Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1872-03-14
GENERAL GRANT.
A. seen by an Independent Democratic
tCugrCssfnau.


From the New York Citizen, edited by Robert b.
Roosevelt, NJ. c.
1t is the mistaken idea Of some per
sons to belittle General Grants ability,
TO run down his qualifications, and to
underrate his mental requirements.
Instead of being the stupid and sense
less individual that some Of the people
would have the public suppose, he is
one of the shrewdest managers of the
day. Not only as a leader in the war
to which he first gave a favorable turn,
but as a manipulation in politics he has
shown remarkable skill. The rebels
continually took the same view that the
/ democrats are taking now and de.
nounced the Union general MS an igno-
ramus every time he won a victory over
! them; and the more etlectually he
crushed their armies the more clearly
/ they proved that he was utterly incom-
| petent as military commander and
entirely unequal TO the task which he
/ had assumed. There are soldiers Mt
/ the south to-day who can clearly estab-
/ lish the fact that General Grant was the
poorest officer the world ever saw, that
/ he ought TO have been beaten III every
/ battle, and that he was only saved from
utter ruin by incredible luck. So also
with the democrats; they prove con-
/ clusiveiy the Presidents imbecility as
/ politician every time he scatters their
best laid plans for his overthrow, and
/ while he has SO demoralized his adver-
saries that they hardly have candi.
| date against him, they insist that a
weaker politician never lived.
One OF the greatest of follles is to UNI
! derrute an adversary, and necessary as
! the defeat of the Republican party is to
! the welfare of the nation, it Will never
! be brought about by contemptuous
revilings of its candidate, or failure
/ to appreciate the desperate nature of
| the struggle which must be won, and
! the resources at the command of tn
great leader who pretends to be can.
! didat That General Grant will fail
! by any rntingency of n renom nation,
there Is, not the remotest likelihood he
! has entire and absolute control of the
matter, aud he uses his power with II
| wisdom and discretion which are sure
| to effect the end in view. Opposition
1 in his own party is practically crushed.
/ He never has II favorite of party chiefs,
who originally accepted him only on
compulsion, but he had hold on the
people which they dare not ignore. He
has lost a part of his popularity Amer
\ leans dread military usurpations and
/ love constitutional law, they have not
/ forgotten the fate of mexico, and do
not yet love soycreigns or permanent
masters; buJ ms his popular strength
( has diminished, his political strength
/ has increased Then he held the PEG
/ pie; now he holds the politicians. He
has ont fanked the later, as he ouce
/ outHauked the rebel Generals. and at
/ present grasps them as firmly rs he
held Lee in Richmond.
People who 10 not know President
Grant intimately describe him rs a
" sphinx, "woodeu man, silent,
mSo ial person, aud deduce from this
an underlying stratum of stupidity.
Nothing could be farther from the truth,
and here IS whore the series of hlunder
commences Surprising as the asser-
ton may appear, Grant is emiuently
social he is jovial, merry, talkatlye,
full of fun and geniality, and a right
pleasant companion. His reserved
manner in his shield of defense. HIS
natural temper would leave him Il hope
leSsprey to bores and place-seekers and
other enemies of public men, and herein
comss a display of his peculiar tact :;
no sooner does one of these appear than
Grant recognizes him and retIres into
his shell Of impaSsibility, and, like a
tortoise heightened by some noise, never