American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-11-23
After the Battle.



Some foreigner, .juster or with
keener eyes than others, declared
the predominant trait of the Ameri-
cans to be their good humOr. He
happened to be here during the tur-
MOL OF Presidential campaign and
protested himself stunned by the
sudden silence, the amiable quiet
with which the day after the cleo
ton, the issue was received friend
and foe who, yesterday, grappled
each other by the throat, sitting
down and hob-nobbling to-day to-
gether. Yesterday this phenome-
non repeated itself, as is usual eve
ry fourth year the ms finding
themselves still in could afford to
hug themselves in the prospect of
another terms profits; qualms as
to how the victory was gained will
trouble them but little. The LIB
eral party, whose object was prima-
rily to reform the mismanagement
OF the Government, will, we believe
and trust, go but the more jealous
| ly to work because the case has
grown more inaccessible and ms
and out, while cooling, will have
time to discover that personal vitu-
peratiOn is not argument; that the
fact that one of the leaders of par
/ ty is thief or the leader of ano-
other wears his trousers too short,
hardly touches the principles of one
platform or the other. The dove
of peace will brood over the coun-
try again men will go back to their
normal condition President Grant
can give up the marrying, sOlicitOus
attention to business of the last six
months the wretched deputatiOEs
of Utes and Cheyennes will have
time to rest, and be dragged no Ion.
ger to and fro to make capital for
their Great Father the artists of
the illustrated press can find leisure
to fashion satire without the help of
blasphemy, and the editors to in
quire whether Philip Sydney would
have drawn his standard of man.
hood from taiiUr's shop.
1t was not as politicians, however,
that men were good-humored. No
man; is a politician the day after the
battle the death of each of the dead
chills some home in the land but
after this civil fight the slain arise
and walk off, comfortably rejecting
that they are something else than
vOters-each of them has patient
to look after. job to finish, a wife
to marry. just here lies the secret
of our good humOr in these quad
rnnnfn1 onnCnlcinno SnnI ,,o1if
ical revolution in England or France
touches every mans social and do
nestle life to the very root; but
whether Greeley or Grant went into
the White House has little imme-
diately to do with ours. Below that
aglin is the absolute confidence
which the American feels in the in-
nate sOundness of his Government,
no matter how caukered by tempo
rary corruption. Its recuperative
power he knows to be inexhausti-
ble. Hence he bears defeat with
the admirable good temper and
quiet with which a man secures by
birth and culture of his social posi-
ton finds himself pushed Temporal
rily to the wall by pretentious fraud.
Against the gigantic appliances
possessed by the ruling party, 1t
was perhaps Quixotic to hope for
success; but behind the rulers are
the peOple-a power slow, steady,
infallible in its ultimate perception
of common sense, justice and right.
country has borne the rule of time
servers, traitors, and drunkards /; 1t
went through the savage blood
letting of the civil war, and rose
from it like giant strengthened
by wrestling. The evils that have
been the topic of such hot discus
sion may shame US in the worlds
eyes, but the wholesome renovating
strength is below. When the blood
in the veins is pure, the sOiled face
matters little.