Des Arc weekly citizen., 1868-12-08
The "w,.at ss It,v

Grant continues to keep his place as the great "What is it ?' of the Ameri- can museum of political wonders and enigmas. Thereswere some politicians
 presumptuous enough to believe that as soon as the election was over, they could penetrate the blank crust of his
 silence, and the still banker crust of his speech, and pluck out the heart of his mystery, with as much ease as Bar mum, had he chosen, could have cut through the gutta percha covering of the.originsl w Whatisit ?" and exhibited the bones and bowels, the whole of the
 internal anatomy and physiology of that marvellous creature, in the shape of wood, glue and sawdust. But thus far I'thcy have utterly failed, with all their devices, to mitigate to the penetrable point the integumentary toughness of | the President elect. It is useless to in-' qnire whether the failure of every at
 tempt to getat his political bottom, is
 because he is bOttomless in the sense of
 having no depth, or in the sense of
 being deep beyond fathoming. He
 baf1es speculation. Radical and Con- servative, Democrat and Republican,,
 are equally lost in a wilderness of sur mise when they attempt to explore his
 political probabilities and potentiali-
 ties. For once, the inquisitive audacity
 and the guessing ingenuity of Yankee
 dom stand aghast, discomfitted and dis
 consolate. Thishuman problem. which
 they arrogantly faucied they could,re-
 solve as quickly as take to pieces a
 wooden clock, stolidly mocks their I questionings and dconjecturings, and re-
 turns their brazcn stare with look as paralyzing to curiosity as the calm,
 eternal gaze of the Egyptian sphinx,
 and as defiant of interrogation as a
 mummy Pharaoh.
 What has more especially puzzled the political quidnuncs of late about Grant
 is the strange muddle which he has
 made in the way of bestowing his pres-
 ence at both public and private enter
 tainments. For example, after break
 fasting with a company of rank Radi-
 calls at Dellnonicos, he dined at the As
 tor House with select gathering,
 comprising conservative Republicans. l war Democrats, peace Democrats,
 Johnson men, but not Q single repre-
 sentative of unadultcrated, straight out
 Radicalism. Nay, more. The latter | occasion was a testimonialto Attorney General Evarts, who owed his position I in the cabinet and this banquet in his
 honor, to the fact that he was chief counsel for the President in the ;m- 1 peachment trial, which, as people sup posed at the time, was precipitated by | the coalition of Grant with the Radical impeachers. The great majority of the guests belonged to the legal profession, the respectable members of which, it is | all horrencc on the conspiracy to impeach the President, from purely partisan l motives, and without any constitution al ground of accusation. Yet Grant mingled convivially with an assem- blaze thus constituted, and could say, as he did say in brief and character istic reply to the regular toast to the l President elect, that from no otlrerbodv
 of men would he have received such s
 compliment with higher qualification. 1t is not to be supposed that the per plexity of the creme de h creme of
 Radicalism as to Grant will become
 less from this time until inauguration. The Colfaxes, the Binghams. the Bout wells, the Ashleys, the Buffers of the I North, and their carpet-bag and scala
 wag admirers and followers in the CVutti, ChH HO more tcit me precise course, or the precise political destina- tiou, of the new President. than they can calculate the movements or the re- suits of tine next earthquake. They have got the next presidency, but they
 have not tho least idea as 10 what they
 have got, They must await the issue
 with much the same feelings as a man
 would await the matching of some cu-
 rious egg found along the seashore, not
 knowing whether crocodile or tur- tie, fowl or snake would come out
 of the shell. But the matter has this
 favorable aspect at least: :the more these
 Radicals are mystified and anxious
 about Grant, the more room is there l for hope in regard to his future on the
 part of right-thinking, honest, and pa-
 triotic citizens. We may not know
 what he will come to, any more than
 we may know what will be the next freak of the chignon, or the next de-
 velopment of the Grecian bend. But
 if the Radical crew who used to threat
 en us with Grant as though perfectly sure of him as an instrument of ven- l geancc in their hands against their po- liticM enemies, are now as ignorant as l we, and even more concerned, as to the character and complexion of his admin l istration, the fact is one on which we
 may hang no inconsiderable fclicita- l fian--N D Craseant