Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1865-12-23
General Grant.

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General Grant grows upon us in his char
| acter ola wise man and conservative states
man. From the moment that he over
whelmed General Lee with the Irresistible
force of numbers, welded by his indomita-
bic will and untiring perseverance. he drop-
ped the character of a military conaueror
and all his utterances have been those of n
patriot and statesman, who saw that the
sword had finished its appointed work. and
| the policy of Cancellation was the duty of
| the hour. The honorable terms he award
ed to General Lee and his veterans. who
had opposed him with determined and
bloody resistance, struck a chord of SYM
patty in the Southern breast, the intonation
of which was in exact proportion to the sim
guar rarity of deeds of generosity ND TO the
time, from the Federal commanders. Grant
was essentially a Union General" He
fought in sincerity and in earnest for the pres
ervation of the Union"-not as a pretext
for Interior views, not as an excuse for
slaughter, plumber, confscation and subuga-
ton, but as reality. And when the first
step in his object had been accomplished in
| dispensing the armies organized to break it
up, he proved his sincerity by acts and CT
forts TO bind up the political wounds infiiic-
ed by war, and by Immediately dropping
the sword to seize the olive branch. He
| has thus shown his want of sympathy with
the radical plan of continuing the war in
time of peace, and of rejecting the Union
they had fought for.
His conservative tendencies and his love
Of Justice and truth have been recently man.
ifested in the report he made to the Presi-
| dent, of the condition of things in the South,
| whence he had just returned. He declared
| the people sincerely and heartily DESTROYS of
restoration, and in earnest in their profes-
| siOns and VOWS of allegiance to the Govern
ment of the United States. He told the
truth, also, unpalitable to the negro worship
pers, that the :" freedmen were for the most
part idle and unwilling to enter into labor
contracts for the coming year. In this he
has performed valuable service to the
| South, for his testimony will outweigh upon
the Northern public mind, the reports of
| thousand such e1 pGrte witnesses as Carl
Schurz, John Covode and Gen. Banks
| In his late admirable report of the opera
tons of the great armies under his command
| he gives another proof of the generosity of
his spirit and the broad nationality of his
feelings, in a graceful passage of tribute to
the gallantry of the South. After doing
justice to the equal bravery of the troops of
the East and the West, who had fought I'M
der his eve, he adds: q Let us hope for
perpetual peace and harmony with that
enemy, Those manhood, however mistaken,
drew forth such Herculedn deeds Of calor r'
A man of Gen. Grants stamp is invalu-
able to a country in an epoch like this.
Events may tai lie a shape to open to him
even a wider and grander field of patriotic
effort than that in which he has already
earned so distinguished a reputation. He
may yet have to marshal parties and poll
cies as he has heretofore done battalions and
armies. \ Democrat in political faith and
education, and a Conservative in sentiments
and principles, who knows but that he is the
coming man to rally the hosts Of his politi-
cal persuasion to the defence of the rights
and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution
of the Union. This high duty of great
leadership has to devolve on some strong
| patriot.
| The Douglas Democrat of 1860, the first
soldier of the United States after four years
of fiery ordeal the idol Of the army and the
object of high esteem and respect in the
South as well as in the North, where could
| the Democratic conservatives of the ratio
| find a worthier leader, or the restored United
States more honest President? As politi-
cal currents are now running, these thoughts
may become prophecies before three short
| years roll away.