Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1872-05-29
THE SOUTH AND GRANT,
LETTER FROM COLONEL EwELL.
Reelection Urged-BIis Service,
for yhc South,
WILLIAMSBURG, VA, May IS, 1872,

WILLIAMSBURG, VA, May IS, 1872.
DEAR SIR: In compliance with your re-
quest here repeat the substance of our
conversation on the last, and approaching
Presidential elections though do not sup
pose my opinions on such subjects are
worthy of attention or repetition. You
expressed some establishment when / in
formed you that in 1868 I was favorable to
General Grants election to the Presidency
Of the United States, and was as decidedly
in favor of his reelection. / will, again,
give my reasons for this preference.
1t was my conviction in 1868, that the
election of a President, opposed by decided
majorities of both Houses of Congress,
would serve no purpose but to increase the
i'll feeling and disquietude that followed q
like condition of affairs during Mr.. John
sons administration, and, perhaps, to
pave the way for more serious disorders
and uneasiness. 1t was also my convic-
ton that an assured and peaceful Union
was o necessity to the people of Virginia,
and az much so to those of the othe South
indirectly, TO produce undue excitement,
and thence, possible, revolution / depre
Gated as the greatest evil that could befal
this country, agreeing with Bulwer, that
"a cause, which the noblest allow to be
good, and which, when successful, all time
approves, may seem to justify the attempt
at q revolution yet recalling now all the
evil passions it excites, all the ties il dis
solves, all the blood it commands to flow,
all the healthful industry it arrests, all the
madmen it arms, all the victims that it
dupes, question whether one man really
honest, pure, and humane, who has once
gone through such an ordeal would ever
hazard it again, unless he was assured that
victory was certain aye, and the object
for which he fights was not to be wrested
from his hands amidst the uproar of the
elements that the battle has aroused"
Then, too, had implicit confidence in
General Grants earnest wish to have
peace,n in his good will and in his patriot
ism. This confidence originated in the
terms he gave at Appomatox Court House
to his great opponent and the battered
remnant of that brave army that had
staked its all upon cause for which IL was
''no more to combat or to bleed and that
had so long resisted his legionS These
terms, that leach officer and man will be
allowed to return 10 his home, not TO be
disturbed by the United States authority
80 long as they observe their paroles and
the laws in force where they reside, are
without q precedent in the history Of all
such struggles for their liberality and were
as wise as liberal. While they effectually
terminated the contest they protected those
who surrendered from the legal conse-
Quences of waging war against the govern
ment, and probably saved from execution
or Imprisonment Lee and scores Of his gall
liant associates.
The effect of those terms, az stated in
General Grants report OF the closing oper-
alton of the war, was THAT General Lees
great influence through ,ut tho South
caused his example ~ be followed and, TO-