Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-03-26
The House and Lot Brigade.
Mack is after the great Grant in this

Mack is after the great Grant in this
wise:
But the particular feature of Grants
character, which am trying to illustrate,
is still better displayed in a small para.
graph in this mornings papers, which
announces the removal of General Frank
P. Blair from the Office of Pacific Rail-
road Commissioner. The Office is small
and not very remuneratiye one. Blair
was as ft to fill it as any other man. He
has filled it acceptably for couple Of
years. If Grant has all that soldierly
magnanimity which his friends attribute
to him, why should be so soon strike
down for difference of political opinion
man who proved himself one of the
best officers in the Federal army2 The
smaller the office the smaller the act OF
removal The petty malice of Grant
could not be better exemplifed than in
the removal of Blair from an OBJ
scure position, at time when people
supposed all the Presidential attention
to be concentrated on the selection
of Cabinet. Men with souls larger than
an oysters don't descend to such things.
And the same day he removed Blair from
an Office he appointed Longstreet to an
other and better onel hope the sol.
diers of the West who fought under Blair
on twenty battle-felds, whose brothers
and comrades were stricken down by this
new favorite Of the Republican admins
tratiou, will appreciate these two official
acts as they deserve. Not that Long
streets appointment per Sc is wrong, for
| believe the sooner we cease to prescribe
men for taking the wrong side in the late
war the better it will be for the country.
But the objection lies in the fact that the
Office given him is reward for the be-
travail of the people whose cause he
espoused in the struggle. 1t is an at
tempt to convert the Federal Government
into Magdalen Asylum for political
prostitutes.
Why was Blair so soon made victim
of political prescription ? Simply be-
cause in one of his speeches he said that
elected, would never leave the White
House alive" Grant took great um-
brage at this at the time-is said to have
been highly indignant, and unwilling
even to speak to Blair since. i think
Blair was very greatly mistaken, but his
error was that OF over estimating Grant,
not of damaging him, as the latter
supposed. Grant hadn't brains enough
to understand that, under the circum-
stances, and considering that it was
made by political opponent, the speech
was in the nature of a compliment.
Since his muster of the House and Lot
Brigade, there is not much danger of its
repetition by Blair or any other sensible
man.
Grants conduct toward johnson du
risg the closing month of the last ad-
ministration is in keeping with all the
other acts which stamp him as - the
smallest great man of the century" To
avoid the New Years call upon the Pres
ident, which army etiquette prescribed,
he took the train for Philadelphia, and
remained there for a few days, greatly
fatigued," as the papers told us. On
the day before the inauguration, Mr..
johnson wrote note to the incoming
President, inviting him to ride with him
to the Capitol. To this Grant did not
even condescend an answer. He rode to
the Capitol in his own conveyance-a
carriage which will probably cost the
country foreign appointment, as it was
a donation from a rich New Yorker.