Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1868-06-05

CoPPERHEAD OPINIONS OF GEN.
GRANT BEFORE HIS NOMI-
NATION.

| rather hopeful that Gen. Grant might be
prevailed upon to become their candidate
for the Presidency instead of the Repub-
lican Their opinions of the man at that
time may fairly be taken as honest ones,
therefore we propose to lay some of them
before our readers and from time to time
compare them with such opinions as they
have already expressed since his nomination
and may hereafter express. The Pittsbure
Post one of the most reliable Democratic
papers in the State, within few months
past has spoken as follows:
Suppose that, contrary to the wish OF
some Of the leading Radical Black Repub-
/ llcans, who want the Office themselves, Gen.
| Grant should be nominated for the Presi
dency by the Republican party, which course
ought the Democratic party to pursue
Ought zee to nominate man IN opposition
to General Grant? Ought lce to charge
him loith being an enemy to his country, on
| III fdUOT Of lti5Ust measures, merely because
he mag haze recetUea said nomination
We are inclined to believe that more de-
pends upon General Grant now than upon
any other individual in the United States
We belieUe him TO be far superior to The ma
jority Of the .5ar-Sigi,ted politicians aeho
hare been ruling the nation without bring
ing peace or economy to our legislation.
He is known to all the people as a straight
forward man, and, so far as can be judged,
a man lrtU disposed to deal fairly lcdh the
people Of all Hsectioas 9fthe Union.
What Jetter thing can tge do III case of
General Grant S aoDlulGtioa 5g the Repub-
! Acaga Da74y than to VOTE FOR HIN FOR
| THE PRESIDENCY Our aim should
! be 10 strengthen his hands; TO render him as
much as possible independent of party, and
| to ELECT HIM AS THE PRESIDENT
! OF THE PEOPLE. If unanimously, so
much the better.
WE SOLMNLY BELIEVE THAT IF THE PEO-
PIE GENERALLY OF THE UNITED STATES
CAN COME TOGETHER WITH REAL UNANIiI-
TY ON GENERAL GRANT, IN REGARD TO
THE PRESIDENCY, II WILL BE THE HAPPI-
EST THING FOR OUR COUNTRY THAT COULD
POSSIBLY. OCCUR. The future good effects
of this course are almost incalculable. We
earnestly ask our Democratic friends every
where to consider this subject carefully.
The New York Worzd, the leading and
most respectable copperhead paper in the
country, spoke as follows of Gen. Grant in
1865.
LIEUTENANT GENERAL GRANT,
From The World, april II, 1865.
Gen. Grants history should teach us to
discriminate better than we Americans are
apt to do between glitter and solid work
Our proneness to run after demagogues and
spouters may find wholesome corrective
in the study Of such character as his. The
qualities by which great things are accom-
plished are here seen to have no necessary
connection with snowy and superficial ac-
complishments. When the mass Of men
look upon such a character, they may learn
truer respect for themselves and each
other; they are taught by it that high quail
tiles and great abilities are consistent with
the simplicity of taste, contempt for parade,
and plainness of manners with which direct
and earnest men have strong natural sym
pathy. Ulysses Grant, the tanner, Ulysses
| Grant, the unsuccessful applicant for the
| post of City Surveyor OF St. Louis, Ulysses
Grant, the driver into that city of his two
horse team with load of wood to sell, had
within him every manly quality which will
cause the name of Lieutenant-General
| Grant to live forever in history. His career
| Is lesson in practical democracy; it is a
quiet satire on the dandyism; the puppyism,
and the shallow affectation Of our fashioDa-
| bic exqulsites as well as upon the sWagger
OF our plausible, glib-tongued demagogues.
Not by any means that great qualities are
inconsistent with cultivated manners and a
fluent el0cutiOn; but that such superficial
accomplishments are no measure of worth
or ability.
Gen. Grants last brilliant campaign sets
the final seal upon his reputation. 1t
stamps him as the superior of his able an
tagonist as well as of all the commanders
who have served with or under him in the
great campaigns Of the last year It is not
necessary to sacrifice any part of their we'll
earned regulations to his. Sherman and
Sheridan deserve all that has ever been
said in their praise but there had never
been time, since Grant was made Lieu
tenant General, when anybody but Sher-
man, on our side, could have been classed
with him. Since Sherman's bold march
through Georgia, aud his capture Of Savan-
nah and Charleston, there have been many
who, in their strong admiration of his great
achievements, inclined to rank him as the
greater general of the two. That judgment,
we take it IS now reversed by the court of
hnal appeal; not by dwarfng the reputa-
ton OF Sherman, which suffers no just
abatement but by the expansion into grand
or proportions Of that of Grant
Grant stands preeminent among all the
! generals who have led our armies in the late
war, in that he has exhibited the utmost
strength Of will of which the highest type
of manhood is capable The defenses of
| Ficksburg and the defenses of Richmond
were both deemed impregnable, and were
defended with proportionable confidence
and obstinacy; but they both yielded, at
last to Grants matchless persistence and
u2equaled strategy. And, in both cases,
he not only took the long contested posi-
ton, but compelled the surrender Of the
whole. force defending them. Nothing
| could be more clean and complete, even in
imagination, than Gen. Grants mastery
execution. He did not merely, in each
case, acquire position which was the key
OF wide theater Of operations; he did not
merely beat or disable the opposing force;
he left no fragment of it In existence except
as prisoners OF war subject to his disposal
II any body IS so obtuse or SO wrong
headed as to see nothing great in Gen.
GTant, beyond his marvellous tenancity of
viii, let that doubter explain, if he can, how
Il has happened that, since Grant rose to
/ hlgh command, this quality has always
| pesn eXerted IN CONSPICUOUS energy precisely
at TIE point on which everything in his
whole sphere Corporations hinged There
has been no display ol great qualities on
small occasions; no expenditure Of herculean
effort to accomplish objects not of the first
magnitude. It is only very clear-sighted
and very comprehensive mind that could
always thus have laid the whole emphasis
of an indomitable soul SO precisely on the
emphatic Llace. How, if he be not a
! general Of the first order Of intellect, as well