The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1871-06-28
The Eagle and the Jackdaw.

Two men now stand prominently
before the country as aspirants for the
Republican nomination to the Presi-
dency. The range of selection is faI
| wider than this; but as these two gen
tlemen have taken the field, is it wise
to compare their merits. OF course
we refer to Gen. Grant and the Hon
Horace Greeley and we may consider
the case in the threefold aspect of tai
ents, services, and claims. We arc
speaking exclusively of the Presidency
and the hardship Of a political party.
If the question were the selection OF
the commander of an army, and not
the head of a civil administration, the
tests to be applied would be radically
different from those appropriate to the
present case.
On the score of talents and achieve
ments in the department of politics
and craftsmanship, it is simply absurd
to attempt any comparison between
Greeley and Grant. Contrast only,
and not comparison in any of its de-
grees, can mark the difference. MIR.
Greeley, with a capacious mind. tire
less-industry, and with tastes and apti-
tudes carrying him steadily in that di-
rection, has made civil affairs the sub
ject of study and discussion through a
long life. Gen. Grant, with q narrow
mind, lazy, and with inclinations that
always impelled him to turn with dis,
gust from politics, never took interest
enough in the great questions which
have stirred this country since he came
to his majority, to form an opinion in
regard to any of them until he himself,
under circumstances which never &C.
CURED before and will again,
began to be talked of as a candidate for
the Presidency. And even then it
was impossible to ascertain what he
did believe Or political subjects, or
whether his provoking silence was due
to constitutional reticence or lamenta-
bic ignorance ; and as It was then, SO
it remains now.
Nobody knows what Grant really
thinks on any public question, or
whether he seriously thinks at all. On
such topics his mind seems to be a
broad blank whereon an ambitious
Congressman, or a p%retentious Lobbyist,
or an intriguing placeman, or a brazen
benefactor can write pretty much what
he pleases. 1t is an abuse of terms to
talk of comparing such a political
nonentity with a man versed in the
history Of the great parties and the
eminent statesmen who have shaped
the destinies of this nation and of the
leading States of the world since the
Declaration of Independence man
overlooking with ideas on the agitating
problems Of the times, and who, by
study and discussion, has impressed
his opinions upon the political poll
cies Of the day, strikingly illustrating
in his career the important truth that
to WELD power n need not hold Of
flee.
In regard to services to the Republi-
can party, the contrast between Grant
and Greeley is not less obvious and
broad. During the fifteen. years pre-
vious to the organization of the party,
while the free spirit of the country
was writhing under the aggressions OF
the Slave Power, Grant had not an
opinion of any sort on any political
subject, though for ten or twelve OF
those years he was in the pay of the
nation. In this transition period.
when we we're passing from the old
era to the new, and when the right o.
petition and the freedom of speech
and Of the press were in extreme