Nebraska advertiser., 1868-07-16
An English View.

Nominations OF chicago COnVnetiOn
From the London Daily News, June 4th.
There are some circum
stances which render the nomination
of General Grant singulaTly OppOr
tune. He is not politician, and the
nation is tired of politicians. He is {
soldier, with a soldiers ideas of duty
but with civilians respect for legis.
lative authority and the national will
He has probably no definite policy OF
his own; but 1t IS of O President GOitE
O. pOLicy that the repotbtic is suffering.
He is accustomed to obey, as well as
to rule; and it is a President who will
do its work andObey its behests whom
the nation needs. The fact that after,
by turns, exciting the supiciOn he has
won the confidence of all parties,
proves his fitness for the highest post
in the commonwealth. A President
should be a practical statesman, not a
theOrist-a man of deeds rather than
of words the executive of the nat
iOnal will, not the apostle of his own
self-will. He has no right to q policy
1Uhich is not the policy Of the nation,
and in his Office he belongs neither to
his party nor to himself, but to the
nation which has elected him to its
temporary headship. 1t is the best
Recommendation of General Grant
that he will probably make a national
rather than a party President; and
should his election once more lift the
office ever so little above the self-as-
sertiOn of JOhnsOn'S administration,
or the party narrowness of so many
of his predecessors, it may restore the
waning influence of the Presidency,
and begin an era of peace and recon-
ciliatiOn in the nation.
1t is curious to observe the irresisti-
BILE advance of General Grant to the
position he now occupies. Ever since
Mr.. LineOln's death he has been spOk-
en- of for the next President, but he
has never, in any way, put himself
forward for nomination. Instead of
canvassing for himself, as so many of
his predecessors have done, he has
refused even to submit to examination.
His habit of reticence has been a puZ-
zle to the politicians and an immense
afflictiOn to the correspondents of
party Journals. He was misunderstood
during the war, and would not ex-
plain himself; he has been more mis-
understood since the peace, and has
left the explanation to events. All
parties in turn have claimed him,
and all parties have spoken of him as
their Presidential candidate. In the
autumn of 1856 Mr.. Johnson paraded
him as his companion in the celebrat-
ed Northwestern tour. In the aU-
tumn of last year, when the first guns
of the electoral struggle began to be
heard, he was nominated by the party
which supported Mr.. JOhnsOn's pol
icy, and was paraded by them as the
peoples candidate. He was supposed
to be neither one thing nor the other,
neither for Congress nor for the Pres
ident, neither for the North nor the
unconditional reconstruction; but
only for peace as quickly as possible.
Reconstruction at any price was sup
posed to be his motto, and the advoca-
tes of hastily patching up the Union
regarded him as their coming man.
Meanwhile the Republicans who
were talking of Mr.. Chase, Mr.. Wade
and Mr.. COlfaX, were lUke-Warm about
General Grant. He would not be put
through his catechism, would not
commit himselftO anything but pract-
ical duty, and they were as willing to
suspect his silence as the Democrats
were willing to trust it. But it was
not the first service Mr.. johnson rem
dered the Republican party when he
put General Grants loyalty to Con-
gress to practical test. As the Gen
eral would not declare against his
policy, Mr. Johnson tried to use him
to carry it out, and thus forced the
declaration which neither private
friends nor public appeals had been
able to draw forth. From that time
General Grant has more and more
regained the confidence of the Rep
ublican party, and has only lost that
of the JOhnsOnites and Democrats.
Circumstances have, in fact, forced
him upon the Republican party, and
have rendered his unanimous nOmi-
nation as their candidate their only
course. But that nomination is an
other proof of the asCendancy of the
moderate section over the extreme
Radicals, of which so many examples
have been give. GeneralGrant is the
representative of the most moderate
section Ofthe Republican party, and his
unanimous acceptance as the candi-
date of the whole party is proof Ol
its restored harmony, and aguarantee
of its success. He will probably be
elected by avOte in which all the States
will share, for the first time since Mr.
LincOln's first election, and will bC
the first Republican President whC
viii preside over an undivided Union