The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-04-08

wood.sauyers. but whom Grant had made diplo-
rnats Of in sublime contempt OF the designs Of
The Creator.
or course there must BIO general sweeping
out OF THE mob. and an said before, the fret
work Of the administration. now the more pressing
domestic questions have been disposed OF. will be
to sweep II out. learn that the policy will DO 70
ignore the politicians of the country for the most
part in making foreign appointments snd give the
BonotARs AND LITERARY MIN
a chance. OF course this will not be followed Dc
an inhexible rule, but Tire exceptions TO " VIII DO
very few. Yon know that our Secretary OF State
has weakness for long sentences ana involved
STYLES. Alec that the principal duty Of orr diplo-
matic representatives abroad In to write long
,etters 10 the Secretary OF State, which are
printed IN pondsrous pub. doc. once year, and
then sold to The Junk dealers by The cord. That
Ii 10 say, our government pays men Oil tho way
from $500 to tt7,5o0 year TO go abroad aud
keep up system Of private correspondence With
The Secretary. or course, Mr. Evsfts being
scholar and something Of \ pedant, will be fas-
tidious a. TO the qualifications Of his correspond.
ents. This may seem rather aippsnt treatment
OF tho subject, but IL Is all gospel truth. and the
foreign policy of the government for the next
MIR. Bvarts IL fond Of
LONG sHNraNoEs AND INVOLVED nHEvoHiJ.
However, man who can write long sentences
generally knows how 10 behave himself, and Gus
tomarily possesses some brains, which cannot fall
60 work vast improvement upon the present
representation of our beloved country abroad.
Speaking OF literary men and matters, ace IL
definitely announced that the late President con-
templates writing history Of the war, and TINT
he has stored his materials In several large
boxes with his friend Smith, 70 keep till he
comes back fr m his travels. OF course such
book will BIO Of value, but moi one hundredth part
M valuable as would be "History OF Grants
Administration,
WRITTEN ny HtMsEIr"
But our ex.president will write his book rathsr
for is value 10 himself than in view Of It's future
worth 10 the student Of history. That's to say,
he will write book TO be purchased by the mill
liop for the reason that he retres from office In
quite moderate circumstances and needs, or Will
need, by.and-by, the proceeds OF \ salablc book
His history of the war will, Of course, have =
large aale. because the masses would buy 1t. Bu
q history OF his Administration which he nigh
write would find purchasers mainly among the
studioas glasses and those Interested Ia the phi
losophy Of politics hence lis sale would DO in
tinitely less than the war history. But II IL to
be hoped that both will be written. Cor my part,
while would not give more than dollar for any
book General Grant could write a,out The war, l
would willingly give
Two HUNDRED DOLLARS
for work embodyipg Grants Rscollcetions Of
drantism. or Eight Years in tho White Houee,
provided could not get II cheaper. Or will
make his late Excelleney proposition: II he
will give mo acoeea to the papers, memoranda.
letters aud other preserved data Of his Preside n
tial career, VIII produce memoir which will
warrant 10 eell like hot cakes. II will hardly be
such n work as was Mr.. Gleig's Biography of
Warren Hastings, which Maeaulsy called "the
result VI contract by which the executors Of the
deceased bound themselves TO furnish papers
and the biographer stipulated TO furnish praise;"
but will eolemuly agree that Grant shall fare
better II than those will to whom ho 10 indebted
for tho bu'k of tho odium that has faicn upon his
Administration. ! would very much like TO get
hold OF those materials. l think could produce
q memoir that would be decidedly interesting
aud to no ono moro so than to. Grant himself.
after he had read q chapter or two 10
CATCH THE STYLE.
The fact of IL Ia we havo already too many his.
tories Of tho war, which consist Of turgd details
OF movements, dull reeitals Of battle incidents
aud monotonous lists OF killed and wounded. |
We have also eurfeit Of books on p,itic. ocon-
omy. and there il plethora OF the "vie W Of
distinguished citizens bound in calf or hal
cloth. But our literature is decidedly poor In
those masses of fact and experience which are to
~ hSaA1 p.ut Hal r.nv Ia
mine is TO the workerin metals
PERSONAL MEMORIES.
In England eve.y man who has had TO do with |
important sfrai aud has helped to make history,
writes his memoirs. Tho result Is that English |
history 10 as nearly perfect to date az history
be, aud L. in faot the only history which truly mir
rors the life of nation and depicts tho existence
OF . people. When an Enslishman sets about
writing history OF his country, or of any epoch |
OF her existence, he finds his ma'evials in the |
abundant memoirs OF tho men who figured In the |
times of which be proposes to write. But
THE AMERICAN HISTORIAN
When he looks for materials, finds little but |
disordered masses of private papers, imponetra-
bic volumes OF speeches and public docu nents,
unwieldy files Of newspapers and indigesible
scrap- books. l know how IL IL myself, for have
been trying to write some chapters Of 'History
Of Reconstruction" and have as yet only got far
enough wi the work TO find ont that suoh
work il almost an impossibility until after the
leading statesmen OF the epoch under oonsiders.
ton shall have died. leaving their me moirs in the
keeping and their regulations at the merov of the
historian.
The differences between British and American
literature in this particular is striking, and
clearly appears upon casual survey OF Mr. Spot
ford ~ admirably compiled catalogue OF the
Congressional L brary. You find there no end Of
" Lives"ot American statesmen. Looking in
side Their cvers, you discover that they are
not soiled by much reading. Why2 Because
they portray, not the man as he lived and acted.
but some hero some ono whom coma inindl