Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-01-13

we have Mr.. Washburne himself. The
good father of the house has
generally been stern father-unrelen,-
ing and exacting-a perfect old Squire
Western, and apt at any time to bring
down his cane upon the back of any poor
young member who came within the
range of his gouty toes. Ask Roscoe
Conkling for youthful experience-Tsay
about Oregon war debt times What
dear old father he is now "a perfect,
blessed, heavenly old gentleman-irasci.
bility mellowed into benignity--full of
dimples, and chcerness, aud good! hui
NOR, with sort Of "bless you, my dear
children stealing over his face as he
walks down the house of morning.
The young members huddle around him
as a perfect Kriss Kringle, and, for the
| first time in his Congress career, Mr..
Colfax finds that he is not the most pop
ular man in the house. No, no, gracious
Mr.. Speaker; the man who carries these
foreign missions and things in his pocket
| is the man Of men to-day. This is the
Jockey who trains the fast horse Ulysses
who teaches him his PAGES, and what
gait he shall take, when he shall trot,
and when he may canter
And there never was more favorable
investment See how the trading men
crowd around his paddock and caress
him. The number of original Grant
men of men who discovered his merits
years ago-who stood by him and be-
lieved in him--and who saw in his mod
est, quiet face the features of a second
Washington-passes comprehension. |
| doubt if ever a man was more believed
in" The admiration with which Capt.
Cutie regarded his marine comrade, Mr..
Bunsby, was nothing TO it. When he
writes, his letters are gold. No man
since Bacon ever wrote such letters
When he speaks, it is the voice Of the
silver-tongued. When he neither writes
nor speaks, then we see something Pla-
tonic or Socratic in his silence. The
aches from his cigar, yea, and the smoke
that rises from the ashes, are full of
craftsmanship. You hear his praises on
all sides. Blair and Forney praise him,
although people remember that Blair and
Forney have the most unlimited admira-
ton of success, and have praised every
President since jackson. They keep
| house here, and make business of it !
| find the word handicap" better
than fancied. Gen. Grant takes about
as much interest in this race as the
racer in his paddock. He is not can.
didate for the Presidency by his own de-
sire, nor can his friends make him o can.
| didate unless it is necessary to save )"
the Republican party. His trainers
want to ride him whether he will or no.
Hence every indication of party weak
ness is received with exultation; every
triumph ofdemocracy is another reason
why Grant should run and when the
copperheads carry New York, the Grant
hackers shout. Gen. Grant himself takes
a sensible view of the situation. am
a soldier" he is reported as saying, "and
not civilian. My life has not led me
into politics. / am used to camps and
war, aud don't know the men who con-
troll civil affairs. Then | am general.
| have the confidence of the country, Re-
publican and Democratic. If | am a
candidate for the Presidency, the oppo-
sition make my life, my habits, my whole
career, objects of detraction, suspicion,
falsehood and calumny. l am made a
partisan chief, and not national cap
tain. If you must have a military man,
there's Sheridan; but | sincerely trust
that no crisis will arrive which will COM
pel my friends to place me in
nomination" While this is, no doubt,
the opinion of General Grant
and an opinion very natural and proper
it is certainly not that of Mr.. Wash
burne, and of the men who back the Gen
eral. They mean to make him run by
getting up in the first place an ire
pressible enthusiasm" and in the second
place by working on the fears of the
party and making the leaders believe
that Grant is the only man that can be
elected. The whole proceeding is very
like that of Mr.. Drew or Mr.. Vanderbilt,
when they managed fancy stock in Wall
street. They are trying to bear the
market and "bull" their stock. Take
an original Grant man into the lobby of
the house, and you will find the country
in the most dreadful condition. Every
thing is going to the bad, The cotton
crop is short, and there are more crimes
than usual, and business is depressed,
and the Democrats have the whip'hand
of US, and the negroes are behaving
badly, and money is tight, and anarchy
is inevitable. 1t is his conviction, based
upon excellent sources of information
(this whisperingly, and with q wink up
Indiana-aye), that if Grant be ousted out
of the war office, for instance, hostilities
will spread all over the South, and con-
hict begin, the end of which no one can
see. Well, you ask in terror, what's to
be done2 Hadn't we better wind up
business and sell out to Lord Stanley or
Napoleon "No, no; not at all Take
Grant IHvest in this stock The only
safe thing on the street. Only fifty shares
to be had, and enormous dividends be-
hind. Think of Paris, my boy, or a rev.
enue place in Walrussia."
This is what odr fancy-stock politi-
clans call the Grant movement was
in conversation with distinguished
Senator some days since-a man who
believes in Grant as we believe in him.
He had travelled far and wide during the
summer. He had seen thousands of
people, and this is what was generally
said:
Senator-"Well, what do you think Of
the Presidential question
Citizen-"I do not know. Things
look mixed, We guess we have got to
take Grant"
Senator-"Is there any positive de-
sire for Grants nomination p
Citizen-"None around here. We all
would like somebody else-Chase, Col
fax, Morton, or some statesman we
are afraid we can't help ourselves"
1t is very much as ifyou we're to raise
the CRY Of =" fire " in Broadway at mid
night, or start running after an imagin-
~ n;cknockat with the cry of {" stOD