The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-28

seems to be Of the same temper, q temper
not always inconsistent with terrible stern
ness. There is but one instance of humor, In
the popular sense, reported in this collection,
though many of the orders are pervaded by q
soldierlike direotness which is almost humor,
and 1t illustrates the latent sternness in the
Generals character. 1t was needful in 1864
to clear, or rather desolate, the Shenandoah
Valley, whence the enemy was drawing large
supplies, and Grant informed his young Gene
raj of Cavalry, Sheridan, "the valley must bs
so cleared that crows flying over il will for the
season have to carry their own rations"-a
remark that might have come from Crom we'll
in Ireland. Precisely the same spirit is mani
tested in his intercourse with the supply
branches Of the Army, and in his general
views upon economy. He early perceived the
jobbipg which is the curse OF all operations in
free States, and took peremptory measures to
put stop to it, oancelling every contract
not made by himself, abolishiHg the
contract system in favor of direct purchases,
sternly rebukiDg his own father for asking
favors, and finally suggesting to Halleck that
''all fraudulent contractors should be i'm
pressed into the ranks, or, still better, gun
boat service, where they could have no chance
Of deserving" One of these days, in some
hour of extremity, produced mainly by tole-
rated frauds, we shall establish sterner law
than that, and carry it out, too, with the ap-
probation of all men. The years during
which President Grant occupies the White
House will clearly not be "good times' for
peculators, or for disobedient officials, or for
persons who violently disturb the public
peace. 1t is real relief, amidst the perpetual
talk Estate rights, President Johnson's Demo-
cratic proclamations, and, we must add, half
hearted Republican proposals, to come across
an opinion as statesmanlike as this. In
January, 1867, General Grant recorded the
following deliberate opinion on the
state of affairs in Texas: - elm
my opinion, the great number of
murders Of Union men and freedmen in Texas,
not only as a rule unpunished, but uninves-
tigated constitute practically state OF insur-
rection and, believing it to be- the province
and duty of every good government to afford
protection to the lives, liberties, and property
of her citizens, would recommend the decla-
ration Of martial law in Texas to secure these
ends. The necessity for governing any por-
tion Of our territory by martial law is to be
deplored. II resorted to, it should be limited
in its authority, and shouli leave all local
authorities and civil tribunals free and unob-
structed until they prove their ineficiency or
unwillingness to perform their duties Martial
law would give security, or comparatively so,
to all classes OF citizens, without regard to
race, color, or political opinions, and should
be continued until society was capable of pro-
tectipg itself, OR until the State is returned
to its full relation with the Union. The
application OF martial law to one of these
States would be warning to all,
and, il necessary, could be extended to
others" 1t will come to that at last, and
every days delay does but exasperate the
evil. AS we have maintained from the first,
the States which will not allow order to be
restored must be governed temporarily as
India is governed, by government essentially
military, which permits any human being of
any color to say what he likes and do what he
likes within the laws, but entorces the laws
with the bsyonet. Any native or European
may talk any treason he pleases in the town
hall of Calcutta, and no one will punish; but
if he interferes with any rights of any other
British subject white or colored, his whole
following, or his whole nation, could not save
him from arrest and punishment. Unswerving
justice is the basis of order: there is no justice
either in Texas or in London if the civil
officers of the law can be defed by armed
force, and the next President OF the United
States, it is clear, does not intend they should
be. We only wish We could be as certain of
the next Premier.
General Grant comes out in these letters,
and orders, and-no, not speeohes-sayiDgs, a
soldier politician of the best sort, a man gen.
tie, kindly, and considerate, but with vein
Of wrath in him, a man who surveys politics
as he would valley, without seeing every
tree, but missing no strategic point, soldier
who ia aware that there must be force some
where to keep society together, but a poll
tician who is determined that that force shall
be the law, framed and modified by the repre-
sentatives of the people. We copgr ratulate
the UIited States on a Premier who disikes
waste, even when the wastetul support his
party, and will put down murdsrers even
when they plead the sovereign rights of States