National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-10-01
THE PRESIDENTS SPEECH

1nere is DOlQneSS In Ine speeCu vi
President Grant to the ''Army of the Ten
nessee," delivered at Des Moines, Iowa,
yesterday, which will please his friends
and startle his enemies. The report of it
which we print elsewhere is meagre and
unsatisfactory, but If IS sufficiently full to
give the public an idea of what he SAID, and
of the close study he has given to current
public affairs. Without polish or attempt
at rhetoric, he seizes upon these topics with
characteristic terseness, and gives to the
worthy of q finished statesman. Frankly
confessing in a manly way his inability to
speak "off hand" he proved his ability to
make hims elf understood with his pen in
manner hardly less forcible than when with
his sword he convinced the enemies of his
country that master mind commended for
victory over them. The novelty of the
scene, the idea that the Chief Magistrate of
great nationsshould be compelled to read
his speech, is overshadowed at once by the
strength of his arguments.
The most prominent feature of his address
is his staunch adherence TO the consistency
of his past record, and his appeals to his
audience, and, through it, to the country,
that the Government shall not be allowed
to stray in its administrative policy from the
paths ofthe forefathers. He has not forgotten
that the pioneer settlers of this continent
were mainly refugees from religious perse-
cution, and that upon their arrival in this
land of the free they dedicated it especially
to freedom Of conscience. Later, when the
Bill of Rights was framed and the Consti-
tuition was adopted, religious liberty was
most carefully guarded by them. 1t was
not improper that he should sllude to these
historical facts in the presence of citizen
soldiery, or, rather, that he should make
the deductions which he did from them. 1t
is therefore peculiarly gratifying that he
did remind his former comrades of
the great importance of adhering with
the strict fidelity to these tolerant princi-
Piles inculcated by the forefathers under
circumstances that rendered them keenly
sensitive to persecution for opinions sake.
No one will deny the soundness of bis
NIOnoJ dAu ~ VIII NC NOASOOOu bAob N-S
time for their utterance by some one in
whose patriotism the people hare conf
dence had fully come. He probsbly recog-
nized this fact and had the courge required
to utter them-a kind of couuge which no
mere politician has ever beel possessed OF.
But he was not only persistent and consis-
tent in his adherence to me political faith
of the founders of the Government, for he
declared his undyirg advocacy Of those
principles which have been inculcated
or adopted as the result Of its later
experience. In this declaration, while
offering honest Cancellation to the South,
he reIuked deservedly and earnestly the
weakened element of the North by the
that the party which carried
the Government through to victory has
nothing to apologize for. The reconstruc-
lion policy, the enfranchisement of the
blacks, the constitutional amendments, and |
Ill the legislative measures adopted as
among the results ofthe war, were thus dis |
.inctly and ,pointedlY Endorsed by him, and |
brought once again to the minds Of people |
who seem to be willfully inclined to forget
hem. And he did not fail to point out the |
necessity of providing against the posi-
oility of recurrence of the war between
he sections by insisting on fulfillment of |
IL the obligations assumed by the South,
md by taking precautions to prevent the
evival of the issues which led to it.
In short every word and line of this re.
and timely address will live in
history as an illustration of the determined
patriotism of a man whose title to leader
hip as civil officer will now no longer be