Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-08-03
GRANT AND THE PRESIDENCY.

Although Gen Graut has no experi-
euce 10 the crooked ways of politics, he
is too shrewd and cautious to be drawn
into Republican ambuscade. The only
reason why any part of the Republican
party have proposed him for the Presi-
dency, is their fear that he may be nomi.
mated by the Democrats. There is moth
ing in his character or antecedents which
can recommend him to the Republicans
He was bred, and, as we may say, born
Democrat his father being a staunch
supporter of Democratic principles, as
the public well know from the conversa.
ton between him and President Johnson
reported in the newspapers last year.
During the war, General Grant won all
his laurels by hard and skillful fighting,
never once attempting to court the party
in power by incense to their black idol
At the close of the war, the terms of sur
render he accorded to Gen. Lee and the
Rebel army were Sutherland generous as
to give universal dissatisfaction to the Re-
publicanparty. When the Southern State
governments had been reconstructed un-
der the auspices of President Johnson,
General Grant made tour Of inspection
in the South, and reported that the people
gave satisfactory proofs of loyalty and
deserved to be trusted This was about
the time of the first meeting of Congress
after the war and so hostile was General
Grants report deemed to the spirit and
policy Of that body, and so favorable to
the immediate admission OF the Southern
Representatives, that Mr. Sumner bitterly
denounced it, in his place in the Senate,
as a embarrassing report" and COM
pared it to an odious Democratic docu
ment sent to Congress some ten years
before palliating the BORDER rufian out
RACES in Kansas General Grant per-
sonal character is as little in harmony
with the Republican party as is his past
history His cool, imperturbable tempera-
ment is singularly at variance with the
impatient ardor and hot ebullitions in
which the Republicans resemble all reyo-
lutionary PARTIES
From the New York Tribune (Radical)
Time may prove that he is the man for
the place; but that question cannot now
be determined We need to understand
more clearly the issues on which that
election is to turn, and the views of the
rival candidates relative thereto.
The people are not in the mood for try
ing any grab-bag experiments They
will insist on having a President who
fully knows his own mind with regard to
the political situation, and who has not
essentially another mind from theirs.
They have once or twice taken candidates
on trust, and have not been encouraged
to repeat the venture And when they
see that General Grants name is the
Shibboleth of a number Of the most dis
credited of the campfollowers and
shoddy patriots of the late war, who
barked at the heels of the sOrely beset
republic whenever it was constrained to
take a step forward in the course which
led through emancipation to triumph,
they will be more strenuous in their de-
mands for light than if the General we're
not cursed by such hackers.
Many things are forgiven to a party
which has not outliyed its ideas and its
work but one thing is never forgiven,
and that is distrust of the correctness
and value of its own principles The
Wing party was badly beaten in the de-
feat Of Clay by Polk in ls44-sorely to
its own amazement and grief, yet its
vitality was so little impaired that it
elected the next House of Representatives
and the next Governor of New York.
Four years later, it succeeded with Gen.
Taylor, but lost the House Of Representa-
tives chosen along with him, was beaten
ont of sight in the next one, and never
recovered its vitality And the reason
was, that in its contest for Mr. Gays
election it boldly proclaimed and defended
its convictions, asking verdict thereon
while in that ofGeneral Taylor it rather
concealed and evaded distinct issue Of
principle, trusting for success to facti-
tious appeals and clap-trap instrumental
ties.
Let US repeat, to repel misrepresenta'
ton, that we do not call in question the
fitness of choosing General Grant as the
Republican candidate for President We
viii consider that point in due time.
What we do say, is that the Republican
candidate must represent and embody