The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1869-04-29
A Frenchman's Interview with Grant

N. L. Simonin, French gentleman,
has been travelling in this country, fur
nishes the Paris Journal La Liberte with
an account of an interview which he had
with General Grant just before his inaug-
uration. He says:
lie held out his hand to me, according
| to the American fashion, and [ sat down
by his side. [ should have probably re-
manned sitting there up to the present
time had waited for the General to
| speak first.
So [ opened the conversation, and told
him | had recently visited the Pacific
Railroad, the country of the Mormons,
the silver mines of Nevada. and the gold
| digglngs OF California. | gave him to
understand how much interest | had
taken In all the great and curious things
| which L had seen, and freely expressed
the admiration which l entertained for
| America in certain respects.
The General, drawing all the while a
few clouds from his cigar and slipping the
coffee which had been served to him, in
terrupted me repeatedly for the purpose
OF informing me that he had also visited
the same places. But during the whole
vlbrated, his mask remained impenetra-
BILE; his countenancc, with the rough,
angular features, was rigid, as if petrifed.
He is man who meyer laughed since
his birth, said Washington lady of him.
[ gazed in profound emotion at the
head | had before me. Is that the face
of a vulgar man, destitute of worth and
talent, and should people have been mis-
RI ord N hi,
have asserted?
No, this man of the rustic appearance,
with the lustreless eyes, with the dense,
close cropped beard, with the bronzed,
slightly red face. is by no means an ordi-
nary man; he is, perhaps, man of gen
ias, who will astonish the world. His
head is large and square it indicates
meditation, calmness and even little OBJ
stinacy. This President of the United
States possesses the first merit of states
men-that of patience, that quality so
rarely met with, so indispensable to those
who govern nations, and which Motley,
the historian, one of the most illustr;ous
authors OF the United States, prizes so
highly in the character of the great Stadt-
holder, William the Silent.
When | had taken leave of the General
L IldO Tic ilOUOT VI pciLS pltSeutcQ W
Mrs. Grant. 1 am poor Western wo-
man, she said to me; fortune has over
taken US; we did not run after it I ad
mired this simple woman, with her burg
her-lika manners, but full of common
sense and tact, and whom her sudden
elevation had not caused to lose her bal
ance. I was told her husband consulted
her when the Presidency was offered to
him.
Grant, who is not yet fcrty-six years
old, hesitated. inasmuch as he preferred
a life of quietude to the political agita-
tions which he foresaw. IF the people
come to you, you can hardly refuse, said
his wife to him. The fulfillment of duty
should procede all other things Aud
Grant accepted the proposed candidacy.
A touching harmony in this democratic
family where the good sense of the wife
comes to the assistance of the husband.
L am employing my last hours of repose,'
said Mrs. Grant to me- Next month
the g sic isl receptions, and my duties as
the ~ dents wife, will begin; then |