Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1871-06-15
FORT SILL, Comanche Reservation,
Nav %. 1871

FORT Ill Comanche Reservation,
Nav p. 1871
To THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD
Ihave been skirting the Texas frontier
for the past month, n here for the first
time 1 meet files of Eastern papers, by
which / see quite an unnecessary musS has
>een raised by a purported speech made
by me at n supper of the Union League
Club of New Orleans the night preceding
my departure from that city, Whoever
reported that as a speech by me commit
ted a breach of propriety, for Governor
Warmoth presided, and before l consent
ed to respond to a call i was assured oy
the president of the society that ne re-
porters were present land that whatever
was said would be sacred and confined to
the persons present. Vow rs to politics.
| think all my personal friends know my
deep seated antipathy to the subject, yet
as o seem not to understand me L here
by state, and mean all that L say. that L
never have been and never Will he a II
date for President; that if nominated by
either party L should peremptorily de-
cline, and even if unanimously elected
should decline TO serve.
If you can find language stronger to
convey this meaning you are at liberty to
use it.
/ am your obedient servant,
W L. SHERMAN, General.
This is just what We expected from this
gallant and unsclfish soldier, who is satis-
lied with the glory of his achievements in
the suppression Of the rebellion and the
present honor of being COMMANDMENT
chief of the National Army. We shall
never again have the exquisite delight, in
this era of sordid place-hunting, of look
ing upon a public man, who divorces him
self from political associations and intrig-
uges, and expels SELF from the sugges-
tions of the heart and the councils of the
mind to give place to loftier thoughts and
aspirations for the general good. This
isolated aversion to the grandest distinc.
ton and most eminent honors, that the
American people can confer upon one of
their citizens, presents itself with a sur
rounding of startling and fascinating mys-
teries. 1t seems a romance. pointing
to the era, almost lost in the oblivion of
departed years and forgotten in the
mighty furry and RAJ acious greed which
distinguish these degenerate and corrupt
days. When Office s0ught men who would a
dorm its character and discharge it's func-
tions with the integrity and wisdom of
upright and wise craftsmanship. Sher-
man rests, with an air of the most compla-
cent satisfaction, upon glories already won.
The field he has trodden blooms with the
rich and fadeless triumphs of soldicrly
prowess and bearing, and this is the full
qualification of his ambition. With an
untarnishcd garb and a name of spotless
brightness, he will stand aloof from the
foul Vaccinations of party and the
stormy connections of the Presidential
campaign.
Since Gen. Sherman's positive declina-
ture. we are at a loss to conjecture what
disposition democratic newspapers and or
ators will make of the fulsome eulogies
and concentrations, with which they bail
ed his distorted God-send speech at New
Orleans. They vainly imagined that that
little private talk" to a select circle of
friends and admirers, foreshadowed the
probability of his accepting the Democrat
ic nomination, but as that matter has been
put to rest, how can they %retract their d.
amond-cut panegyrics, without resortingto
their professional practice, straight Out ~
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