The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-09-29
GRANTS VIEWS.
HE EXPLAINS HIS TROUBLES WITH
MOTLEY AND SUMNER. =
His opinion Of Hayes Policy, Civil Service
Reform. schurz, Etc.

. I'm. Y. Herald.
On the way to Edinburg the Genera
was very talkative. Occasionally he
would speak Of affairs at home. Ere
quently something would develop like
/ this
General, when do you expect to re-
turn to American"
II shall stay in Europe year OF
more. / have special reasons for 80
doing. / am private citizen now, and
want nothing whatever to do with
politics. III l were at home l would
give Mr.. Hayes and his policy all the
support / could, because the object
aimed at is a noble one, and l hope he
will succeed"
but, General, many Republicans
fear that his course will destroy the
"Never fear. I have always Of late
, years had an abiding faith in the sue.
cess Of the Republican party at each
election. not SO much because It is
, always the strongest with the people as
because always, just at the last mo-
ment. the Democrats do some foolish
thing and give the victory to the Repub-
leans. Now, mark my words, we will
have a Republican President In $780,
because the Democracy cannot resist
It's general disposition to kick over the
i i
| Niblaek, OF Indiana, 30 just before the
last election, and he smilingly admitted
the truth OF what / said"
what is your object in staying away
from home 80 long?"
| well, in the first place, when | went
out Of office / was worn down. Now I
have thoroughly recuperated, am in ex-
cellent health and enjoying myself Inn
mensely. ! would like to see all Europe.
Bro propose to stay away till after the
exciting scenes that will surround the
to- Of Mr.. Hayes policy, for the reason
| that Ii [ were at home / would be
charged with having a hand In every
kind of political manBuvering, whether
had or not, and want to Danish pol
itics from mymind until everything set
ties down. / can say for one thing,
however, that IL [ were at home should
exert my influence, rs far as / could
exert it, in favor of Mr.. Hayes plan of
reconciliation.
:" I see reference in a newspaper Gu
logy OF Mr.. Motley to your position
toward that officer, and the intimation
that your action was one of the remote
causes of his death ?''
Eyes, have read 1t, and it does me
great injustice. Mr.. Motley was GER
tainly very able, very honest gentle
man, fit to hold any official position.
But he knew long before he went out
that he would have to go. When / was
making these. appointments Mr. Sum-
ner came to me an asked me to appoint
Mr.. Motley as Minister to the Court of
st. James. told him would, and did.
Soon after Mr.. Sumner made that vio-
lent speech about the Alabama claims,
ly offended. Mr.. Sumner was at the
time chairman of the Committee on
Foreign Affairs.
Mr.. Motley had to be instructed.
The instructions were prepared very
carefully, and after Gov. Fish and I
had gone over them for the last time
wrote an addendum charging him that
above all things he should handle the
subject Of the Alabama claims with the
greatest delicacy. Mr.. Motley. instead
Of obeying his explicit instructions, de-
liberately fell in line with Mr.. Sumner.
and thus added insult to the previous
injury. As soon as heard of It went
over to the State Department and told
Gov. Fish to dismiss Motley at once.
was very angry indeed, and / have
been sorry many time since that
I did not stick to my first determine
ton. Mr.. Fish advised delay because
Of Summers position In the Senate and
attitude on the treaty question. We
did not want to stir him up again just
then. We dispatched a note Of severe
censure to Motley at once, and ordered
him to abstain from any further connec-
ton with that question. We thereupon
commenced negotiations with theBritish
Minister at Washington, and the result
was the joint high commission and the
Geneva award. supposed Mr.. Motley
would be manly enough to resign after
that snub, but he kept on till he was
removed. Mr.. Sumner promised me
that he would vote for the treaty. But
when it was first before the Senate he
did all he could to beat it,
II must tell you an incident about
Mr.. Sumner. The first time I ever saw
me to request on behalf of number of
influential Republicans the reinstate-
ment Of Mr.. Sumner as chairman Of the |
Committee on Foreign Affairs. I told |
him that, il I should go to the Senate
and dictate the organization Of the COM
mittees, I would be apt to hear some
thing about the fellow who made for
tune by minding his own business. l |
said certainly should suggest the idea
to any part Of the legislative branch
that should undertake to construct my
Cabinet. gave him distinctly to un-
stand that | did not propose to in
Veil CAC ALA glAC Aob06k DIV ttll, cfcA |
by advice to personal friends |
among the Senators, and that I |
thought Mr.. Sumner had not done his
duty as chairman of the committee, be-
cause he had hampered the business of
the State Department by pigeon boiling |
treaties for months. Mr.. Curtis said |
that was impossible, for Mr.. Sumner
had only short time before told him
that his successor would find clean
docket. and made special claims for the
execution of the work of the committee.
Knowing, as I did, the adroit arguments
used among Mr.. Summers friends, de-
termined to test the matter of clean
docket. told Mr.. Curtis that had
proposed to prove to him that his
friend Mr.. Sumner had not told
him the facts, and that he had made
these statements knowing them to be
Mr.. Custis was amazed at
my offer, but l assured him that he had
been frequently caught in similar mis-
II al r.