The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-05-26
An HSnr with tseDeraI Grant-His
views upon Men and Measures.

nal, now at washington, receHilg sP'n. q"
hour In the studio of the Maine artist sim
mons. in conversation with General draIt,
and gives an interesting statement OF the
/ opinions expressed by him upon men anu
measures" Some people will doubt whe-
Their the General would unbosom bimseif
so fully to stranger when he IS haol'ua'iy
SO reticent; but we give the story Us We
find it. The writer says: ,prI., !.
The General, who was dressed III
plain. black, civilian suit, had hardly re-
moved his hat from his head before he took
A cigar from his pocket, lighted 1t, ana be-
ran to puff out wrcaths of smoke. :" am
r, breaking off from smoking" remarked
Grant. sWhen | was in the field smoked
eighteen or twenty cigars day, but no"
smoke only nine or ten" =, ,-.;a;,
The conversation turned to the virginia,
formations of 1864 and 1865. i" notice,
remarked General Grant, that Mr.. swirl
tom has published history OF the cam
naicns in the Old Dominion, IN Which h'
takes the ground that gained notlihS' ou''
ON the contrary, lost many Vaiualie h ,'
uscIcsslv bv moving my army from ,he
Ronidon direct toward Richmond, rather
thnn nv taking it around by water to the
Peninsula. as Mcclellan did. "ThiS," OBJ
served the General, ais revival OF the eX-
ploded theory referring to the Mcclellan
policvl of subduingth the rebellion by peace
measures. A half a million troops might
have been kept within sight of Washing,
ton till doomsday, and the rebellion would
have Hourished more and more vigorously
day by day. Fighting, hard knocks only,
could have accomplished the work. The
rebellion must be overcome, if overcome
all. by force; its resources destroyed,
its fighting material oblitcratcd, before
peace could be obtained"
"Therc are but two failures in the Nlr-
GINA campaign of 1864 which ought 10
have been successes" said Grant " and
those were the failure to capture Peters
burg when we crossed the James, and after
wards at the mine explosion. But," added
Grant, ait was all for the best that we
failed in those two instances, for, had we
succeeded at either time, Lee would have al
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 prolonged the contest Tor
F wears. Our failures then, and the deter
mination of the rebels to hold on to their
capital. gave us time to extend our lett
southwark, 10 bring up Sherman from
Georgia, and thereby make it impossible
for Lee to escape"
In reply to Il question as to whether he
WAS not SURPRISED as To the suddcnncSS ofthc
collapse of the rebellion, Grant said that
hc was. although he had always supposed
that when it would break down, it would
, 20 all AT once. q thought, however, he
remarked. " that il would hold out another
season, and am not sure" he added, but
that il would have been better for the
country if it had. There were some
parts of the country where our armies had
, never trod, particularly Texas, which
needed 10 feel the bighting effects of war
to bring their people to Il realizing sense OF
the cnormity of their crime and the ncccS-
sitv of a thorough repentance. ! find
: said he, "that those parts OF the south
Z which have not felt the war, and partlcu-
larlv those which have been within our
lines, and have therefore escaped the rebel
conscription and taxes, are much less dis
posed to accept the situation in good faith
than those portions which have been lite
: rally ovcrrm with fire and sword
Referring to the temper Of the southern
people, he remarked that they are much
, less disposed now to bring themselves to
the proper frame of mind than they were
one year since. \ year ago" said he,
they were willing 10 do anything now
, they regard themselves as masters ol the
situation. Some of the rebel generals,
he added, care behaving nobly, and doing
. all they can TO induce the people to throw
. aside their old prcjudiccS and 10 conform
= their course to the changed condition OF
things. Johnston and Dick Taylor partlcu-
larry are eXcrciSinga good influence but,
he added, ''Lcc is behaving badly. He is
: conducting himself very differently from
= what | had reason from what he said ut the
, time of the surrender to suppose he would.
No man ut the south is capable of cXer-
ciSing a tenth part of the influence for good
that he is, hut instead of using it, he is
setting an example Of forced acquicscencc
50 grudgng and pernicious in its effects as
, to be hardly realized
"The men who were in the rebel ar
:, mics" said Grant, "acquicSce in the re-
suit much better than those who Staid 1T
| home. The women are particularly bitter
, against the Union and Union men. OF
course" he added, "thcre is some bitter
ness of feeling among all CLASSES, but | am
satisfied ii would soon die out if thcil lead
ing men had not somehow got the idea that
treason, after all, was not very bad, and
$ that the southern cause as they phrase
f it, will yet triumph, not in war, but III
politics. In my Judgment" said Grant,
"the tone OF certain men and certain pa
, pcrs at the north is such as to do incaIcula-
= bic mischief in making the late rebels be
Icve that they are just rs much entitled 10
rule as ever, and that if they will only
stand by what they are pleased 10 call their
rights they will have help from the north.
: This" significantly added Grant, . is only
playing over again the incipicnt stages OF
, ! the rebellion" He was confident that the
large majority ofthe southern people would
smother their resentment andbecome good
citizens if these miSchicf-ma at the
north 1.-THE CopperhcadS) would only let
them alone. For himself, if he had the
power, the first thing he would do would
be to seize the New York NelrS and kin
dred sheets, which are giving the south 50
dangerous an idea OF their own position
and "rightS."
"TroopS," said General Grant, Unjust
be kept in all the principal points in the
south for some tine to come. This will be
necessary to reprcss the turbulence OF a
class at the so nth very dangerous to all
well-disposed persons, and also to protect
!. the rights of the freedmen, who are
looked upon with deep hatred by very
large proportion of the people. | am in
favor, however" he added, of not retain
ing our volunteers for this duty, because
they very naturally think that they full