail-splitter had early embraced the profession of the law; and it was as a well read, thoughtful, earnest, unegotistic, aDd unsectional statesman that he was chosen President of the United States. He was a man equally above the paltriness of disowning his origin, and the affectation of Loasting of its disadvantages. It was not the ignorance of his days of handicraft that recommended him to a majority of his counntrymen, but the information he had gathered subsequently in other walks of life. No man was more acutely conscious than Mr Lincoln of the deficiencies arising from the lack of early education; and no one could more feelingly and modestly advert to this consciousness, as a ground for deliberation and circumspection, when cases of difficulty arose in the performance of his weighty task as chief ruler of the Republic. The value of this truly noble quality was never truly appreciated, perhaps, until he had passed away, and the reins fell by an unlooked for chance to his successor. Without entering at all into the merits of the many perplexed questions of domestic policy that have arisen during the last three years in America, we must frankly own that the language and demeanor of the late President have often sorely tried the fidelity of his friends and the forbearance of party opponents. History will say, we fear, that Andrew Johnson has not maintained the dignity of his office, or raised the repute of the Republic for administrative sagacity and skill. Great allowance should, we think, be made in judging of the maD for those deficiencies of which it was his weakness to boast; we mean the deficiencies of early training. We are Still too near the events in which he has officially taken so unenviable a part to judge of their merits calmly or impartially; we do not venture to pronounce judgement upon the various controversies in which he has beet) officially or semiofficially engaged. But while conceding cheerfully the fullest meed of praise to Mr Johnson for the courage and candour wherewith he has maintained his opinions, we cannot help lamenting the want cf tact and discretion he has too often shown in his use of arguments and epithets in writing and in speech. But the working man has had his turn. If he has not made more of it, it cannot now be helped. We turn to the successful soldier. General Grant has acceded to power in the prime of his maturity and at the zenith of his fame. Scraps of sentences from his jnaugural address, conveyed to us by telegraph, hardly justify any surmise for more it could not be —as to the policy he contemplates. With Mr Fessenden or Mr Adams for his adviser in foreign affairs, the well-wishers of peace will have no reason to fear its interruption. In matters of finance have already an assurance that the credit of the Union will be strictly maintained. On the vexed questions of Southern reorganisation we only know for certain that President Grant is neither a fanatic, an enthusiast, nor £t partisan. He has won his way to supreme civil power by his almost unbroken reticence on political disputes. The cards are in his hands, and he can deal them as he will, It is a great thing in a country so fond of talk of all kinds that a man so singularly fond pf silence should have gained the ypper hand. His refusal to acknow ledge the obligation of answering, or even parrying, obtrusive questions, is tf J>£9°£ 9t Iftorftl courage and self-pos-

session—both of them qualities of great value in a ruler. It is a portion of that which we always set a very high estimate upon, namely, disregard of popularity. No man, assuredly, since the time of Washington, has taken so little pains to ingratiate himself either with cliques or with masters and men. Poes this come of poveity of speech or of the moral wealth of lofty independence and true ambition ? We shall wait with no ordinary interest to see the developement of so remarkable a character, and the progress of so striking a career.