Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1872-07-03
M0RTON'S SPEECH AT
PITTSBURG.
An Extract Worth Reading.

PlIISBUkG.
An Extract Worth Reading.
, They say there is "similar ring
| at the Executive Mansion-that Gems
Babcock and Porter are taken from the
army to act as private secretaries tc
Grant. ALI very true, gentlemen
They are well qualified to perform the
, duties required of them They are
SIMPLY detailed to perform these du
ties Grant, as Commander-in-Ch
OF the army, has the right to appoint
them. 1t entails no additional expense
on the government. There is not very
much for the army to do The pro
proportion OF officers is much larger
than is needed in the present strength
OF the army. They have no more to do
with the administration than the
Private Secretary of Governor Geary.
Dttrlng the war | had half dozen while
acting In the capacity of Governor of
Indiana. These generals write Grants
letters, relieve him of his official
drudgery, carry bis messages to Con-
gress, and perform numberless other
duties. Gems. Babcock and Porter have
brought messages to Congress from the
President nearly every day since the
sitting of that body, but they had no
more to do with the messages than the
letter-carrier has to do with the con
tents of the missives he brings to your
| doors. L know that you all feel that
tins is very contemplate thing, and
1t IS absolutely mean that on this ac-
count they wish to overthrow the very
best administration this country ever
had.
THE PRESIDENTIAL GIFT-TAKING.
There is another thing They say
he has received presents Well, he
did receive presents-before he was
elected President of the United States.
L never heard of him receiving presents
after that event. He performed great
services, and the people, knowing that
he was poor man, took this method
OF showing their gratitude. When cur
fashionable generals had failed-those
from whom the country expected the
most-General Grant restored victory
to our banners, and did more than any
other man to crush the rebellion. When
the war was over a grateful people.
from their abundance, sought to make
him some presents in order to relieve
him from his poverty. [Great an
plause. General Mcclellan, who nev-
er won a Wet bry of any consequence.
received more and larger pre-
sents yet the Democratic party
placed him in nomination in 1864
There is no objection, I pre-
sumo, to an unfortunate general re-
celvlng presents. It is only when Civ
en- to victorious generals that they be-
come reprehensible. Applause. Now,
my friends, some people never get
presents. They never did ANYTHING for
which anybody had any cause to be
grateful Such persons are extremely
v1rtuous on that subject. Whenever
you meet these virtuous people. look
out for them; in nine cases out of ten
they will steal [applause], because lar
ceny and hypocrisy have always been
intimately connected [ think I have
gone over the three things which
politicians are urging as objections to
Gen. Grant, and you will agree with
me that they are mean, small. and ex-
ceedingly contemplate. While thus
speaking of Gen. Grants part in the
war of the rebellion, | do not wish to
/ d1sparage the careers of Gems Sher-
man, Sheridan, Burnside, and the
many from tins great state; vet his
tory will write it down that Grant was
chief of ALL
| BLACK FRIDAY
No man, since the time of Washing
ton, has been illuminated more than
Grant. Why, he had hardly got into
office when he was charged with being
engaged In "gold conspiracy" That
was investigated, and everybody ac-
knowledged that the charge was an in,
| famous lie.
| CORNER LOTS IN SAN DOMINGO
And then we had other charges
Then came the story that he had prop
erty iii San Domingo, and that his
property was staked off into lots. The
commissioners were on the ground, and
found that it was base falsehood,
when it was also dropped.
THE NEW YORK CUSTOM HOUSE.
Again, they charged him with being
connected with frauds said to have
been discovered in the New York Gus
tom House~--a place that has been 3 har-
Dor for corruption at least half o eentu-
ry. There was corruption here when
the Democracy was in power. But
they charged that he was IN collusion
with those who committed frauds in
the New York Custom House. An in
vestigation, close and searching, com
pletely exonerated him, showing that
the charge was utterly and shamefully
false
| THE FRENCH ARMS SALES
After thet charge was worn out. a new
one was concocted, now familiarly
! known as the French arms scandal
charge that we had sold arms to France,
and were likely to make an enemy Of
Germany-of the Germans WHO had
stood by us throughout our civil war
The charge was really made with the
object of alternating the patriotic Ger
mans OF this country from the Republi
can party, by making them believe
that the President had conn1ved at the
sale Of arms to France An investiga
tion was ordered by both houses O
Congress, and in each case no ground
J whatever was found. nor single cir
cumstance discovered upon which sucl
a charge could be based. That cal
umny has gone the way of all the rest
But have no time to follow them all
Arctic Exploration.