The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-05 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Times says the able and gallant soldier who is now
raised to the first place in the Union is one whose success
no one will be disposed to regret. General Grant has
fairly won his high rank by hard work, real devotion to
his country, and services which will live long in its remem-
brance. It is in his favour that his reputation is almost
exclusively professional, and that he is not, and has
never been, a party politician. He will take office
with greater freedom of action than if he were the
hero of a hundred platforms, and had in long canvas-
sing tours taken all the piectges and uttered all
the shibboleths of his party. He is, in fact, a man whom
his countrymen of all opinions may bring themselves to
accept, simply because he has not identified himself so
strictly with one faction as is common with the multitude
of candidates. A President who is elected by the Repub-
licans, and yet was not long ago looked upon as a possible
leader by the Democrats, cannot but have some advan-
tage in entering upon his administration. He comes
in the prime of life, with a great reputation and an
unfettered will, to the direction of the State, and
he must be very unfortunate and ill-advised if he does
not add to the credit which has procured his election.
Since the war he has by general consent behaved with
judgment and moderation. At first it was believed that
he inclined to the views of the President, but as Mr.
Johnson went more and more hopelessly into opposition
to Congress and to the dominant public sentiment, General
Grant ranged himself on the side of the majority, which
trusted him with the most extensive rowers. Yet
there is nothing in his past career which pre-
vents him from exercising a large discretion, and
appearing in the character of a mediator rather than
of a conqueror. To the main policy of the Republican
party he is bound in honour to be faithful, and, indeed,
any other course of action would soon strip him of nearly
all his power. The national decision on this point is un-
mistakable and irreversible, and will probably be accepted
without further opposition both by the Democrats and
the South. But there are wide limits in which a man of
judgment and good feeling can chew his character in deal-
ing with the two ill-joined sections of the Union, and in
this respect we heartily wish the new President a wise
discretion and better success than his predecessor has
attained.

The Standard remarks that General Grant's election
as President of the United States is now assured. This
result has for some weeks past been, on very sufficient
grounds, go generally and so confidently expected, that
those who most regret it cannot pretend to be surprised
or disappointed. The practical suppression of free-
dom of voting in several States, the enfranchise-
ment of hundreds of thousands of ignorant negroes and
the disfranchisement of a large proportion of the people of
the South the possession by the Radicals of the execu-
tive power and the control of the polling-booths in most of
the States, and their notorious readiness to abuse that
power, compelled the Democratic party to fight the
battle of constitutional government and reunion at a
terrible disadvantage. In the moderation, good sense,
and principle of the new President, and in the
formidable strength of his opponents—which he will
not forget merely because it is unrepresented at
Washington—lies the only hope for the restoration
of the unhappy South and for the eventual safety of the
Union. The more complete the victory of the Radicals
the worse is likely to be their use of it ; the only check
upon their excesses lies in the power which such a mode-
rator as General Grant must derive from the knowledge
that on any question on which he may differ with Con-
gress he will probably have a majority of the people on
his side. It was the absence of that silent but strong sup-
port that rendered nugatory the well-meant efforts of Mr.
Johnson ; his successor is at once a stronger man and
holds a stronger position.
The Daily News thinks the people of the United State—
are evidently determined to have a strong Government.
The degradation of public authority and the loss of national
force which the • Republic has been compelled to suffer
during the last two years, in consequence of having a Presi-
dent who either could not or would not work harmoniously
with Congress, have made a deep impression on the
citizens. Even Mr. Seward has been driven by the
ter.ching of events to declare that he confides in the Repub-
lican party which saved the Union and abolished slavery,
and not in the Democrats, who would delay the restora-
tion of harmony and peace. No doubt General Grant is
also much indebted for his triumph to foolish Southern
fire-eaters like Wade Hampton, who, instead of imitating
the dignified examples of Longstreet and other generals—
men who really did the South some service in the war, but
have now heartily rallied to the Union—have gone mouthing
about, proclaiming the most dire intentions, with no other
effect than that of prolonging anarchy and idleness.
General Grant will not enter upon the exercise of his high
trust -.Anti' March next, so that for nearly five months the
evils of the present system may possibly be continued.
Something, however, will have been gained in the mere
cessation of electoral excitement ; while the knowledge
that before long disorder will be repressed with a firm
hand, will tend to check the lawless spirits which disturb
the Southern States, and allcw its peaceable and Indus-
tri,us citizens to live in quiet and enjoy the reward of their
industry.

The Star thinks that on personal as well as public
grounds General Grant is the best choice that could have
been made. He is the foremcst man in the Republic.
His services to his country have been so great that, on the
assumption of his fitness in other respects, he had established
an irresistible claim to be elevated to the chair of
Washington and Lincoln. He has had his detractors,
but they were writers and politicians who derived their
inspiration from the headquarters of calumny at
Tammany Hall. " Silence is golden," said the German
poet ; and Grant's dignified silence while he was being
assailed by every foul epithet which malice could invert,
gained for him the sympathy of all generous and high-
minded men. As regards his foreign policy, it is well
known that he is animated by a most friendly feeling to-
wards this country, and that if on his accession to power
any questions remain unsettled between the two nations,
it will be his anxious desire to preserve the peace, and to
cement a real alliance between England and the United
States.

The Post rather discourages the working-mans
dature, but remarks that it is nothing new, for this class
has made its appearance at former elections. We have
seen at former elections men who held the entire Chartist
platform, not merely offering themselves for candidates,
but occupying seats in the House. There was a time, and
within the recollection of the present generation, when
the extreme Radical party mustered stronger in Parlia-
ment than it is likely d> next session. And one reason.
at least, of this is not far to seek. In proportiot
as the working classes have become satisfied b 3
the passing of measures calculated to promote their
interests and views, such as the repeal of the corn
laws, and the series of steps in the direction of free
trade which followed in regular sequence the great reform
advocated by Mr. Cobden and carried by Sir Robert Peel,
the more moderate are they likely to become. Using the
term in its best and most enlarged sense, it may be safely
affirmed that the working classes were never so Con-
servative as they are now. Those who remember the
Chartist agitati n and riots of 1848 know how strong a
feeling of dissatisfaction existed in the deeper strata
of our social system, but they may not, perhaps, reflect
that Chartism itself was but the fag-end and remnant
of a state of discontent and positive disaffection extend.
ing back to the last century. The working classes
are growing more moderate, and the upper classes more
Liberal. Lord Palmerston did more than any other man
to blend the two parties. Mr. Disraeli on the one hand,
and Mr. Bright on the other, might criticise his policy,
but they knew that all that is good in our institutions was
safe in his hands equally with the real interests and well-
being of the working classes ; the one, therefore, supported
him on most important questions, and the other saw it
was impossible and indeed impolitic to endeavour to sup-
plant
him. The new Parliament will be very much like
the old one, and if any extreme Radicals get there they
will find their level, as the House of Commons is wonder.
fully efficacious in taming wild men.

The Herald notices that the majority of uncontested
seats of which the Liberal organs have been boasting is
dwindling rapidly away. It has sunk by twenty or so in
the last two or three days, and we may hope that it will
be got rid of altogether before the elections commence. If
only the same rate of progress which we have been able
to report for the last few mornings is kept up, this very
desirable result will be attained, and, according to the old
system of calculation adopted by our contemporaries,
the two parties be balanced in the new Parliament.
'We have no appetite, however, for these childish triumphs
of anticipation. We shall rejoice in the appearance of
sixty or seventy more Conservative candidates, not
because it makes our list look as well on paper as out
opponents', but because it will give the Conservative feel-
ing of the country the opportunity which it asks, and
infallibly strengthen the Conservative party in the new
Parliament by a very large number of votes. The Con-
servatives may not be able to win all the seats which are
%till left to the Liberals in England and Wales, but they can
certainly secure a good many of them, if the right men come
forward, and the Conservatives of the constituencies dc
their duty. We must fight every seat that we have a
chance of winning, if we will do our duty to our country in
this crisis of its fortunes. We can win if we will, but we
must work hard and with unflagging spirit. If the Con-
servative electors in every constituency which is yet
counted by the Liberals amongst those that are to give
them uncontested seats will, when the chance of success
may warrant it, get the best man they can find to be their
candnh.d.,., the Conservative Party will have in the neve
ParliainoeJt the good working majority to which the boasts
of the 1. not long ago alarmed lest they should be
as four J. JJ J red to two, have sunk, to fall ere many dap
to a ratic:l;:.ewer depth.