Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-07-29
GENERAL CHANTS OPINION on
THE IMPENDING WAR.

GENERAL CHANTS OPINION or
THE IMPENDING WAR. -,
In the course Of an able speech against
the bill to arm the negroes and Radicals Of
the South, which was recently sprung upon
the Senate at a midnight session, Mr.. DoO-
little took occasion to repeat She substance
Of an interview with General Grant, il
which be had authorized him TO state TO .
convention in Wisconsin, that if the re-
construction policy of Congress was per-
sisted in, by disfranchising the whites an d
giving suffrage to the negroes, il Wonld ini'
eVitably lead to a war Of races. That
opinion was confirmed by General Sher4
man also, on another occasion, when he was
present while Mr.. Doolittle addressed ,
large audience at Madison. In order that
there may be no Misrepresentation on the
subject, We cite the exact words of Mr..
DoolittIe, as worthy Of the most serious at
tention: soii.l.g ssl !. asiiqs5sI lul /
"But, Mr.. President, when such state
| of things "a that exists, to suppose that it
continae for any length of time without
| coming TO q conflict Is folly. This system
must give way, or cOntlies will inevitably
ensue. Not many years ago General Grant
who is now the candidate of the Radical
party, was of precisely the same opinion
which 1 still entertain; and in the State OF
Wisconsin, when these questions we're be-
ing discussed, he authorized me to state 70
a convention held in Wisconsin, andto the
people of Wisconsin, that il this SYSTEM
Of reeonstruetiOn was to be perseEeEed in,
the whites disfranehised, and universal me-
gro suffrage set up in the States of the
South as a condition of reconstruction, it
would inevitably lead to war of races,
unless We maintained a standing army
there to prevent il. -sfg8z. 4
"Mr. Thayer What convention !?
"Mr. DOolittle: / aliude to the State Com
VentiOp held at Madison in the fall of 1865 I;
and subsequently General Sherman was
there at meeting held in the Assembly
Chamber at Madison, and General ShermaIi
sat by my side when addressed the people
of Wisconsin assembled there, and urged
the same view, and stated the fact which
Gen. Grant had authorized me to state and
same thing, and he nodded his assent as he
sat BY my side" !" 4-+--3 traI .1l
Although Gen. Grant entertained these
convictions. and others, Of like character
and, as his official report proves, prefessed
the most Conservative opinions after per-
sonal inspection of the South, yet he re1
nounced them all, turned his back upon his
former faith, abandoned the policy which
he recommended, says the National Entelh-
gencsT, and accepted the revolutionary pro-
gramme Of Radicalism, in order TO become
the candidate of the Chicago Convention
He who declared that the policy Of Congress
would provoke war of races, and, there
fore, should be defeated, il now the repre-
sentative Of the Congress which proposes
tn arm these very negroest to incite them TO
strife, and to bring on another bloody and
more terrible civil war than that from
which the country has lately emerged, in
order to promote his own prospects for the
Presidency. sod f.. ". a'E 'sa.a
He no longer stands before the country
or the world as the General of our armies !,
who in that commanding position, re-
moved from the angry contentious Of party
and regarded with confidence, might have
contributed much had he hsd the ability
or the inclination to pacify the troubled
elements, and to restore harmony to the
Union. He chose voluntarily TO enter the.
arena Of politics, and to sacrifice patriotism
to ambition. He has identified himself
with faction which openly insults and.
defes the Constitution, which has trampIed
under foot every safeguard of popular lib
erly, which seeks to subyert free institu
tions, which has plundered the Treasury
and burdened the people With taxes, which.
has run riot in excess, which disowns all
restraint but its own tyrannical will,
which has crippled the Judiciary, paralyzed
the Executive, and accumulated in its own
hands powers wrested by force and fraud
from other departments, and which now
seeks by despotism and violence to con-
tinue its ruinous sscendancy, even at the
cost Of civil war g #.fE&aEft "
General Grant is the exponent and can
didate OF this revolutionary party. He has
accepted lis dangerous policy, and he can
not be separated from its desperate for
tunes. To elect him, is simply and clearly
to continue Radical rule, and to invite all
the fatal consequences that would newt
ably ensue from such calamity. Look at
the condition of the country to-day, after
three years Of Radical "peace,p and then
II is easy to foretell what il would be, with
four years more of such corruption, ex-
travagance, oppression, and venal iegisla-
ten. Admitting, for the sake Of argument,
that General Grant had the good DISPOSE
tions which are claimed for him in some
| quarters, what means Of Fesistancs would
he possess against the compact, violent,
and determined Organization OF Radical
1 Congress, with its exorbitant and arrogant
demand to carry on the government in IFS
own way to Distribute the patronage, and to
determine The policy? The men in Con
gress who have brought about the present
alarming crisis expect 10 be elected, il at
all on The ticket with General Grant, and
BY the aid Of bis supposed military prestige
If chosen, they would claim even ggeaier
license than before and insist upon at
solute control General Grant being
wholly destitute Of experience in political
affairs, would be compelled to yield
TO this dictatiou from the outset, or 10
resist n. Either alternative would he
attended with shock and damage 70