Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1877-01-18
WOODSTOCK. VIRGINIA.
Thursday January IS, 1877
Magnanimous Caligula.

Grants so called magnanimity at
APPROXIMATION is sill occasionally cited in
mitigation Of the many cruelties of his
administration towardsthe people of the
South. Events since have satisfied
most Of US that his conduct then was not
prompted by real goodness Of heart.
Just at that moment his vaulting am
bit;on was gratftied to safety, and Ike
many illnatured gluttons whose full
stomachs sometimes temper natural
brutality with gentIemanly instincts he
oparoled the eight thousand poor con-
fegerates. whom, at the time he was
stealing the keys Of the war depart
ment from Johnson, Or at any period
since, he wouldhaye pleasurably seen
perishisg in .prisonsor suspended from
gibbets. ssae ymf,fGn5el
Grant IS not without his prototype in
history even in this regard. CaIiguIa,
we are told, in the beginning Of his
reign, appeared hardly likely to fulfil the
threat Of Tiberius, who educated him
for the destruction Of the Roman peo-
ple." On. his accession to power he was
lavishly generous and merciful, pardon
ing even those who had been t. the. in
styments of cruelty against his own
family. But, says one Of his biographers,
this ostentatious magnaninlity was itself
a disease, al unwholesome affection,
founded on no principle, or even human
ity ofheart, and coexisted with the most
savage righteousness and lust. Con-
sequently when his vicious life had
weakened his faculties, the lower quail
tiles, Of his nature obtained the COM
rlete mastery. In addition to the
-senseless prodigality with which he ex-
pended the millions. Of sesterces left
him by his uncle. he manifested the
most barbarous propensities. In the
treatment Of relatives there is not a
direct parallel between him and Grant,
though the INSCRIPTIONS disregard of
our president for the proprieties Of his
Office, and his contempt for enlightened
{ precedent IN his own country, compel
the belief that the surroundings Of
eighteen hundred years ago would have
made him as capable Of incest with a
Drusilla Of his household, or the Danish
entof his kinsfolk, as ne now is of
quatering his connexions upon the pub
lie treas ury or using them to negotiate
post traderships. for a corrupt war
secretary. ---
The difference in the age in which each
lived accounts for the comparative refine
ment of Grants infamy. Caligula amused
himself at dining by having victims
tortured and slain in his presence.
Grant luxuuates in the white house
while his secretary Babcock conspires
with Dick Harrington for the ruin Of
innocent citizens and the exculpation of
public thieves. The one celebrated a
bridge exploit with a costly banquet that
entrapped numbers Of confding people
into drowning destruction the other
enjoys Bloody panoramas at enchant-
ing distance, with ChamberlaiR. Patter-
son, Kellogg, Bond and Packard for his
CORY scene painters and negro MUIR
derers. The one raised his horse to a
consulship; the other would make his
pet asses proeHnsuls. The one
declared nlnsefa god and had sacri-
fees offered to himself the other has
the unconscionable knaves Of one sec
ton and the Arnolds of another fawning
at his feet as devotees of ill-gotten
power. Alike, they robbed plundered
and taxed their people to a degree
5 which scenes almost Incredible the
one elimaxed his infamy By estab-
fishing brothel in his own palace and
sent his servants to solicit public
patronage, while the other removes a
board Of police commissioners for re-
flsal to employ prostitute to compass
the ruin ola public man by the cunning
device ofone scoundrel for the benefit
Of another.
The analogy does not stop here, nor
should it. Men who have lived so
much alike should terminate their
career Of infamy alike. But as the
progress Of civilization has drawn the
fine distinction SO far, so it will con-
tinue TO draw it to The last. What the
assassin did for the one, the hand of
suicidal debauehery will do for the
other. aa7