The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1872-02-28
Grant the Smnggler.

praVlty IA pnssiDic " VEINS "'"0 :"
the form of man. a wretch not pos
sessed of one redeering trait is an
extraordinary and peculiar anomaly in
nature, and seems to be creation adj
mitted into her economy only to give
mankind an opportunity of c"ntem-
plating The uyliness of naked wicked
ness. I, is rarely seen in the greatest
of criminals. The Duke of Mari.
hnrough, who often hargained far the
betrayal of his army, his king and his
country, partially redeemed his crimes
by tie private vi,tnes Of charity and
tenderness of heart. Robespierre. on
the other hand, while monster of
cruelty aud terocisy, was an earnest
patriot. Benedict Arnold was a man
ct his word, and labnred with zeal
and honesty worthy Of a better cause
to redeem and merit the price OF his
treason. Even Ulysses Grant is man
devoted to the interests of his family
WOnld that we could credit him
with another virtue; bnt in justice
we dare not. In cold, uDreleuting
cruelty his granite heart is a master
piece Of nature, AS n soldier his
strategy, as he justly termed it, was
that of "attrition," that is, the me-
| chanicaI grinding and crushing Of
large stone upon smaller bur harder
one, until the latter was ground away,
at tue expense of i, waste iu the former
far greater than its own. AS Il civi!
magistrate his policy has still been
"a'tsitiou," and still the upper mills
stone is grinding itself away in re-
luciuy the neither. If the United
4 States were still dependency OF
Great Britain, and Grant the Governor
General ar,aisned before the High
Court of Parliament on the high crimes
and misdemeanors of -his administra-
ton another Edmund Burke might
duplicate the impeachment OF Warren
Hastings, and sustain his charges on
the most abundant testimony. His
rapacity, tyranny, cruelty, in Ills
treatment of the conquered South, the
calami'ies, disorders and bloodsllcd
consequent upon his mal-administra-
ton there, when written up by the
prosecutor would form a strange but
accurate paraphrase of tie history OF
Lord Give in India. 1t is no allevia-
tion of the charge OF rapacity that lit
tie or none of the spoils OF the Snutl.
are in his personal possession. He
capitalized his prer"sative on a set
systen of corruption, whose shares
and dividends were the wages of his
"whippers-in.r His policy was to
tempt carpet haggers to his service
; and tp reward their labors in his be-
half with the license to steal. Whether
the members of a band of r"bbers ale
eacl~con'miSSioned to keep what 1t
} gets, or to deliver up his booty to tht
} chief to be partitiuned ont according
, to skill and merits, is all one to the
! sufferers and to principle. AT al
events, it does not admit Of doubt tina,
IL ruler who hires his servants will
, opportunities of public plumber ant
power is thief by proxy as we'll as /;
tyrant by deputy. Fur his persona
gains he has principally looked 10 tn,
: Month. for the wages of his servants
, he has plunde,el the Sonth. So mnci
: for his iapacisy, iyranny ana cruelty
, Another count would have 10 b'
! added to the impeachment of THU
t Warren Hastings, and that of mos
I danIning nature. Heightened men re
gard liar with peculiar and intens
Y aversion. Truth is not a compendium
of all the virtues; but one >thingi
2 certain, all the positive virtues Deces
sarily abandon the base aud coward!,
character which is not too proud t
act or utter a formal lie. Grant VA
con, icttt| by Andrew johnson, on III
j. most, respectable legal testimony an
u The most nnhoubted internal evidenc
: Of nttering willful and formal lie.
l. The San Domingo, Seneca sand
II stone, Lee & Stacking and man
- other jobs, each contains equally goo
IS aud legal evidence of a pencl,ant fl
n lA ing, sometimes express and some
times constructive. And then, tlis
defalcation to the extent of $1,000
Mexico. What ''cock- and-buli" stnI
was presented to stay prosecution
IS the premises we know not; nor ca
I'd wc imagine any creditabe apoloe
~ which di>bursiiig officer could off
'e to relieve himself ia such q ease. e,
Is cept that the enemy had captured
ad or that it had been stolen, burnt, 81
for he would hardly relieve hims,
r by asserting that he had stolen it,
III lost it by stupidity. Assuming, Their
rs fore, that his excuse was Que of Il
ia former, we are driven to the corcl
Ell sion that he would consider hims,
i'll entilely aud Justly ,ahs"lved from al
all liability, rs our laws had given him
legal quittance. But, many years !
forwards, aud in a storm OF newspap
clamOr, lie comes forward like co
ard mr. q rerpNfaNt criminal n