The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1869-11-11
GEN. GRANT, WHAT is THIS?
(From the Washington Intclligenccr.)

oEN. 0nHNl WhHl 10 his?
(From the Washington lntclligenccrD
KNOW ALL MEN By THESE PRESENTS.
People may have their own notions about
the connection of the President and his fam
lily, or his special personal and political
friends, with the late gold-gambling in New
I. \ ork. They may believe or tlSbelicve Mr.
JAY Goulds statements. made with such ter
rible and distinct precision. They may be-
iievc the President innocent oi any direct i'll
vestment in the gold business they may be-
licye, further, that Il member of his own fam
lily either did not dabblc in gold. or that il
Mrs Grant did SO speculate that She did 50
on private account, keeping the matter Il dead
secret from her husband all through, and that
his final order to sell gold was given to But
teriield 0ticr on bctofc he wa, advised That
these little spcculations had all been closed
up. They may believe Buttcrcld innocent
rs lamb, Corbm Il paragon of purity and
honor, the whole Executive Mansion u par
ticulally white and pure institution touching
the whole gold business; the New York
grand Jury, who indicted this brace Of worth
les, they may deem grossly uncharitablc, to
say the leaSt-all and much more they may
believe if they can. But there still remain
certain facts known of all men IN Gcn Grants
history. matters Of public record. and o'
which nobody i. ignorant We mean his nd
ceptance ol large sums of mony, Of houses
and lands, &c.-We believe il would require 4
pamphlet to give full l>t-lnd we should
yet make only one item of the library which
Mr.. lIoar gave, under the erroneous imprcS-
sion, we fear, lhat he hal exhausted their con
tents. Leaving out any mention Of the items,
rs on y calculated 10 consume time and con-
fuse the Judgment we may say the money
value OF these various presents accepted and
pockrtcd by Cen Grant Ut the outset of his
| Administration rs a sort of preparatory cNcr-
! else, we suppose tor an immaculate career
amounts to a sum ranging from one to TWO
/ hundred thousand dollars. and nearer we he
lieve TO the latter than the former figure
Our honest helicf is thai, somehow DR. other,
Gen. Grant is to-day III least three hundred
thousand dollars better off than he WA, six
years ago, and that his proper salary in that
time would not equal one hundred thousand
dollars, out OF which would come. Of course.
his family expenses. The mysteries OF I'LL
this we do not affect to guess nj; the known
presents are what We mean to write OF Just
now, amounting rs above stated, to much
over u hundred thousand dollars
These presents were made 10 Gen. Grant
Just rs he was beginning his Administrations
lie was not then u poor man; mot in debt or
at all embarrassed. He was very comlomable
Ninety-ninc out of 4 hundred Of oar readers
the day he accepted these prrscnts-hc then
having his choice between IN income of some
$50, 900 per amum for life rs General of the
United States and so, 900 n President of
the United States
Gen. Grant has been called " the second
Washington" Gen. Washington never ar-
ceptcd presents either as President or in any
part of his career No one would have dared
to offer him houses or lots or u ponv-pursc
when he quilted Mount Vernon to enter up
on his official duties Even as Commander
in-Chief during his seven years war he rc-
fused to accept u salary; he kept u precise
account of his actual necessary expenses
while in the field, and only asked Congress
to reimburse this amount. 50 much for the
Virginia Shareholder.
If we arc correct in our recollection, nnith-
cr John Adams, nor Jefferson, nor any Of
our Presidents prior to the last, ever accepted
a present. We are not sure about Mr Lin
coin. AS to Mrs. Lincoln, we believe She
had the bad cminencc of setting the fashion
for the Presidents household of accepting
costly prcscnts-brbcs in :; Word--ot hum
dred thousand dollars and UPWARD We are
indebted to Rldicaism altogether for this
new instltutlon--an Improvement perhaps on
the republican simplicity Of our fathers If
50, tie country should know its beneflctorS
1t is known by everybody that prior to the
asccndancy of the Republican party there
was very little, if any, corruption in the Of
licials Of the Federal Government or in Con-
gress. Now it is a pretty close copy Of the
| Russian Government in the extent of the cor
rupton. Men seek eagerly positions where
the regular salary is mere trille, one-tourh
perhaps of what they expect to spend, and
everybody understands what it all means. 1t
means corruption and plumber.
The great public men of the Democratic
party-Seymour, Pendleton, the Blairs, Doc
| little, Hendricks. Reed, Buckalcw, Tidcn
Adams, Woodward-who darcs to say THAI
one of them ever made . dollar by the GOV
crnment? Take, too, the public men Of the
South, now prescribed and dsl'ranchiscd who
were in public service in various capacities
before the war-Davis, Clay, Cobb, Hunter
Mason, Breckinridge-who will say that one
of these ever made money by his official po-
sition9
On the other hand, look at the Radical lead
crs, and see how many of them have grown
suddenly rich in the last eight or even four
years How is it ? How did they make these
large sums Of money, and how, on $4,000 per
year in currency, do they manage to live at
the extravagent rate many of them do? If
any one Of them will teach us the art by
which one dollar will do the work of five or
six, (ani that honcstly) we will own our
selves under lasting obligations
Now we have mentioned all this gross no
torious corruption in Congress, the executive
of1iccholderS, and the Radical State govern
ments, merely to say that one of the lealin~