The Portland daily press., 1872-07-17
WHY MOsby Supports Grant.

+t why uOSUy supports Grant.
Virginia Correspondence Cincinnati Commercially
Learning that the intrepid guerilla was in
town, called upon him this morning, and
renewing or reviving an old acquaintance
with him, l told him what his town folks
said about him. 81 don't care,' said Mosby,
what they say about me-. L know that /
am right, as | was when voted for Douglas.
The same people said then that was crazy.
There were 800 votes cast at the precinct,
and / was one of the two men out of that
six hundred that voted for Douglas. I've
always been in the minority, from principle,
and now my principles have placed me where
L am likely to be-with the majority, for /
believe that Grant will be reelected. The
people round about here underrate Grants
strength. There are hundreds of people that
know personally who will vote for him in
preference to Greeley, and as many more who
will not vote at all. believe in Grant, and
if we've got to surrender again, I'd rather
surrender to a soldier than to an old woman.
When the war ended, was excepted in
Stanton's order about paroling Confederate
soldiers. l understood from that exception
that was not to be allowed to surrender. 1
was outlawed and couldn't give parole-in
other words, the alternative was presented
to !me of exiling myself, or continuing the
war. OF course, in justice to the people, to
myself and to the cause for which / had
fought, the fair name of which l would not
tarnish, disbanded my command. thought
seriously about running away; out finally
concluded to remain and meet whatever fate
was in store tor me like man. Military tri-
ais and prospective executions were then fire.
quent. The possibility of my arrest by STAN
toms order was, to say the least, threatening.
went home and quietly awaited the result,
which soon came in the form of an order
from General Grant allowing me to take pa
role ON the same terms as those extended to
other Confederate soldiers. / mention this
fact to be an indication of Grants natural
generosity He is soldier and as such re-
spect him. Some of our deluded people
here believe that he is a fool. | tell them
that a man without brains could not have
carried the immense army under his COM
mand to Richmond, even if there had been
no opposition. l tell them, when they say
he is a radical, that he has been riding with
the hurricane, and has abated its strength.
He would have been foolish to have opposed
it; as much so as the extreme men of the
South who have, to a greater or less extent,
provoked it. And then he is as much of a
friend to the South as Greeley. He saved
Lee, Johnston, Breckenridge and other South
ern soldiers, while Greeley only put himself
forward where others were ready to 90 on
the bail bond of JEFF. Davis. of course,
Gleeley's act was magnanimous, but it was
done in public, as though he was seeking no.
toriety. Grant, on the contrary, in the pur-
suance of his official duties, and in quiet,
transformations way, firmly put himself be-
tween the conquered leaders of the Southern
army who had been paroled, and danger
which threatened most dire results. | sup
pose Grant would sign civil rights bill like
Summers, if Congress should pass one Well,
Greeley would do the same, and his past
record, unlike Grants, has been such as to
urge the passage of that kind of laws.
don't see any difference between the men
from political standpoint, except in favor of
Grant, who has been a democrat, is a soldier,
and whose administration has given us a good
government i'm this state, if not anywhere
else. Why, ask these people, these old Vir-
ginians, with whom L have lived all my life,
what they have to complain of? l ask them
to point out a specific cause of complaint.
They cannot do it. They have had their own
way in this state for years, without interfer
ence from outsiders, unless you call carpet
baggers outsiders; and we have got most of
them-all of the most obnoxious ones-weed-
ed Out The present government suits me
very well, and don't want to risk q change.
After all, the election of Greeley would not
be the assertion of any direct principle, and
Congress would govern us as it does now
Each congressional district would have
voice, and the majority would rule as it does
HOW. we WOuIuu Dt DClItT OH,
there would be no change except in the sig
nature of the executive to laws that Congress
might pass, and Grants signature suits me
better than Greeley's. To tell the truth,
hate this Greeley movement, and many of
those men who are in it, as earnestly as 1
hated the north when the fiercest passions of
the war prevailed, and when the fight was
the hardest. The present situation reminds
me of the time when Virginia was dragged
out of the union. The people are all protest
ing that they don't like Greeley, as they pro-
tested against South Carolina and secession
then; but they are following the schemers as
blindy as ever, and the politicians have got
the reins in their hands as usual. There are
not dozen men in the State who belong to
the conservative party who will vote for
| Greeley because they like him or believe in
him, or because they know him, but they
will do it because the politicians tell them tn
| do so. have knocked about through this
| section considerable of late, and have yet to
find a conservative who takes to Greeley
kindly. They all swallow him as they swai-
lowed secession. You may tell your people
that if there was any other choice than Gree
ley, the democrats of Virginia would take it.
As it is, and as said before, many of them
will vote for Grant, while others will not vote
at all.