The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-03-30

ground, they will conquer aud the next four
years will give us political changes such as we
have shown ourselves powerless TO resist.
President Grant's etCOmmOn Senso,o
From the ~. Y. World
When Democrats made objection to General |
Grant, in the Presidential canvass that he |
lacked the training and experience OF a states |
man, there was no possibility of oontrOverting |
the fact; but 1t was urged, in offset, that he |
was man of such robust common sense as
would atone for the want of other uualifca- |
tions. This reply was ridiculous, even if the
superior common sense had not been a friendly
eXaggeration. Common sense is, indeed, in
dispensable ia every important employment,
but it cannot stand as substitute for skill
and knowledge. Common sense does not
qualify blacksmith to navigate a ship, nor a
sailor to shoe horse it does not enable a
physician to manage lawsuit, nor lawyer
to prescribe for diseases. AS Archbishop
Whatey said, with his wonted aptness:-
"The generality have strong prediction
in favor OF common sense, except in those
points in which they, respectively, possess
a system of rules. A sailor will perhaps
despise the pretensions Of medical men,
and prefer treating a disease by common
sense, but he would ridicule the proposal of
navigating a ship by common sense, without
regard to the maxims of nautical art. A
physician, again, will perhaps contemn sys-
TENS of political economy, of logic or meta
physics, and insist on the superior wisdom of
trusting to common sense in such matters;
but he would never approve of the system of
trusting to common sense in the treatment of
diseases. Neither, again, would the architect
recommend reliance on common sense alone
in building, nor the musician in music, to the
neglect of those systems of rules which, in
their respective arts, have been deduced from
scientific reasoning, aided by experience. And
the induction might be extended to every de-
partment Of practice. Since, therefore, each
gives the preference to unassisted common
sense only in those cases where he has nothing
else to trust to, and invariably resorts to the
rules of art wherever ne possesses the know
ledge of them, it is plain that mankind uni
versaly bear their testimony, though uncon-
sciOusly and often unwillingly, to the prefer
ence of systematic knowledge to conjectural
Judgments"
In General Grants own profession of a SOL
dier-much less complicated and various than
that OF a statesmau-he would scout the pre-
tensions of mere common sense with as tho
rough contempt as Democrats feel for his
qualifications for his present office. When he
appointed Sherman General, Sheridan Lieu
tenant General, and Scbofeld to the vacant
Major Generalship, he was dealing with sub
iect which he understood and selected those
officers for their established professional emil
nence. He adopted different rule in choos-
ing a Cabinet, because in that matter he
was too great novice to understand what
he needed. The analogy OF his own pro-
fesson ought to have suggested to him the
| indispensable Importance of training and
experience, if he had had any considerable
| share of the common sense which his pane
! gyrsts used to ascribe to him. The expe-
rience of our civil war is rich in instruction
respecting the insutficency of mere COM
hl OA mn of
civilians is, OF course, equal to that of men
trained i'll military schools; but although the
armies on both sides were full of civilian
generals, none of these acquired the reputa-
| ton of very able commander. The Lees,
Johnstons, Jacksons, LOngstreets, and Beaure-
| CARDS, on the Rebel side, well as the Grants,
| Shermans Sheridaps, Meades, and dancocks,
on the Union side, were soldiers who had had
the advantage of West Point training, and
most OF them of service in the Mexican war;
while the Rebel Wises and Cobbs, like our
FremOnts, Bankses, and Buffers, though men
OF capacity and common sense, made poor
figure as generals. The war exploded the old
prejudice against West Point, and has covered
the ignorant admiration of common-sense
soldiership with derision. General Grant bids
fair to make common-sense craftsmanship an
object of equal scorn
No political general appeared to 80 little
| advantage in the war as President Grant does
thus far, at the head of the government. IL
say nothing of the nondescript Cabinet, which
went to pieces as soon as it was launched, ht
has split the party that elected him int
wrapgling factions, who have kept the public
attention absorbed by their quarrelling anC
caucusiDg ever since the Inauguration
General Grants famous 'let us have peace
must be interpreted like dreams, by the
contrsries. Instead of peace, he brings per
prtual hot water, and his health is ALREADY
breaking down under his disappointment AM
chagrin. The Republicans of both houses ar
divided into Grant men and anti-Grant men
and in both the anti-Grant Republicans are
majority. In the Senate they are so large
majority that the Democrats are powerless t
assist him, and they would have swept him un
der 10 the House il the Democrats had not vote
with his friends. He has encountered thi
mCrtifyipg reverse with every advantage o.
his side Ifthere is an period in the admins
tratiOn of q President when he can hope to b
, strong and popular, it is at the beginning
when he has not yet expended the chief sourc
e of his influence by the bestowal of his patron
3 age. With such President as Grant tn
patronage is not only the chief source bu
= the only source Of his il tluence. The infu
3 ence of party leader-the influence of wild
1 party connections OF original aud sagaciOu
9 views, of commanding eloquen"e, of tn
authorship of great measures of power to &C
|, upon and electrity the public mind-does nC
= belong to General Grant. Mr. Clay out
: Office, Mr.. Douglas out of office, and, in til
: palmy days of his ascendancy, even Nj
: Seward out OF Office would have been poWe
, in the politics OF the country. They had eac
8 an enthusiastic body of admirers who locke
: TO them as guides, and accepted their view
Q on all great public questions. But Gener
}, Grant out of office would ba the merest NJ