Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1872-07-18
Let Us Consider.

the United States, is now plainly appar-
ent. The question then comes, and it
comes home to thinking men-which of
these candidates is the safest to intrust
with the administration of the govern
ment? Which will most certainly in
sure to the country peace, to its credit
stability, and to the people prosperity
and happiness.
We endeavored to demonstrate lately
the hazard to these weighty concerns
which would result from the election of
Mr.. Greeley. Is the same risk attend.
ant upon the re- election of Gen. Grant,
As there is no better method of Judging
of Horace Greeley's future than by his
past, so there is no surer criterion by
which Gen. Grants next administra.
ton can be measured, than by the one
now coming to close; and by the
characteristics of the man as seen
through recent career of twelve years
of active, responsible, critical, and in all
respects successful service.
That Gen. Grant is perfect man, we
by no means claim. That his prosecu.
ton of the war was without faults, or
his administration of the government
without mistakes, his warmest defender
will not urge. But that through all the
dangerous, difficult, and trying expert
ences which attended his command of
the army, history affords few parallels
for his patience, his perseverance, his
tenacity, his wise disposition of his
strength, his successful strategy, and
finally, his clearness and wisdom in
keeping in view the purposes for which
the war was instituted, we may reason
ably and rightfully claim. In these en-
deavors Gen. Grant developed a wise
craftsmanship as we'll as a consumma e
generalship. He did not stop to nego-
tiate for peace, while peace was only
possible as the result of victory. This
he left for Horace Greeley to vainly I'M
dertake. He first took Vicksburg, and
Vicksburg was the entering wedge to
peace; and he then Numbered at At
lanta, and he sent Sherman to the sea,
and when the rebels fell upon their
knees and sent messengers of peace
becauye they could no LONGER prolong
the war, they found in Gen. Grant a
willing listener. 1t was then that his
country was in a position to dictate
peace; and it was apparent to his clear
common sense that never until that
time came would peace ensue.
TIE applause of grateful country
was the instant reward of their persist
ent and successful General. The oya-
tions he received, the laurels with
which he was crowned, the triumphant
| plaudits which greeted his progress
throu gh the country, the eulogies with
which the press were filed, and with
which the files of the New York and
Chicago TIlbunes of that day abound,
attest the depth of the impression
which Gen. Grants services had made
upon the country. What he has done
sui sequently to forfeit that regard and
a continuance of that confidence. it
would be difficult for even the two
newspapers mentioned above to show.
The value of his services as acting Sec
Rotary of War under Andrew johnson
will certainly be gratefully remembered.
1t is with his administration as Presi-
dent only that any fault is found, and
in this the little weaknesses only are
attacked which in any but President
would be considered virtues. The i'm
mense reduction of the army which i'm
medietely followed his accession to
Office, is lost sight of, while the appoint
ment of his poor old father as the in
cumbent of a thousand dollar postoffice
has been kept constantly in view. His
reduction of the expenses of the collec-
ton of the revenue are never men,
toned; but the military secretaries,
who were his friends and aids in the
salvation of the country, are held up
to ridicule. His immense reduction of
/ the debt-his complete establishment
of the credit of the country-his firm,
iudicious, and at the same time con,
ciliatory policy towards foreign govern
ments, are forgotten and ignored, while
Leet and Stocking are made to serve as
the targets of constant fusilade The
Washington treaty is made light of
and lost sight of, but brother-in-law
Cramer at Denmark is held up as a
proof of the imbecility of whole adj
ministration.
Until it is proved that mercenary
appointees have never made use of
the New York Custom Rouse; until it
is shown that no President has ever
appointed relative to Office; until it
shall appear that it is a crime to sta
ton mans own father-in-law as an
usher at his door-we take it that think
ing men will look higher for an esti-
mate of Grants character and admin
istration than these petty evidences of
bad taste but good heart. They have
confidence in his right intentions; in
his sound common sense; in his I'M
doubted integrity; in his close observ-
ance of the popular will, as evidenced
in his readiness to give up his most fa-
vored measures in obedience thereto :;
in his faithfulness and close adherence
to the principles of the party which
elected him to office; and generally in
the substantial character of the man,
as exhibited through experience and
amid scenes which have tested and
tried that character to the full.
As between these two men, then,
Horace Greeley and Gen. Grant-whose
characters and whose qualifications,
whose strength and whose weakness,
we have endeavored briefly to depict,
it is for thinking men to make choice.
Which one of them is it safest and
wisest to trust? Which one is the surest
to conduct the country safely through
possible peril and certain difficulty ?
Is it the man of Niagara and Chappa-
qua, or he of .Vicksburg, Appomattox,
and Washington The man of no fix
ed principals and no courage in danger,
or the man whose GOODNESS, calmness,
and infiexible will, danger and dark.
ness only serve the more fully to de-
velop?
| Rejecting fellow-citizen If in your