A hundred years ago
From the 'Spectator', 6 March 1869—General
Grant's address, on assuming office as President on Thursday . . . is certainly short and good. He takes the oath to the Constitution "without mental reservation.' He will express his views to Congress when he thinks it desirable. He will veto bills of which he disapproves. But all laws will be faith- fully executed, whether they meet with his approval or not . . . General Grant announces his view of government in strictly Benthamite language. "The greatest good of the greatest number," he says, "is the object to be attained." "To secure the • national honour, every dollar of the Government indebtedness should be paid in gold, unless ex- pressly stipulated at the time of being contracted." General Grant speaks as one having authority, and not as Mr. Johnson, who vanishes now,— finally, we trust,—from the political eminence Ahich he has disfigured and disimiced.
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