The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-12 00:00:00

STORIES OF THE CANDIDATES.

A most amusing book might be written by dili-
gently gathering the stories told in the American
papers during the electioneering campaign about
the candidates nominated for the Presidency and
Vice-Presidency. No sooner are they named than
ferrets go to work burrowing under the mole-hills
of their lives. A pack of thes3 animals are on the
four trails—Grant and Seymour's—Colfax and
Blair's, from their birth, aye, to under the table
where the candidates now sit. If they pick up little
of interest they dig deeper, and follow along the
trail of their parents, and sooner than work in vain
they bring imagination into play and invent. Frank
Blair furnishes a fine subject, as he is one of those
impetuous, determined fellows that manage to put
through what they are about. When Frank and
Montgomery were small boys they were bathing
with others, and Frank, supported by Montgomery,
" lit on" a very small boy, took away his shirt,
and sank it in the water. The very small boy has
grown into a delegate, and was present in Tam-
many Hall when the Convention met. It further
appears that on this occasion Blair made a mistake,
as it was his own shirt and not the delegate's he
then sunk. This is in proof of his tyranny as well
as of his stupidity. )3ut perhaps he made a greater

mistake when in passing down the Mississippi last
fall he flew at a citizen of St. Joseph who
avowed his belief that Sherman was abler than
Grant, exclaiming with many oaths that " Grant
knew more than Sherman, and all the balance of •
them banged into one." How does Bliar reconcile
this with his letter accepting the nomination,
wherein he calls Grant the tool of Radical despo-
tism, writing of that mailed warrior whose bayo-
nets are now at the throats of eight million; whom
no perversion of truth or audacity of misrepresen-
tation can hail as an angel of peace. 'The ferrets
are working at Yale, through which college this .
cleverest of the Blair family passed in less than a
year, and no doubt we shall shortly learn the re-
sults. We have already his bill at the Allyn house
at Hartford, Connecticut, where he was campaign-
ing lately :—" Two days' board, $lO ; lemons and
whisky, $65 ; total, $75. But they forget to state
how much of the whisky Blair drank, and what
proportion was consumed by the voters. Colfax
once informed " a boy in blue" who called on him
that " he had no time fcr soldiers," and he is to be
taught next November "that the soldiers have no
time for him." But Seymour has been let in for a
much worse case than this. When General Wads-
worth was nominated for Governor in 1864, Sey-
mour, on being informed of it, said, " He will be 3
strong candidate. Our soldiers run well this year."
As for Grant, the libels against him are legion. He
is known, they assert, to be a frightful drunkard;
but we are indebted to a kind friend for a photograph
lately taken of him, which we have received as we
write, and it is a moral impossibility that that face
and form could represent a man that drank to
excess ; and we assert that either the story is a lie
or the " photo." is a lie. An editor in the West
where Grant now is, states that " his complexion is
beautifully fresh and clear," which gives this libel
its most effective contradiction. Doggerel verses,
of course, find their way into every paper and over
the country ; and if the singing soldiers sing all
that is written, they will be actively employed.

Useless Hiram came to town -
To buy two pups of Marshal Brown
is the last thing that appeared in the World about
Grant. The allusion is to a question by which
Grant fenced off a politician who wanted to yawl),
him as he treated Wade when he " talked horse.
No doubt the politician felt rather sold when Grant
said, " Ilave you seen Marshal Brown's black pups?',
It was the best answer that could have been given,
and will tell in Grant's favour. The World has 5
story of a prominent Union officer who knows Grant
well, and who, while driving with a friend not log
ago, staked his reputation that Grant would Pr°.
claim himself a Dictator within 12 mouths after his
inauguration. But these are mild things when
compared with the deep, villanous plots attributed
to the four great actors who have now stepped uP°rl
the political stage. Our readers will be horrified to
learn that the scheme is to assassinate Seymour
unless Providence interposes by enabling the COn"
spirators to remove him, if the ticket be elected, 8°
as to make Blair President, who would smother
Congress in the Reconstruction Acts, re-establish
Slavery, and re-erect the Southern aristrocraci;
We will do our best to supply the collectors 01
curious stories with materials, and those who fil°,
this paper may have on record the little sayings c""
the American people about the men they design f()
the highest posts previous to their inauguration!
while our readers will understand that we do no
v
vouch for their truth.