The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1867-05-23
Grant md His Traducers.

ters d1sposition TO disparage the aOil-
fly, intelligence and integrity OF General
Grant. That weadeti Phillips and ether
impracticabl Should Dbusshim is TO be
expected. bat not that respectable Jour
nails and politicians should repeat their
scandals. When he entered the army at
| the beginning of the rebellion, it Was said
of him that he had neither inteili gence,
ability or industry, while of Mcclellan
and scores of others who had stood far
higher than he at West Point, great an
ticipations were entertained Grant said
nothing, wrote no letters, made no prom-
| ises, gaveiano advice to the President,
aud executed no fourishes, SO that no
body got excited about him or thought
much about him until he surprised the
nation by great victory, which revived
! the dropping hearts Of the people. He
may have had few ideas, but they were
grand, right to the point, and did the
work. And as he began so he ended, and
closed the war in triumph. Where
LEANED, scientific and speaking Generals
had suffered great defeats, and brought
the Country to the verge of ruin and
desp pair, he achieved victories and final
triumph. Mcclellan or Halleck could
write twenty volumes on military affairs
where Grant could write. only one, but
| that one Womb be apt to contain more
practical sinse than the other twenty.
Since the end Of the war he has per
sistently refused to make speeches or
write Letters about politics, and SO the.
constitutional blatherskites, the profes =
sional spouters, and the twenty page let
ter writer's say he has no ideas This
class OF men measure MAPS capacity
by his yerbosity. AS they are always
by every means in their power, keeping:
themselves in print and before the pub
lie, they cannot conceive it possible that,
man who has ideas and opinions should
not like themselves, be afflicted By the.
desire for perpetual display, ~- 5.
General Grant is a man of decided anci
peculiar character, and among his most
, remarkable peculiaritics is his tacittirnia-
ty, an indisposition to communicate ts
others his; views and plans, This pecu-
liarity was most conspicuous during tue
war, and was not affected, but is a. part
of his nature, and being part of his n a
ture, cling IS to him in time of peace, ami
furnished an excuse to those WHO desire
to ddbreciate him for SAYING THAI ne js
without principles or convictions. Those
who nave talked with General Grant
abo3: politics cannot fail to perceive
that his ideas are simple, direct and look
to results that he understands exactly
the subject about which he talks, and in
stead of making speech about it, states
the point at once and seems 70 think
there is 40 more to be said about it. 1t
was just SO in military affairs -while
learned generals would give their opin-
iorr in a council Of war, at great length
and in technical terms, he would, to their
great disappointment and disgust, state
his conclusions in a few plain words that
could be understood by the most igno-
rant private in the ranks. The fact is,
General Grant has a powerful intellect.
by which the most complex and difficult
isubject is reduced to plain and simple
i'elemcnts, 50 plain and simple as to make
fpcople think that of course everybody
must understand the thing in that way.
After Fort Donelson was captured every
I body could sec what direct and simple
operation it was, and so after the cap
ture Of Vicksburg, and after the battles
Of Mission Ridge and Lookout Noun
tain After Columbus had discovered
America it was very easy to see that
reason and philosophy demonstrated the
existance of a western continent; and
after Morse had invented the telegraph,
everybody said it was a very simple AT
! fair after all The history of reconstruc-
/ ton Shows that Grants first opinion.
that the South should be governed by
military force until reconstruction was
/ completed, was correct, but he did not
write letters or make speeches to enforce
/ his opinion, and so it was said he had no
! ideas on the subject.
The men who are tradueing Grant
4 ought to be greatly delighted with
4 Mcclellan. He ran to the other extreme
He had a great many ideas such as they
| were, and lost no opportunity OF pub
4 fishing them to the world. He was a
man of many convictions, also, and was
finally convicted of being an imhecile
and a demagogue.
We have not written these observa
Y tons, concerning Gen. Grant in view of
his possible candidacy for the office of
President We do not suppose that he
has any longing for the place, and are
sure that his present position for life is
better than the Presidency for four years