The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-02-03
DAILY PRESS.
Monday Morning, February 8, 1868.

PORTLAND.

A few months ago Gen. Grant OCCUPIED a
more enyiable position than any man in ex-
istence With his own people he was like
| Bayald, without fear and without reproach >
| With foreign nations his military successes
had caused him to be ranked with yelling
| ton and Marlborough, and only little below
those veritable war-gods, Napoleon and Fred
erick. The North was his constant eulogist,
and the South owed him no malice. So soft
was the velvet that concealed the iron hand
that crushed the insurrecton, so mild and
compassionate was the victor with the sub
)ects OF his conquest, that they did not re-
member Appomattox against him. The favor
ite candidate for the Presidency with the
soldiers and sailors was Grant. With the
milonaires of New York, the same great
name was invoked as that of one who would
prove the palladium of the country's safety in
peace as he bad beer in war. Hence no one
was more welcome in the parlors of A. 7.
Stewart and his mercantile associates than
the quiet tanner from Gaena The laboring
classes shared the feelings of the rich, and
made no doubt that the man who entered
upon the Vicksburg campaign with field
glass and toothbrush as his only personal
baggage, would administer the affairs of the
nation wisely and successfully. The name of
Grant was so idolized that there was danger
of las driving the saints out of the calendar
Even the vices Of the man were looked upon
with such superstitious tolerance as the
ancients regarded the brutality of Mars
OF the amours of Jnpiter. The rice, we
should say, for the aggregate of Grants
known dssipations was represented by
his cigar, and its complete Identification
with his person. But it was no longer ci-
gar. 1t had experienced between his lips a
kind of apotheosis; the guild dtetaum of the
man had attached to it. 1t was conjurer's
wand, that cast spells upon the enemy, sur
rounding him with impervious clouds and
bringing to nausht his counsels. The ham
mer OF Thor was not more potent, nor the
enchanted sword of King Arthur Many
rash youth got himself headaches and heart
aches by devotion to tobacco under the i'm
preston that he was acquiring something of
Grants inspiration. as the Boston lawyers
used to affect long hair, pale faces and used
up air generally, imagining that they were
all Rufus Choates.
How does it happen, then, that Gen. Nc
Clernapd dareS to say, in short, that Grant is
"no better than he should be" ?-and the Bos-
ton Post to give currency to a rumor that he
was recently drunk? 1t is but the same fate
that would befall the archangel Michael if by
rare chance he should visit Washington on
an inspecting tour, and should have his name
mentioned in connection with the Presidency
by some injudicious friend. All the satanic
powers that felt his blows in the old Miltoni-
an war would be sure to rise in Judgment
against him, and the public would be assured
that his services against the apostate angels
had been immensely overrated, and that he
was nothing but commonplace sort of char
acter after all. Gen. Grant is merely begin
ming to pay the penalty of being nominated
for the Chief Magistracy. AS the campaign.
progresses, the "babbling tongues" at the cap
ital viii grow more and more slanderous If
he is nominated at Chicago on the goth of
May, from that time till his election in No
vember, which will follow as matter of
course, he will experience what Scott passed
through in 1852 and Fremont in 1856. All
the McClernands, who have for years been
obliged to conceal their hatred by public
sentiment not tol rant Of SANDER against its
fayorite, will acquire unwonted courage, and
throw their poisoned darts against the Cen
erals impenetrable armor. The old stories
that have hardly been whispered since DON
elson and Pittsburg Landing, will be revamp-
ed and made available for campaign purposes.
But after election we shall all be once more
"original Grant men,"