Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-09-05
PRESIDENT GRANT.

From the recent eloquent and patriotic
speech, at Springfield, Ohio, of the Hon.
Samuel Shellabarger, we extract the fol-
lowing able vindication and defense of
the President:
1 doubt whether there is seen in our
history any display of partisan and personal
hate at once so unjust and so revolving as
the one We now witness against the Presi-
dent. make this statement cautiously, and
in mind both of our history and what know
to be the character of Gen. Grant. In max
ing the statement that none before have
been so set upon and falsely, shamelessly
wronged do not forget that like as now of
Grant, so of Washington, his traducers said
of him and his Administration, "he was
totally destitute of merit, either as soldier
or a statesman" and l remember that seven
his qualities as man were the subjects of
detraction "-that they charged he had 'vio-
lated the Constitution innegotiating treaty
for which impeachment was publicly sug-
gested THAT che had drawn from the
Treasury for his private use more than the
salary annexed to his office-' 1 do not for
get that both the Adamses were vilited in
like manner and measure do not forget
that Lincoln, up to his murder and by the
very men who now use vile objections against
Grant, was called "despot," " monster"
mountebank," "ape," "knaye," Nero"
"Caligula," ;susurper," and 'assassin,"
and do not forget that in the presence of
Lincoln's great shade these mouthers of lit
erary eXcrGmenGS against nlIu now Slduu
covered and worshipful. Not Forgetting
wrongs committed against the nations bene-
factor, like these, l still doubt whether any
of them equals in their immense wrong that
now detected against the first Magistrate
True the adjectives are the same, and the
formulas of detraction are often copied and
| identical. But against Grant these are col
| lected, arranged, and directed by concert,
| and upon agreed plans. syndicate is or
ganized for its purpose of slander and moral
| itc ynrl-
when Grant declined to accept the nomina-
! tion rendered him in 1868 for President by
| the leaders of the Democratic party. Up to
| that date, and when craving him for their
| candidate, these defamers of to-day adored
| him in terms like these, which may copy
from their national organ, the World, of
| April IL, 1865: Grant has Sin him every
manly quality which would cause the name
| of Lieutenant-Genera Grant to live forever
in history" His career is a lesson in pol
Apply to General Grant what test you will;
measure him by the magnitude of the obsta-
cles he has overcome; by the fame of the an
| tagonists over whom he has triumphed; by
| the achievements of his illustrious co-work-
| ers; by the sureness with which he directs
| indomitable energy to the vital point which
is the key to vast field of operations, or by
| that supreme test of consummate ability, the
absoluteness of his results, and he vindicates
| his claim to stand next door to Napoleon
and Wellington among the great soldiers of
| this country, if not on level with the lat
| ter.'
But, since his refusal to become their can
| didate, this organization, on plan and per-
sstently through years, by agreed suppress
sion of truth, by agreed publication of false
hoods, agreed distortion of facts, agreed sup
| preston of testimony, agreed schemes for
| the investigation of invented wrongs, agreed
ISLANDERS set as preambles for resolutions in
Congress, agreed assaults upon him in Con-
grcss and the public press for things either
wholly frivolous or wholly false, it is ar
| ranged to assassinate one other of the ma
tion's best citizens and its greatest defender.
| | speak now what l know and testify to
what have seen. And because 1 do, l de-
clare solemnly that L doubt whether, in this
or any other modern government, such
wrong against any citizen, national benefac-
tor or great magistrate, can be named as that
! now directed against the President.
They declare him utterly destitute of the
| very rudiments of knowledge, and yet he is
possessed of all the learning of one of the
most thorough colleges of the continent,
and his requirements both solid and
large. They describe him as incapable of
either comprehending or of stating any i'm
portant affair of government; and yet L in
vite an impartial contrast between the mes
sages of his predecessors and his, and af-
firm that, in those first eXcellences of State
papers, absence of pretension and mere
rhetoric, and the presence of clear, compact
comprehension and direct presentation of
the subject; in the business and practlcal
wisdom they evince, and in the simple, un-
ostentatious spirit of the good magistrate
and the patriotic citizen which characterizes
them, the messages of Grant already rank
with the best of our own nation, and receive
the admiration of the foremost statesmen of
other nations.
They accuse him of neglect of duty, and
of absenteeism. 1 affirm, on the contrary,
his watchfulness over affairs and compre-
hension and discharge of duty at all times
when duties are upon him, is remarkable.
: Take, as a mere specimen proof of this, his
scrutiny of mere minor private bills sent
for his signature. And should that brief but
admirable statement of public law embodied
in his message of June 1, 1872, vetoing a
small private bill, paying for property de-
stroyed in the ravages of war, be needed by
, the Congress, then the nation will owe to
the Presidents watchfulness and wisdom in
matters of apparently the smallest moment
it's deliverance from the payment of all such
prol erty, estimated to amount to the sum OF
: ten hundreds of millions of dollars.
e They say he, as President, takes gifts as
5 rewards for bestowment of office, and yet
: since President he has not received of gifts
+ a single farthing, and those he did receive
before were given by the people in token of
honor and gratitude to national deliverer-
: tokens as honorable to the giver as to the
u receiver.
I, They say he violated neutral obligations
o in the sale of arms; and yet that no viola