Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-01-07
WHAT GRANT WILL DO.
A Radical Report.
The Policy OF the New Presi-
dent-The Indian Question
The SOuth-The Tenure-Of.
Office Act.

MIN speak one day of q public man tC
this effect "Hs speech was a fslsehood;
there was nothing on which you could
put your finger and say, this is lie,
but the whole thing was q falseho1d .oI
all that; I've despised him ever since ]
heard him make that speech" There is
no installing the spirit from which these
words came. Gen. Grant can respect an
open eaemy; he wants nothing to do
with man who shuffles or preyaricates,
or IS given to double-dealing. He will
show US an administration in which hon
e5ty and manhood are respected. He
does not go to members Of Congress and
tell them that he wants this and that; he
does not even say to them that he thinks
such and such laws ought to be passed.
II they undertake to pump him he is
silent and non~communicatiye. But he
is studying the position; he is thinking
his way down through the situation, and
from time to time he shows the results
of his study and his thought.
Looking at the number and magnitude
Of the jobs that came into Congress du>
ring the first ten days behind that cloak
"be it enacted, etc." he said he some
times feared there wouldn't be anything
left in the Treasury by next March. If
could show you how the jobbers are
organizing their forces, how adroitly they
are laying their plans, you yourself
might have some fears. To the man who
limited that such and such q thing was
good and ought to be allowed to go
through, he replied that it took money
out of the treasury, was not necessary,
and ought to be killed as soon as poss
sible.
The Indian question is one on which
he has thought great deal. Our pres
ent system, he says, is full of faud-
fraud on the In iians and fraud on the
Government. 1t ought to be reformed.
The gigantic ring must be broken up;
not more in the interests of the Indians
than in the interests Of civilization and
public order. Our dealings with the In
dams properly lay US open to charges Of
cruelty and swindling. He believes
transfer Of the Bureau to the War De-
partment will enable US to stop this ma
tional disgrace of cheating and dishon-
esty-if the Indians will not behave
when they are fairly dealt with, then
we must force them to behave. In such
a course lies their well-beiDg and the
well-being of the Government.
The Southern problem is one he has
been obliged to study for some years.
We do not want any reduction Of the
army at present, he says. He hopes the
Southern people will see that he means
to deal fairly with them-hopes they
will, OF their own accord, deal fairly with
one another, and with the government.
But we must have peace down there, he
adds the right Of all classes must be OBJ
served every man who is a peaceable
citizen must feel safe in his work and his
home if that safety can not be had in
one way, the government will have to
find it in another; these murders and
ku-klux outrages must be stopped.
The persons who talk most with the
General are constantly surprised and de-
lighted at finding how wide his view is,
at seeing how much he has already con-
sidered the details Of the work he enters
upon next March. He goes at things in
his own way, and there is a racy charm
in his statement of results attained He
makes no stump speeches in his office or
his library-the matter Of his mind is so
marrowy that he can Fut it into a few
words. He speaks so simply and di>
rectly that you have no difficulty in
catching his meaning. He may decline
to give you an answer, but, so far as |
know, he does not try to blind anybody
with the smoke Of diplomacy.
think he will have to settle the Ala
bama claims. Is any one so simple as to
suppose that he will keep Reverdy Johns
sen in England ? You may safely say
that he will not. Mr.. Johnson is not do
ing US any credit, he said to one friend,
and if the administration were in proper
sympathy with the people it would re-
call him. Mr.. Johnson, you know, tried
to cover the sin of his hobnobbing with
Laird, ROebuck and Wharncliffe by the
mantle Of Grants course toward Long
street and other Rebel officers. / leave
yoa to imagine what Grant said when he
saw that letter.
He will conduct the government with
economy. If he uses the veto power, it
is likely to be in killing schemes for
taking money out of the Treasury. He
is against jobs and jObbers, and | think
we shall find he has good eye for de.
tecting jobs, be they never so carefully
covered in phraseOlOgy. We should have
the strictest honesty in collecting our
ii h.
their expenditures, he says. This will
be one Of the cardinal doctrines of his
administration.
He is no enemy Of Pacific railroads.
lie favors internal improvements of all
kinds. lie wants to see industry thrive,
commerce prosper, and capital multiply.
But, unless am greatly misinformed, he
would not, even if we had no public debt,
fall in with the idea that government
must lead the way in these local improve
ments As it is, he believes we should
seek to pay what debt we now father
than look for ways of increasing it. Hence
hundreds Of these river and harbor Jobs
must wait for more convenient season
Hence we must get along for a few years
with the Pacific railways already subsi~
dised. The time will come when wecan
have other lines across the country; the
time may come when government can
afford to add other lines; Just now he is
strongly opposed to any further advances
Of our credit. His talk with Congress
men ON this point is decided and refresh
ingly vigorous. Persons who profess to
believe that the future of the Union rests
on this, Or that, or the other great im>
proVenent, will not get much sympathy
or comfort from interviews with him.
The Tenure-of. Office act was passed as
temporary expedient--a sort Of war
measure growing out Of the fight be-
tween Congress and the President, as one
Senator put the idea to me. Unques-
tionably some think it embOdies q good
principle am of the number. I'M
doubtedly its operation, from one outs
look, has been bad. 1t has prevented
the President from removing some ex-
cellent officers, but it has also given him
an excuse for retaining many whom the
country believe to be corrupt or inefi-
cient.
could not find any good authority for
the assertion that Gen. Grant says it
ought to be repealed. Several persons
with whom he has spoken, firmly IL.
heve he wants it repealed-it would not
be unnatural if he did. One Senator
says he remarked that in his view it
might properly be repealed-this is the
strongest expression of opinion l have