The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-25
MEN AND MEASURES AT WASHINGTON.
From O,w Own Correspondent.
WARHINlT0N Nov lRHx

RroB OM Opg1 Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Nov "a, 1868.
"Who is going to run Grant ?" is O question
as frequently asked as who is going to be in
tie Cabinet 2" The former is, II possible, more
difficult of solution than the latter. Any
attempt at answering either of them would. of
course. be the merest speculation. or all men
in the Republic, Grant keeps the closest coun-
sells. know of half.a dozen men-prominent
politicians-who have spent an evening with
him since the election. with q view of ascer-
tanning what he intends doing-who is going
into the Cabinet, what is to be the general
policy OF the Administration, and who are the
iavorites Of the President elect 1t is hardly
necessary to add that these gentlemen have
always come away about as wise as they went.
Grant and the Politicians.
There is one class of men whom Grant
evidently regards with suspicion This is the
politicians.
With thousands OF others, he has somehow
received the impression that the professional
politician is a dangerous acquaintance, and
that the less he has to do with him the better
He really feels in their society as. an honest,
unsophistieated man would feel in the COM
pany of Wall street sharpers and gamblers
Anybody who has ever seen him either at his
headquarters or elsewhere. surrounded by three
or four politicians, must have noticed how i'll
at ease he was, and how much relieftheir depar-
ture seemed to give him. To be sure, he never
loses his remarkable self possession. But 1t
seems to me he looked more at ease In the Will
derness, when his troops were in the thiokest Of
the fight, than he did the other day when q
committee of politicians waited upon him to
know whether he would like to be serenaded.
When they attack him in battalions this way
he is nanifestly embarrassed. II they come
singly or in pairs he gets along better, for then
he can meet most of their cross animation
with the hospitable query, "Gentlemen, will
you have q cigar 2" Imagine some of your
"great men," men who have manipulated or
shared in the manipulation OF the administra-
tions OF Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, and Lin
coin, after having expatisted for an hour or SO
upon what ought to be DONE what would be
best for "the party" who should be trusted
and who should be discarded, meeting with no
reply, only asked TO take cigar Is 1t any
wonder that these statesmen" usually retire
in disgust, leaving Grant in the possession OF
his own secrets and in the quiet enjoyment OF
his fragrant Havana.
Can Grant be Run?
The unsatisfactory nature of these interviews
only makes the politicians more anxious to
| know who Is to be the right hand man OF the
| President elect. K. b. Washburne Is generally
regarded as Grants trainer" but the question
| is will he be his "second" when he is fairly
|
| Washburne, to be sure. visits Grant, dimes with
| him, drives with him, and travels with him.
But so does George Wilkes and Robert Bonner,
The former, 1t Is said. wants not only to ointO
| the Cabinet but to make the Spirit Of The Times
| the organ OF the Administration. Bonner will
| be satisfied II Grant visits New York at times
| and drives Dexter, and writes a story for the
| Ledger. There are some men who boast that
| they shave slept with Colfax," but no one is
bold enough 10 say that they have
| occupied the same bed with Grant. 1 have
heard men say, 81 know Grant well-knew him
| in the army, i can talk to him." etc. but l
| never heard any body sly-not even e. b. Wash
burne-'I can make Grant do this, that, or the
other thing" The truth is, 1t would not be
worth O mans while TO make such an assertion,
| for no person would believe him. Grant cannot
be run by any one man, or. indeed, any set OF
men, as will be abundantly manifest before the
| close of his Administration.
| The Presidency In 1S72s
Possibly your readers are not 50 fticiently re.
covered from the excitement OF the recent Pre-
sidential election to stretch their eyes forward
| to that OF 1872. II should say, therefore,
that Colfax Will be a candidate for the White
House, II he lives that long, you may think ]
am little premature. Had there been less