Smyrna times., 1869-03-10
What we may Expect of Gen. Grant

First, Gen. Grant will be Presfdentln in fact as
well as in name. AS we have seen, he never
was a man to hesitate about exercising any
amount Of power that mil ght be conhded to hlm.
In Jackson's place, he might not have SAID,
" | take the responsibility; but he would have
taken it, nevertheless, and said nothing about
it. Even one of his associates in the Galcna
leather store understood this popularity we'll
enough to give Governor Y ates of Illinois, who
had confessed his inability to get at the special
capacities of this Captain Grant, the follow
ing good advice: The way to deal with him
is to ask him no questions, but simply order
to duty. lie will obey promptly. The peo-
pie have now summoned this prompt officer to
be President of the United States, and that he
will be- If any individuals high in position or
prone to intrigue indulge the hope of managing
or improperly influencing Mr.. JohnSOn's sue
cessOr, it only remains for them, seeing how
blind they have been to the plainest pages OF
recent history, to take lesson or two in the
school of experience and pay their tuition.
Secondly, it is but a reasonable calculation
that General Grant, in the discharge of the du.
ties of the Presidency, will win a substantial
success not unsuited to his martial renown.
Indeed nine tenths of those who have risen
above the folly Of confounding the gift of pOpu
lar Oratory with executive talent cOncede al
ready that he has all main requisites for admins
tering the affairs of the country at this time
except, possibly, the information derived from
long civil experience. His gcneral>hip reveal,
governing ability of the highest order, circum
spection only matched by energy, and an un
erring faculty for selecting the right men tOl
Subordinates. As to the possible deficiency al
luded to,-and we must always bear in mine
that there is no special training school for thu
Presidency, General Grant is the son of hi
time, and, though he may not be learned in thu
craftsmanship Of books, he ecOmprehends his owl
age. Starting with that political tdGutd rISd
the mind of an army officer really vO
ted but once before the war (fOr Buchanan)
and having always regretted that,-he enjoye'
the excellent privilege of having nothing to un
learn. The crisis found him without prcjudl
ces, and he took in all its elements dispassion
ately as comprising the true situation wit
; which he was to deal. Even that conservahv
bias, of which few good Republican supper
ters are still abSurdly suspicious, was i'll his ia
vor, for while it has been observed that tn
7 descent from youthful liberalism has ofte
! been as swift and extreme as the apOstasy G
! a Strafford, the contrary tendency as illuStra
ted in the lives of men like Peel and Gladstone
gives the finest fruits of genuine progress
r Hence it happened, that, while antl-slaver
men of many years Istanding were wOrryin
over the future relations Of the institution the
had so long fought and feared, Grant calml
Il foresaw and announced its extinction; anC
more than that every stage of the eXtlngulst
7 ing process can now be traced in his miltar
} orders in advance Of the action of Congress
> and of the Executive The same remark ma
: be made respecting the reconstruction polio
. of the government -1ttdnttc Monthly il
| March.