The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-06-12

what a statesman is. The people of this
country have come TO some Conclusions of
their own as to the essential character of
statesmanship. If we may Judge by their past
action, they are not inclined to accept the
current definition of that word. They find
their models of statesmanship outside the
sacred circle of those who have been set apart,
by choice or circumstances, to the work of
holding Office and managing public affairs.
They undoubtedly know what they lose
thereby, but they also know what they gain
They lose the advantages of training and ex-
perience, of eloquence in writing and in speech,
of familiarity with the arts of politicians and
the resources OF diplomatists; and these losses
are by no means light But they gain fresh
sense of duty and responsibility, quick SYM
pathy with popular impulses and wants, a
clear perception of the tendencies and neces-
stiles of the nation, and deliverance from the
network of political intrigue which friends,
dependants, and parasites inevitably weave
around the man, however great, who has
spent years in the labors and associations of
public life. And, so far as we can Judge from
their action, they regard their gains as out
weighing their losses in this respect.
General Grant is the only one of the men now
talked of for the Presidency who is not so
mixed up with party projects, so committed
to special policies and schemes, so hampered
by having "friends to reward and enemies to
punish, as to destroy all public faith in his
disinterested independence, and in his ability
to make the public good the sole guide OF his
public action. There is no distinct line or
scheme of policy to be compassed by the next
election. The questions of public policy which
followed the close of the war have been settled,
and they are not likely to be disturbed.
Slavery is blotted out forever. The negroes
of the Southern States have been clothed with
civil and political rights, and have become
essential elements of Southern civil and politi-
oa1e afu MT mil ha zoI
in those States on the basis of the law of Con-
gress-and those States will have resumed
their practical relations in the Union, and
their relative power in its Government, be-
fore the Presidential election comes round.
The next Administration will find the business
of reconstruction accomplished, SO far as laws
and enactments can do it. What will be
needed then will be the restoration-or rather
the inspiration-of mutual faith and good feel
ing, of common sentiments, motives, and prin-
ciples of action between the different sections
of the Union. The North will need man in
whose devotion to the principles that have been
established by the war-to the Union, to
equality of rights, and to the good of all classes
and conditions alike, they can have q firm and
in whose justice and magnanimity they can
find security against relentless persecution, and
the protracted intliction of ruinous punishment
for past offenses. 1t is the general temper and
tone of the man--to the predominant spirit
and habit of his public conduct-rather than
to any specific doctrine or policy which he may
hold, that the people of the whole country
will look in the coming canvass. And we
know as yet of no man so likely to meet the
popular demand in this respect as General
Grant.
1t is said that he does not want the nomina-
ton. That very fact will increase tenfold the
chance of his getting it. There is nothing of
which the people of this country have shown
themselves more jealous and distrustful than
of open aspirations for the Presidency. The
fact that any man wants to be President, and
manifestly allows that want to guide his pub
lie action, is with the people powerful reason
against his having it. If Calhoun, Clay, and
Webster had shown less eagerness for the
office, if they had not impressed upon the
public mind the conviction that its attainment
was the great aim and object of their lives,
they would have surmounted the most for
midable of the obstacles which they encoun-
tered. The belief that General Taylor did not
desire the Presidency went very far with the
people to satisfy them that he was a man who
might be trusted in it. The Presidency is
scarcely an Office which can be considered a
fair object of political ambition. Its respon-
| sibilities are too great to be devolved upon
men whose motives in seeking it are fairly
open to suspicion. No man who seeks it
for selfish purposes, even for the sake
| OF gratifying personal amDlIlOn, HAUL
raj and laudable enough in ITSELF can
satisfy the public distrust of his fitness for it.
1t is too high an Office to be ''either sought or
declined" and if the people believe that in
accepting it General Craft would waive rather
than crafty his personal inclinations, and
would yield solely to a sense of duty and de-
sire to serve his country, that conviction will
give him stronger hold on their confidence
and favor than years of intriguing for it could
possibly do. That he will accept it when
satisfied that the people desire him to do so,
we have not the slightest doubt; that he will
seek it, or that the prospect of having it ten
dered to him will influence his Judgment or
action in the least, we do not believe.
We look forward to the nomination of Gene
raj Grant by the National Convention of the
Union party. That the most strenuous efforts
will be made to defeat it is sufficiently evident
from movements already public. The entire
machinery of the Republican party in the
Southern States is in the hands of his oppo-
nents, and the representatives of that party in
the Convention, elected, as of course they
will be, wholly by negro votes, will probably
be cast against him. But the great body OF
the Union party in the North and West will,
unless we are greatly mistaken, become so
satisfied that the existence of the party, as
well as the welfare of the country, depend upon
his becoming its candidate, that we have very
little doubt of that result.
Recon nstruct tiOn-Let Well Enough Alone
From the Tribune.
We are informed that the President and his