American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1867-11-06
Geneaal Grant and his Advisers


1t is very amusing to hear Fagin
warning detective to look out for picks
pockets. Or, to put it in another way,
it is very comical to bear the New York
World tell General Grant that he must
beware of political shysters and trick,
stsrs i"Youidear man" /" says the artless
friend of humanity, those naughty
| politicians will be the death of you. Stop
your ears at once, and don't listen to
their wicked stories and If they should
ask you to be President, run as fast as
ever you can, aud tell them to go to the
badIplace where they belong, If you want
| 10 kne W whom TO trust come and ask your
| grandmother.
General Grant has not yet found it
necessary to avoid orito attract the pol
iticiaus He is of necessity and from
reasons entirely superior to ordinary par;
| ty control the master Of the situation.
There are certain movements Of the pubs
lie mind which may always be predicted.
A nd enc of themsis the popular tendency
to e4alt and honor tue. military leader
( who without the, least selfish ambition
/ has been the successful hero of war,
and especially one which has waved the
nation This tendency has been illusA
trated four times in opr own history.
Geaeral Washington was the spontaneous
choice for the first Presidency. General
Jackson, General Harrison, aud General
TAYLOR followed, and they were Success
faisnot from any remarkable fitness for
craftsmanship, or experieuce, of public
affairs but because they, were successful
soldiers.
This tendancy, indeed, is the tfadi!
tionaf peril of republics. O Some day, say
the enemies of free government, there
will come war Then the people be-
come an army. They win a victory.
They defy the successful leader. He
suddenly tdrns into Mr. Caleb Cushing's
man on horseback, and by the aid of
the people oyerturus popular liberty.
There is a fatal defect in this logic, and
our history is the illustration oft. 1t is,
that when the people are the army theft
liberties are pretty safe. 1t is the stand.
ing army which is the enemy of Liberty
But the army of the people with which
Washington secured our national exist
ence, and that with which Grant main.
tanned it, dissolved in the moment of
victory And during its existence it was
not public danger, but public defense
''If General Mcclellan, said one of his
staff, chad undertaken to march upon
Washington the army would have march.
ed upon him" 'aa sal.
Thus with us the egreat soldier becomss
the great citizen. The instruments with
which he has done bis military work
disappear, and only the gratitude and
admiration which his work excited re.
ma.p. Aud they exalt him, We do not
gig MIN peerage, nor an estate, but
what we can do is done. And when
his service has been not only unselfsh
but especially wise; when he has shown
in his whole career that supreme and
steady good sense, which is so much iarer
and greater than tho mere brilliant dar.
ing 10 which true discretion and pru
dencc are wanting, profound confidence
springs in the popular heart which makes
it willing to trust the same wisdomsin
untried spheres. lAC-l ras 5ar-rlr
1t is with such facts that politicians
and all men who would secure public
results must reckon. The true advice is
not not to bid such man beware of pol>
iticians to consider him and his relation
ton to the country. The secret of the
HorlFs amusing advice to General Grant
is fear lest the party that sustained the war
should nominate the General who victo-
riously ended it. IL is indeed natural
that those who excused rebellion, and
who declare the action of Congress reyo>
lutionary and anarchical should, fear 20
see the victorious chief who approved
that action, and the most popular man in
the country, the possible candidate of
loyal men, 1t is also natural that Mont
gomery Blair, a man known of all men,
should undertake to reveal to a crowd of
Washiuton Copperheads and rebels the
opinions of General Grant; counting
upon the Generals habitual silence .uot
to expose such foolish filsehood.. 1t is
also natural that President who means
if possible to restore the Government to
the old political allit 5 of the rebels should
resolve to remove from the Department
o. War the General who crushed the re-
bellion. .. 10 .... ..rr. ... d. r.. 80.
Meanwhile human nature remains the
same. The purpose of the loyal people
Of the United States is not changed by
the perturmauces of the President; aud
their faith in, the General whom they
have watched and tried is not shaken by
any assault yet ma ,e upon him.AHar-
per's Weekly. '.' '.-
He whOis sore pressed with tempt
tstion need not fatter himself that
L. al L.. IL. l0.,A... 4: IN Will ceAse