Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-08-21
GRANT ON THE WAR

, fresadent,s Opinion of Dntc hmea-
whose Cats Tail Is the Longest
Racy ii Not Reliable.
From the Chicago Times, Aug, II.
The views of Gen. Grant ON the con.
duct of the European war are something
which al the world has an interest IN
knowing, and during the visit of his ex,
cellency we have obtained at some length
his general opinion of matters on the
Rhenish frontier. 81" <i''0F
The General, in response to a question
70 bis opinion of matters between
france and Prussia, said that neither
party understands war as he understands it.
\ here the reporter of the Times ven
.ured 10 assert cordial Endorsement of
'he remark OF his ExceIlency.
Permit me, General" (" said Mr.. Scam
mon, 10 ask you to point out what YOU
conceive to be the chief blupders of The
campaign thus far2"
'France," said the General ss ba
lighted fresh cigar, ''made blunder in
commencing war upon people of eoual
size and strength. The true way tomake
war is to always have three to your
enemy's one. An illustration of the fact
was given at Shiloh. The enemy there
was within third as large as my own
force. Hence the disaster which befell
me-"
''But, General" said the reportG,"
''have you no faith in maneuYering or in
strategy, whereby inferiority in point of
numbers can be equalized by superiority
of brains" -.
'None whatever. Sherman played that
out In his march to the sea. You see
the Confederacy was only shell. and
that is why he met with such success.
He had no opposition. My own expe-
rience proves this. In all cases where I
attempted any of these new-fangled op-
erations l was beaten" - ,ilf-1
Here Mr.. COlfax, with a very sweet
smile, enquired as to what the General
thought should be done by Napoleon.
"My idea, " said the General, is that
he should get Butler and Banks to COM
mand army corps in the Prussian forces.
Then he should consCript every French
man that can carry a musket and send
him in. Prussia has only 80, 900, 900 in
habitants, while France has over 40, OOO,-
600. This is a clear difference in favor
of France of 10000, coo. Now. let Ma
pOleon keep hammering away at the
Prussians, if it takes all summer. l am
OF the opinion that the superior activity
of the French, aided by their chassepOt,
their elan, their traditions, and their su-
periOr navy, will enable them 10 kill a
Prussian as often as they can French
man. Hence it is clear case that if Ma
poleon hammers away till all the Prus-
SLAMS are killed off, he viii have 10, OOO,-
900 left. In other words, his cats tail is
the longest" -.--
''What is your opinion of Napoleon
personality" asked Mr.. Joseph Modin.
''He is great man. He smokes al
ways and never says anything. He was
once in humble circumstances. He was
never, however, in the hide business, ex-
cept, perhaps, so far as hiding himself is
Here Gen. Dent broke into uproarious
laughter. Tie afterward remarked to our
reporter that he was hired to laugh at
Grants jokes; and, he added, he fiattered
himself he was doing a very extensive
business on very limited capital
Gen. Grant puffed stoieally until Dent
had finished laughing, and he resumed:
Napoleon is my model. 1 have stood
before his portrait by the hours, trying
to mould my cOuntenance into the stony
that characterizes his. l
am not certain but that | shall initiate bis
coup d etdE He rose from Obscurity
to be President. So did l. HerOse from
President to be Emperor; and if l don't
fellow suit it will be because Congress
took the trump ont of my hand "
"Well, now, General, tell US what you
think of the Prussians," T" said Mr.. Green
baum.
Don't like EN-" he responded SEN
tentiously.
"Why not, your Excellency2"
''Well, don't. They want office too
much. Why, have had more than
hundred thousand applications from
DutchmeR for office, whose only recon-
mendation was that they fought NIT
Sigel.' As voters, have no objection to
them. During the war they stole every
thing, 80 that q native had no chance"
The General proceeded to comment on
Prussian strategy. He did not ike it, he
said. They were too much in hurry.
Here, ROW, in less than q month they
uANC AdAAAl q AlGu Tic uElQ,
which was a shorter time, he said, than
he required to move his army from Fort
Henry to Donelson-a distance of only
thirty miles. This celerity, he remarked,
is destructive of all precedent The
Prussians have gone farther in ten days
than he went in ten months when moving
on Richmond.
He further thought the Prussian move
a blunder. In place of going toward
Paris by way of Metz, they ought to cross
The James river and GO around by way of
Petersburg. There are neither dignity
nor sense in the way of rushing straight
1t Paris with big army. The Prussian
eaders ought to hold on and see who is
% be the next President This making
var for wars sake was not, in his opin-
on, the true principle of warfare. All
wars should have the high and beautiful
object of returning the men of ones
party to Congress, and the election of
0ne's candidate to the Presidency.
At this moment it was announced that
lunch was ready, and the party broks
IN