The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1866-01-06
Southern Trib utc 10 Gen. Grant.
Prom The Mobile Register ana Advertiser, John Forsyth,
Editor, Dec. 10, 1855.
GENERAL GRAN

GENERAL GRAN =
Gen. Grant grows upon Us in has character
of a wise man and a conservative sta, esman.
From the moment that he overwheln ned Gen.
Lee with the irresistible force of numbers
welded by his indomtatle WI and untiriug
perseverance, he dropped the character of a
military conqueror, and all his utterances
have been those Of q patriot and statesman,
who saw that the sword had finished its az,
pointed work, and the policy Of CANCELLATION
was the duty of the hour. The honorable
terms he awarded to Gen. Lee and his ve;er
ans, who had opposed him with determined
and bloody resistance, struck a chord of
sympathy III the Southern breast, the intona.
ton of which was In exact proportion to the
singular rarity OF deeds of generosity up to
that time, from the Federai COMMANDERS
Grant was essentially Union General"
be fought in sincerity and in earnest for the
preservation of the "Union'-not as pre-
text for Interior views, not as an excuse for
slaughter, plunder, eonfscation and subiuga-
ton, but as reality. And when the first
step in his object had been accomplished. in
dispensing the armies organized to break il
up, he proved his sincerity by acts and efforts
to bind up the political wounds inf ;c,ed bv
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 which they had fought
Cor.
His conservative tendency aud his love OF
Justice and truth have been recently mani
Tested in the report he made TO tie Presiden.
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 profess
sions and vows of allegiance to the Go7ern>
ment of the United States. He told the
truth, also, unpsla;abe to the negro worship
pers, that the freedmen" were, for the most
part. IDLE and unwilling to enter int labor
contracts for the coming year. In this, he
has performed valuable service to the
South, for his testimony will outweigh uron
the Northern public mind the reports of
thousand such ex parte witnesses as Carl
Schurz, John Covode. and Gen. Banks
In his late admirable repor: OF the opera
tions 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 q graceful passage of tribute
to the gallanify Of the South. After doing
justice to the equal bravery OF the troops
Of the East and the West. who had fought
perpetual peace and. harmony with the
enemy, whOse manhood, however mistaken.
drew forth such Hcrculean deeds ofyalor'!
man of Gen. Grants stamp is iuvalua-
bic to country in an epoch like this
Events may fake shape to open to HIM
even wider and grander field of patriotic
effort than that in which he has already
earned SO distinguished reputation He
may yet have TO marshal parties and politics
as he has heretofore done battalioss and
armies. a Democrat in political faith and
education, and 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 Constilu-
ton of the Union. This high duty of.
great leadership has to devolve on some
strong atriot.
Fortune has placed President johnson in
the gap of freedom, but he may fail, or, try
ing, fall like Leonidas and his little band at
ThermoPyl@. In either event Gen. Grant
posses the great qualities and rare gifts to
fit him to take up the Tag Of the Constitu-
ton and bear it in triumph. The Douglas
Democrat of 1860, the first soldier of the
United States, aftersfoar years Of ferEordaar.
the idol OF the Army and the object Of high
esteem and respect in the South as we'll as in
the North, where could the Democratic con-
servatives of the nation find a worthier
leader, or the restored United States a more
honest Presideut? AS political currents
are now running, these thoughts may be-
come prophecies before three short years roll
away. 81 o. - ~