New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-03-03

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fair estimate of his actions. Ills very iia''h-
ness has sometimes been an injury TO MS rep"-
toiion. Whenever he entered upon WRONG
enterprise all the world stralghtway hhe"
il. His policy in government mas Dech
oa omen and direct as his strategy In thc WIZ
dcrncss. He has never basely schcmed 10 ac-
complish n political aim, or to get an adVer-
sary out Of the way, or to reward Il rleh"' VI
to nunsh an enemy. Whether negotiating
with Rooz or woundlng Sumner and BristoW,
or nrotccting Babcock and Shepherd, he has
always been above concealmcnt But II lbs
candid errors and his ingenious little lntilsnes
have sometimes provoked needless ccnSure, on
the other hand his very contempt for the pru-
dent courses of politicians has sometimes car
ricd him safe through dangerous undertakings
lust as his contempt for the arts OF popu-
larity has made him doubly popular. There
is an element of courage in lis blunt
ness, of chivalry in his oDstinacy,
which captivates the imagination Of plain
people, and in part accounts for their readi-
ness to praise him for sticking to his friends
when he has deserved only blame for shield
ing the guilty or usurping power. Even his
violent overturning of the government OF
Louisiana failed to excite the Indignation
which we ought to have anticipated. because
he accomplished his object without subterfuge
and even with a sort of braggart b0'dness
PERHAPS no President has ever intcrfered more
frequently and unwarrantably Ill partisan
contests. but few Presidents have made less
use of chicanery and corrupt devices. Cor
rupti0n enough, alas has been practiced by
his friends, but Gen. Grant himself has die
tlted rather than managed
Fortunately his courage has not always been
exertcd in bad cause. He has done many
things for which the country will hold him III
grateful remembrance. He has made brave
fight for financial honesty, and has perhaps
had a greater share than men suspect in hold
ing bis party to its obligations ANA maintaining
the credit of the United States in the markets
of the world. And even in that part OF his
administration which has been attended by
the graveSt mistakes and followed by the
Interest ccnsure ne has done service which III
the Judgment of history will 30 far toward
countcrbalancng his errors. He assumed the
Government when reconstruction was a
crude experiment and the great danger
TO be dreaded was not the INVASION
of tie white mans rights but the
theft Of the black mans liberty 1t was the
era of the Ku-Kux Elan, when the enamel
patcd slave, instead of r0bbng State trcaSu-
rcs and turning legislatures into pandemoni-
nms was hiding in the brake or dangling by
the neck from waysidc trees. II was certainly
a mcrciful Providence for the freedman that
ne found at that critical time President dis
posed to take a liberal view Of the power and
duty Of the Executive in extending over him
the protecting shield of the Union. Time per-
haps may show that it was best for the whole
nation likewise that the strong hand OF CEN
trail authority should put down the murdcrous
shirt before it became unm lnag2able. Inc
South had not then been sufficiently
pnrscd by misfortune. To-day the curse
of the South is not the shotgun
but the carpct-bag, and lis peril is not slavery
but social and financial ruin. The policy OF
1869 has done some good. and it has done
much evil. and the President who carried 1t
into effect was naturally the last man to see
that, having served its purpose, it must be
laid aside for something quite different, adapted
To a new order of things. Up to the last
month of his term he could not school himself
To look upon Il Southern Democrat rs anything
else than rebel in arms, or ut best white
Lacquer with mask in his pocket and re-
yolycr under his c0at-tail. Gen. Grants free
use of the bayonct in Southern politics, his
brutal treatment of the Louisiana and South
Carolina gentlemen who tried to ex-
plain to him the condition of their I'M
fortunate States, his persistent support of
adventures in spite of the Inconsistencies oil d
whole c0ntinCnt.-all these pcrycrse actions
were promptcd-not indeed purely but certainly
in oart-by an honest conviction that they were
necessary for the support of the Republican
organization in the Southern States and that
the Republican organization was necessary Tor
the safety of the frccdmans life. Upon that
conviction he acted with characteristic courage
and ob>tlnacy.
Moreover although Gen. Grant began his
political life without any politics, tie soon be-
came so thorough partisan that he forgot
the distinction between his own fortunes and
thc fortunes of the party which elected him.
Opposition to his personal schemes appeared
to him like hostility to the party.
IN attempt to "undo the results OF
"the war; and when it manifested itself
within the Republican organization it was a
spccics of treason. Hence be came to look
upon Mr. Sumner, Mr.. Greeley. Senator lrum-
bull, and others as enemies not only to lis own
projects but to the great party for which they
had toiled and endured long years before he
was heard Of lie thought they were even
worse than Democrats, just as IL war he had
| thought traitors in the rear mOgr hateful than
| foes in line of battle. And this confOunding
| of person with party wis Il perfectly sincere
| mistake. 1t was not a magnifying of his own
Office: it was the consequence in part of mex