The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-09-01
HUNORS OF TIE VAR.
General Grant Interviewed by n Chica-
60 Reporter.
tFrom the Chicago Times. |

lfTOm CIllcdSO 1lmss.J
The views of General Grant on tne conduct
of the European war are something which ALI
the world has an interest In knowing. fhe
enterprise of the Times was exhibited during
the late visit of his Excellency. by obtaining,
at some length, the Generals opinion Of mat
ters on the Rhenish frontier.
The General, In response TO a qilesuon as 10 .
hls opinion OF matters between France and
Prussia, said that neither party understands
war as he understands it.
Here the reporter OF the Times ventured 20
assert cordial endorsement of the remarks of
his EXcelency.
.Permit me, General" said Mr.. scammon,
"to ask you to point out what yon conceive 20
be the chief blunders of the campaigns TINS
far?
fresh cigar, s:made blunder in commencing
war upon people ofequal size and strength,
Tie true way to make 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-"
ssBut, General" said the reporter, shave you
no faith in maueuverlng or In strategy,
whereby inferiority In point of numbers can be
eaualled by superiority of brains I"
.sNone whatever. Sherman played that out
In his march to the You aoa, tho Cenfod-
eracy was only shell, and that Is why he met
own experience proves this. In all cases where
I attempted any of these new.fangled Opera
tons, was beaten"
Here Mr.. Colfax, with sweet smile, inquir-
ed as to what the General thought should be
done by Napoleon.
'sMy idea,n said the General, ''is that he
should get Butler and Banks to command
army corps In the Prusslan forces. Then he,
should conscript every Frenchman that can
carry musket, and send him In. Prussia has
only 80, ,00O, 900 inhabitants, while France has
40, ,000, 900. This Is clear difference In favor
of France of 100000. Now let Napoleon
keep hammerlng away at the Prussians, Il 1t
takes all summer. I am of the opinion that
the superior activity of the French. aided oy
their superior navy, will enable them to kill
Prussian as often as they can q Frenchman.
Hence it Is clear case that II Napoleon ham
mers away till all the Prussans are killed of
he will have 100000 left. In other words,
bis cats tail Is the longest"
..What is your opinion Of Napoleon, person
ally? asked Mr. Joseph Medill.
''He Is a great man He smokes always and
never says anything. He was once in humble
circumstances. He was 2ever, however, in
the hide business, except, perhaps, so tar as
hiding hir1self Is concerned"
Here General Dent broke into uproarious
laughter. He afterwards remarked to our re.
porter that he was hired to laugh at Grants
Jokes; and, he added, he lattered himself ne
was doing very extensive business on very
limited capital.
General Grant pufed stoically until Dent ha5
finished laughing, and he resumed:
Napoleon is my model. have stood be-
fore his portrait by the hour, trying to mould
my countenance into the stony inexpensive
ness that characterlzes his. T. am not certain
but that I shall initiate his coup Getat. He
oh ~ fO q proQi6pnf did
/. He rose from President to Emperor; and II
don't follow suit it will be because Congress
took the trump out Of my hand when it reduc-
"Weli. now, General, tell us what you think
of the Prusslans," said Mr.. Greenebaum.
Don't like 'em," he responded, senten-
tiously.
"Why not, your Excelleneym The Gen. al
proceeded to comment on Prussian strategy.
he did not like 1t he said. They were In too
much of hurry. Here now In less than
month, they have hardly million OF men m
the field, which was shorter time, he SAID,
than he required to move his army from Fort
Henry to Donelson, distance ot only thirty
miles. This celerity, he remarked, Is destruc,
gone furtherin ten days than he went in ten
months when moving On Richmond.
He further Thought the Prussian move
blunder. In place Of going forward 10 Paris
BIZ way of Metz, they ought to cross James
River and 20 round by way Of Petersburg.
There is neither dignity nor sense ia this way
Of rushing straight at Paris with big army.
The Prussian leaders ought to hold on and see
who is going to be the next President, rms
makine war for wars sake was not, IN ms
opinion, the true principle Of warfare: ,sa1 Az
wars should have the high and beautiful o1ecG
of returning the men Of ones party TO Con-
gress. and the election Of ones candidate
to the Presidency.
At this moment it was announced that
lunch was ready. and the party broke up.