Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-02-16
ier, vere 50 far ley.oinll their eanacity as 10

der, were so far beyond their capacity as to
lose all of good report they might have
; Heretofore acquired. But of all the illus
tratiOns OF the general truth we have cnun-
ciatcd, that tue age has presented, none is
50 remarkable, SO uHmistakable and so
glorious, as that afforded i'll the person of
lysScs Grant. as President Of the United
States. 1t is as if a tin soldier, such as
children dispon themselves withal, were
placed OF the top of the column Ven
dome.
- Pigmics will hc pigmie~ still. tho percl,ct on
Alps
We tin not detI1tct from Gen. Grants
merits as L soldier, though there can be no
| doubt that the pithy truth uttered by Gen.
Hampton Chat ''he was fortunate in rising
to the surface at a time when the resources
of the Confederacy We're eXhausted''l eN-
plains much Of that success which is some
times msnomered ''skin'' After Appo-
! mattoN, he occupied vantage ground in
the eyes of the whole country, South and
North, to have forfeited which, as lie has
ingloriotsly done, argues degree of folly
/
Fol while, before foolish visions of polit-
ical ambition entered into and distenpcrcd
his mind, he seemed the magnanimouS
victor, anxious TO calm the aGitated pas
/ siOllo of the people, and to restore peace to
a convulsed land. Dn his tour through the
South soon after The surrender. he inn
pressed It's all with what had the ASPECT Of
dignity. but has proven To lie Il Sullen OBJ
stinacy. and with What appeared InotcSty,
! but turns out to have been vacuity, while
his report on The condition and disposition
of our people was such as to elicit IL grateful
appreciation, since most slaIncillly abused.
But il is not now that we propose TO
speak OF the malignant crusade which he
has wagcd, since his accession to civic pow
cg, against the white pcople.of the South.
1t is Il warfare which withcrs all rs prcv-
ous;y acquired laurcIs in the 1IC1d, for ii is
Il blow struck by mailed hand upon the
body of Il WoStIatc toc,--thr cOwardly
and brutal blow of insolcnt power upon de
tencclcSo weakness. Let it pass into his
/ tory, to point some future moral, and TO
! tell to other times record of violated law,
outraged inmunitics and t}astarGly 'oppres-
SionS.
5 We speak here OF the ABSTRACT picture
2-hs day presented by Ulysses S. Grant, as
President of the United States. Without
! literary culture or cOlloquial capacity, his
coIiScrsations sare little and low, and his
style 0f composition inelegant and common.
,lav vvil a+ MI nf f,CI
ton, during great part OF each year, he
devOtes far more attention to the points of
a racer than to points Of SatesmanSlip or
diplomacy, and has keener discrimination
as TO the aroma Of a cigar. than on any
question OF Ii atio1al polity. But as if it
were not enough that he is malignant and
vulgar, recent developments brand him as
also corrupt. He has signaliZed his office
by a systematic receipt Of largess, which, in
the stern! old Republican days OF the coun-
try, would have justly eXerted Il storm OF
universal popular eXecratiOn; while the
recent Custom House disclosures and the
famous eold-panic allegations of a year OF
two back, point 10 ineXplicable compiled
ties, the bare %u~piciOu OF which, as attach
ing to the high office OF President of the
United States, is disgracefill to the govern
ment and the country.
The hypocrisy Of President Grant would
seem to he as prominent as the other quail
ties We have named, aud which, all com
bmed. render linn the fdvOrite OF the Radi-
cal leaders and Of1ice-hOlders for re-electien.
With a recommendation for amnesty in his
message, his fuglelnan and t:lunpete)s on
the floor Of the l.. 5. Senate oppose and
denounce it,-doubtless, by authority, for,
in this venal end trucking age, such men
as Morton and Cameron dare not oppose
the gilded sccptre Of power; and with
prOtestatOnS Of a desire for civil reform on
his lips, his hcnchmen in Congress resist
and obstIuct il.
Of such material does Radicalis,n con-
stlrlct its ''modcl President" Like the po-
litcal iconoclastS OF the French Revolution,
it breaks down the august image we wee
wont to regard with so much pride, and
substitute for it a mockcry and a revolving
idol.