The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-12-30
FIRST EDITION
MEN AND MEASURES AT WASHINGTON.
E-on1 Our OUn Correspondent.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20, 1868.
General Grant.

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trait of his character which stands out in
bolder relief than another, 1t is his reticencc'
And yet within week, if we are to trust the
newspapers, be has been attempting TO rival
Andrew Johnson in loquacity. According to the
New York World and the New York Tribune
Grant has been discoursiDg to all comers, and
giving his views, with freedom and a frankness
astonishing to his friends, upon the Pacific
Railroad, the Alabama claims, the Civil Tenure
act, Jenckes' Civil Service bill, and last, and
most important, the distribution of the public
patronage. Those who remember General
Grant as man who formerly conversed in
n. .ouosy llables, are no doubt surprised ct the
change which, according to the newspapers,
has come over him since his election to the
Presidency.
How the Reported Conversations Orisi-
mated.
There is no newspaper man here who knows
Grant well enough to "talk' with hlm, or to
eatechize him touching his opinions on public
questions. He seems to have mortal dread OF
all persons connected with the public press
and, in view of the Misrepresentation to which
he has been subjected in Republican as well as
Democratic journals, this Is not surprising. or
the thousands of persons who "calr upon
Grant, perhaps not one ir hundred ever talks
with him on anything but the commonplace
subjects OF the day. He never did, and 1t may
be safely asserted never will, obtain diploma
for his conversational powers. Many who visit
him at his headquarters are ushered
into his presence for the first time in
their lives, and gazing upon the features OF the
man whose fame has filled two continents, they
are naturally more inclined to silent wonder
than to begin cross-examination. So long as
they keep quiet there is 20 danger Of Grant
breaking the silence. He will sit smoking his
cigar and looking at his books for fifteen
minutes at time, If his visitor Will only allow
him to do SO. There are few persons who
"talk to Grant," and with whom he manages to
get beyond the monosy llables in conversation.
These men are we'll known to the newspaper
correspondents. But unfortunately for Grant
and the public, some of them, like q. B. WASH
burne for instance, are men whose prejudices
are very strong, and who are anxious to
quote General Grant as favoring their views
on all questions. Should Washbarne have
a conversation with Grant wherein the
Pacific Railroad would be even re-
motely referred to, it would be sure to go to
the public, as it has done, that Grant is op
posed to the grand enterprise Of uniting the
Pacific with the Atlantic by means of these
railroads. II conservative Senator has an in
terview with Grant, whereat the Tenure OF
Office law or the subject OF the distribution Of
the Federal patronage is mentioned, the coun-
try is immediately informed that in case Con-
gress refuses to repeal the Civil Tenure law the
President elect will serve them as johnson did.
The trouble is, Grant does not communicate
with the newspaper correspondents directly,
and 20 long as they are indebted to second or
third parties for their information, there must
be more or less Misrepresentation,
Democratic Strategy to Capture Grant.
Andrew johnson had scarcely ceased breath
ing out vengeance and slaughter against the
Rebels after he became President, when the
Democrats adopted a system of strategy which
finally brought him within their camp. The
ia tics succeeded so well in that instance that
they have set about to try their effect upon
Grant. Their only hope seems to be in getting
up a quarrel between Congress and the Pres.
dent elect. For this purpose their dispatches
from Was hington have teemed with stories OF
Grants opinions on this and that subject with a
clear intimation that ii Congress did not adopt
these opinions trouble might be expected. ]
notice that some Republican papers, and among
them the New York Tribune, have to certain
extent been betrayed into the same silly course.
The Democrats, OF course, are not to blame.
They have nothing to lose aud everything TO
gain; but no Republican journal should lend
itself to the thankless task of becoming
a catspaw to pull Democratic chesnuts
out of the fire. II Grant were a
stubborn, resentful man like johnson, he might
by this means become disgusted with the party
which thus joius his enemies and its enemies in
suspecling his honesty Of purpose. Aside from
the fact that the terrible warning of Johnson's
career is before Grant, there is good reason to
believe that he has no intention of allowing the
Democrats to TyleriZe him. i have already
alluded to the fact in this correspondence that
in private conversation Grant does not hesitate
to denounce both the Democratic press and the
Democratic party. This information was, of
course, second handed, but it came from no less
an authority than the Vice-Presldent elect.
DistributiOn OF the Federal Patronage.
A special Washington despatch published in
the New York Tribune of yesterday, purportlng
TO give a sermon from Grant on the Jacksonian
text, 'To the victors belong the spoils," has
excited considerable comment both among
Republicans and Democrats. Setting aside
Jenckes' Civil Service bill, ard the commend
able idea of making fitness for the place an
essential qualification for office, the plain infer
ence to be drawn from this despatch is that the
present race of nondescripts who fill nearly all
the Federal Offices is to be continued under
Grant. This is the construction put upon 1t here
by the most intelligent Republicans. / need
hardly say that such course, If pursued even
by Grant, would excite the universal condem-