The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-11-30
MILITARY PRESTIGE IN AMERICAN
POLITICS


In one respect, the election of General |
Grant to the Presidency is a great public |
benefit. 1t has dsenchanted the worshippers |
of military heroes, and nullifed military in
fuence in our politics. There is tendency
in human nature TO admire military achieve |
ments above any other exertion of mental |
energy; and in this country we have been 80
fortunate in our great soldiers, that the ma
tural tendency has been considerably strength
eDed. Our first military hero was Washing
ton; the second, Jackson; and at n later period,
Taylor and Scott The two first we're among
the most ilustrious of our political chiefs;
Taylor made fair President and Scott
respectable candidate for that Office
Gratitude has combined with admira-
ton in elevating great generals to the
Presidency. Washington, so far from receiv-
ing presents, took pay for his services
either as General or President. grateful
people were therefore doubly willing to
acquit their obligations to that ilustrious
man, by comforting and continuing the
highest honors of the republic. jackson, too,
received no gifts of houses, money, libraries,
horses, or plate, and was even compelled to
pay fine for the efficiency of his military
measures in New Orleans. An appreciating
people were therefore eager to do him Justice.
Washington and Jackson proved so eminent
in civil life as to confirm the popular impress
sion that a great general may be also great
statesman.
1t has been reserved to General Grant to
reverse the popular Judgment on this point,
and cure the people of their too ready ad-
miration for military glare The antidote
has come chiefly through his intellectual, but
partly also from his moral, defects. Had he
possessed capacity as statesman, the country
might have remained for twenty years under
illusions which he has completely dispelled
in less than twenty months. We were in
| 4 4
military men for a whole generation; and
General Grant has relieved us as completely
as if we had not just gone through a great
| and successful war. General Washington was
| first elected President six years after the
close of the Revolutionary War, and after
serving eight years he might have been again
reelected if he had not chosen to set the pre-
cedept which limits Presidential service to
two terms. General jackson was first elected
President fourteen years after his great vic.
tory at New Orleans, and the anniversary of
that victory continued to be celebrated in his
| honor for whole generation after he had re-
tired from the Presidency. Grant will not
be reelected, and no anniversary will ever be
celebrated in his honor
How has General Grant contrived so soon
to wear out the lustre of military success,
and to nullify military prepossessions in our
politics within few years after the close of
intele ct does not suffice to explain the whole
effect. 1t is true that he possesses no one Of
the qualifications by which q mere citizen
rises to political distinction. He has neither
information, nor ideas, nor eloquence, nor
personal dignity, nor popular manners nor
even that active interest in public affairs
which brings q man into sympathy with
political life. There is no man in
the country who, as a private citizen, was
more absolute political cipher. But he might
have been respectable, III spite of these intel
lectual deficiencies, if heshad possessed the
right moral tone. The simple tastes and
manly contempt for wealth Of Garibaldi
would have commanded the moral reverence
of people who cannot respect his intellect.
But General Grant has evinced an ingrained
vulgarity of nature. His personal tastes and
choice of amusements are very like those of
Jim Fisk, with whom he was at one time on
terms of intimate association. Morally he is
phlegmatic Jim Fisk; the same dough
without the fermenting yeast. With as
little taste for books and documents, and less
application to labor, he has Fisk's love of
money, horses, jauntings, and all sorts of fast
life and merely animal recreations. Surely,
these are not the qualities of the hero. The
degrading gifts he has accepted, and the fla
grant nepotism he has practised, have caused
the country to rate him as a very ignobe
mortal. The public sense of gratitude feels
acquitted of all obligations to a man who Sc
obviously values glory only as an instrument
of pelf Certain it is that he has prevented
himself, and every other general who served
in the late war, from deriving any future pe
litical advantage from his military record.
Perhaps there is nothing so remarkable in
our political history as this early blight and
mildew which have fallen on military laurels
They can no longer make single vote fol
any candidate for Office as quick-sighted
politicians some time ago discovered. In the
elections of this year, it is surprising how few
military candidates have been rum either fol
State offices or for Congress Woodford fol
that can be mentioned, and he has merely
illustrated the utter decay of mill
tary prepossessions. He was Genera
Grants pet candidate, and was nomi
mated at Saratoga by convention of soldiers
before he received the Republican nomina
ton. He probably did not get single addi
tional vote in consequence of the soldiers
support. Nor will any candidate, in any
! election hereafter, make any capital out of {
!. military record. Thanks to General Grant
military prestige in our politics is "playe(
out" 1t has fallen into as irretrievable con
tempt as the practice of ostracism among
the ancient Greeks, after a low demagogu,
had been ostracized. We shall accordingl,
find, in the next Presidential election, tina
each candidate will stand on his civil qualifi
cations and personal popularity, without an.
adventurous aid from his participation in tn
late war.
Nj