Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1866-09-22
THHE POLITICAL POSITION OF
GEN. GRANT.

THIE POLITICAL POSITION OF
GEN. GRANT.
A correspondent of the Chicago Repuoa,,
can, who travelled with the Prcsidentla.'
party, In O despatch sent from Cincinnau'
furnished the following significant expiana-
ton of the reasons which Induced the hu
trious leader Of our armies TO dec,ne 'iO ;O
compliment rendered him by the oyuoa; -
Blue" in that city, and OF Gen. Ylans. * ,Sa
ton in reference to the poiiticai i'S"'' VI '"'
day: nrponrrn
Tho fact ia. that Gen. Grant knows, as has |
h.en natent to every one during the whole
IF tbis trip. that continued efforts have been
made to cmbtter, il possible, his relations
wi.h the President by exciting the jealousy
of the latter or by making invidious distino-
tions between them, and he Is determined
that no act of his shall lend any encourage
ment to any such contemplate proceeding
on the one hand, or those that have been
made with like persistcncy to identify him
with the political views of the President on
the other. Gen. Grant feels that, next to
the President, he is the head of the army of
the United States, not the leader of politi-
cal party. He does not consider the army
place for politician, and therefore will not
permit himself to be committed to the sup.
port of either of the present political parties,
nor that the army shall be made party ma
chine. 4.t1 atu.I. rI .r .s'-.
GEN. GRANTS ENDORSEMENT. ID
have submitted the above to the Gene
raj, who entirely approves of what have
written, and says that /. fully and exactly
expresses his views. l will, however, state
that as originally written, the concluding
sentance was in these words: "When he
becomes partisan he intends Immediately
to resign his present position" and to this
the General objected, saying that it might
be taken to imply that at some future time
he did intend becoming partisan, whereas
his only intention in using these words was
to express, as'an officer of the army his dis
appreciation of any attempt to identify him
with any political party whatever. g.
For what follows of interest in my des-
patch, it will be best that the public should
receive it in the chronological order in which
it really occurred, in order that it may note
the essential meanness of the men who are
/ the particular friends and devoted sycoptants
Of the men who could slander the Union
men of New Orleans, and, as is alleged and
not contradicted, tamper with the despatch
es of Gen. Sheridan. .
The above conversation with Ger Grant
took place in the baggage and refreshmcnt
car attached to the train, in the presence of
Major Gen, Rawlings, chief of staff to Gen.
Grant; also of another major general, who,
l think, was Gen. Stoneman but of this
am not certain, for did not take any parti-
cular notice who it was.
In addition to these military men, there
were also present Mr.. Warden, who is con-
nccted with the New York Times; john
Hogan, of st. Louis, Mo; Mr. Chadwick, of
Willard's Hotel, Washington, and one or
two members of the Columbus delegation
whose names don't know.
General Grant afterward retired from the
refreshment car, and as Mr.. Warden i'm
mediately entered into conversation with
General Rawlings with great eagerness, ap-
parently respecting what might have been
said to me by General Grant, and frequently
looked in my direction, wishing to do good
turn to fellow reporter, who had the same
chance of obtaining information as himself,
offered TO inform him as to the converse
tion which had passed between myself and
the General, and in general terms did so-
We shortly afterward left the baggage car
for the car next to the Presidents, where
was busily engaged writing out my despatch
and making the alteration requested by Gen.
Grant. Mr.. Warden sat few seats from me-
in front, and when Senator Patterson of
Tennessee, the well.known Unionist who
took office under the Confederacy, entered
the car, he Immediately stopped him and began
| a sonetchat ercited Conversation, at the end of
,chich the loyal Senator shook his finger to,card
the corner IN sohich 1 sat- and then trent into
tie President's car.
GENERAL GRANT AGAIN.
In about minute afterwards General
Grant, who had been into the Presidents
car to present himself to the people assem-
Dled at West Junction, re-entered the car,
and, having seated himself, beckoned to me
to come and SPEAK with him. did so, and,
on seating myself by his side, he went on to
say that he thought that if published the
account already submitted to him, he would
like 1t to be understood that he had refused
to receive the proposed demonstration en-
tirely, because he felt it his duty to refuse
any reception or demonstration rendered
separately to himself while travelling with
the President, or to do anything which
might be construed as favoring any political
party. He then went on to reiterate his de-
termination not to be used by those who
sought to commit him either for or against
the Presidents policy, or to attach any DO.
litical significance to his presence on the
Presidents excursion. He had also been
much annoyed at the use which had been
made OF his name by John Hogan, who had
presumed to state that General Grant was
politically with the President, and on one
similar occasion by Mr.. Seward; he felt that it
was, above all things, desirable for officers
OF the army to avoid participation in ordi-
nary political con ficts, except that it was
their duty as citizens to support only men
who could show record ofconsistent loyalty.
Whether mans sentiments were johnson.
ian or Republican, he said he felt that it was
an insult to any loyal man to ask him to
vote for any candidate vino was not loyal
man in 1851. In this connection, he said
that, without expressing any views of his own
for or against the johnson policy, he yet felt
it to be misfortune for Mr.. johnson that
the advocates of bis policy in the States
through which we had just passed Missouri,
Illinois and lndiana-had in some instances
put upon their ticket men who, in 1861 and
l2GQ Ind haasa IL