The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1866-06-07

was net snoring, l forgaVe hun with all
my heart, wrote to Mary in the morning
that had found a curiosity-a man with a
soul as big as a cathedral
E# -e -
GEN. GRANT ON THE SITUATION 81
Hts Vse,os on tie Southern People and EHa
they Need RemlnlsceceS of Tie Rebellion.
The editor of the Lewiston Falls Jomaa,
now at Washington, recently spent an hou
i'll the studio of the Maine artist Simmons
in conversation with Gen Grant, and gives
an interesting statement of the opinions ex-
pressed by the leading man of the country
upon men and measures" We make few
extracts:
The General, who was dressed in plain,
black civilian suit, had hardly removed his
/ hat from his head before he took a cigar
from his pocket, lighted it and began to puff
out wreaths of smoke. 81 am breaking of
from smoking" remarked Grant. when
| was in the field | smoked eighteen or
twenty cigars day, but now smoke only
nine or ten"
The conversation turned to the Virginia
campaigns of 1864 and 1865 II notice, .
remarked General Grant, that Mr.. Swim
ton has published history, of the cam
paigns in the Old dominion, in which he
takes ground that | gained nothing, but
on the contrary, lost many valuable lives
uselessly by moving my army from the
Rapidan direct toward Richmond rather
than by taking it around 10y water to the
Peninsula, as Mcclellan did, This obeervg
ed the General, SIS a revival of the explod-
ed theory (referring to the Mcclellan policy
of subduing the Rebellion by peace meas
ures. A half million OF troops might
have been kept within sight of Washington
till doomsday, and the rebellion would have
flourished more and more vigorously day
by day. Fighting, hard knocks only, could
have accomplished the work. The rebelIion
must be overcome, if overcome at all, by
force; its resources destroyed its fighting
material obliterated, before peace conid be
obtained"
There were but two failures in the Vir-
ginia campaign of ga which ought to have
been successes" said Grant, ''aud those were
the failure to capture Petersburg when we
crossed the James, and afterward al the
mine explosion" But" added Grant sit
was all for the bes t that we failed inthose two
instances, for, had we succeeded at either
time Lee would have at once been obliged
to abandon Richmond and would have been
able to secure safe retreat into the interior
of the South, where he would have prolong-
ed the contest for years. Our failures then
and the determination of the rebels to hold
Oh to their capitol gave us time to extend
our left Southwark to bring up Sherman
from Georgia, and thereby made it impossi-
ble Tor Lee to escape.
In reply to question as to whether he
was not surprised as to the suddenness of
the collapse of the rebellion Grant said that
he was, although he had always supposed
that when it did break down it would go
all at once. 81 thought, however, he re-
marked that it would hold out another
season and am not sure" he added, ''but
that it would have been better for the coun-
try if it had There We're some parts of the
country where our armies never trod, par
ticularly Texas, which needed to feel the
! blighting effects Of war to bring their peo-
/ pie to realizing sense Of the enormity OF
their crime and the necessity Of a thorough
Repentance. find said he, that those
parts of the south which have not felt the
war, and particularly those which have been
within our lines and have therefore escaped
the rebel CONSUMPTION and taxes are much
less disposed to accept the situation in
good faith than those portions which have
been literally overrun with fire aud sword"
Referring to the temper Of the Southern
people, he remarked that they are much less
disposed now 10 bring themselves to the
proper frame Of mind than they were one
year since. GA year ago." said he, they
were willing to do anything now they re
gard themselves as masters Of the situation
Some of the rebel Generals " be added, s'art
behaving nobly, and doing all they can to
induce the people to throw aside their old
prejudices and to conform their course to tbs
changed condition of things johnson and
Dick Taylor particularly are exercising
i good influence, but, he added, ''Lee is be-
having badly He is conducting himset
very differently from what l had reason
from what he said at the time of the surren
der to suppose he would. No man at the
South is capable of exercising tenth par
OF the influence for good that he is, but in
stead Of using it, he is setting an example
OF forced acquiescence so grudging and per
nicous in its effects as to be hardly rea
lied
1.-The men who were in the rebel armies
said Grant, ''acquiesce in the result mucl
better than those who stayed at home Tn
women are particularly bitter against th'
Union and Union mem OF course he ad
ded, there is some bitterness of feeling
among all classes, but am satisfied it would
soon die out if their leading men had no
somehow got the idea that treason after al
was not very bad, and that the 'Southerr
cause, as they phrase it, will yet triumph
not in war, but III politics. Ia my judg
ment, said Grant, The tone of certain mel
and certain papers at the North is such as t
do inealculable mischief, in making tie lat
rebels believe that they are just as mucl
entitled to rule as ever, and that if they vii
only stand by what they are pleased to cal
their rights they will have help from th
, North, This, significantly added Grant
is only playing over again the incipien
4 stages of the rebellion. de was confiden
D that the large majority of the Southern pee
pie would smother their resentments an
become good citizens. if these mischief max