The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1878-05-27

torian.
Ex-President Grant has been making his
appearance in q new character in the past
torian. His speeches in Europe have shown
an aptness and eioquence SO unusual in our
own experiences OF the Sphinx as to lead to
the inference expressed in some unfriendly
journals that they had been written for
him. But it is not as an orator that the
General has surprised us so much as his
torian. He has always seemed content to
60 on from year to year, ignoring history,
Indifferent to praise or blame, resenting,
and at times, as it seemed, almost defying,
the judgment Of the historian. Since
leaving public lite he has shown HIM
self abundantly able to take care of his own
historic fame, and it would not surprise us
if some of these days we should have
book from the General as interesting as
Sherman's "Memoirs of the War" or Las
Casas' Conversations with Napoleon" 1t
has been said of Lord Beaconsfeld that one
reason OF his strength in Parliament was
that no one ever assailed him with impu-
nity-never retired from the controversy
without being hurt General Grant has
had the same fortune as historian. The
friends of Sumner forced a controversy
upon him, and the result was an interview
so clear and so conclusive that the contro.
versy was closed. General Grant dispelled
and destroyed the cloud that had been
resting upon his Presidency, that he had
made wanton assault upon Sumner, and
showed that Summers own conduct made it
impossible tor an administration to be in
relations with him.
In the interview we print this morn
ing the General encounters General
Richard Taylor. Of the Confederate
Army, and Mr.. Welles. the Secretary Of
the Navy in Lincoln's Cabinet. His man
ner of handling this discussion is adj
mirable. And in saying this we may as
well say, further, that the HERALD prints no
interview of this kind without the knowl-
edge and, where possible, the revision OF
the persons interviewed, and that our cor
respondents present, as far rs possible, the
language addressed to them. Therefore,
such an interview is entitled to as much
consideration as an official letter and is as
much part Of history. General Grant,
speaking of Mr.. Welles with the respect
due to the dead, quietly puts his memory
on the gibbet as that Of man who spent
the last years Of lis life in striving to be-
little and destroy an administration of
which he formed o principal part. This
is severe and in some respects a
terrible criticism, and can only be justified
by the statement-which the General makes
with all the candor and clearness possible
that the whole story upon which Mr.. Welles
rested his accusation against the General is
untrue. 1t is to be regretted that Mr..
Welles, who wrote at time when oil
sources of information we're open to him,
should have fallen into this unfortunate po-
stion. As for General Taylor, General
Grant says, keenly enough. that ''he fought
on the other side, drew pay on the other
side and writes on the other side, and that
if he can destroy the reputation of Mr.. Lin
coin and those who served Mr.. Lincoln he
is only doing what the Southern Confeder-
acy tried to do for many years After
this criticism, which is more severe
on Mr.. Welles than on General
Taylor. General Grant quietly losses
the Confederate General in q blanket as a
man he knows we'll and pleasantly-''a most
agreeable man, who talks well and talks
great deal, and, like men ofthat kind, often
gets his facts blended with fiction" He
then proceeds in detail to deny General
Taylor's narrative. This narrative was to
the effect that when General Grant called
upon Mr. Lincoln to assume command Of
the army he was anxious to move against
Richmond by the James River that Mr..
Lincoln insisted upon moving overland
that General Grant answered that to 80
move would cost him hundred thousand
men, and that he made this movement and
threw away these men against his own
Judgment as a military commander and in
obedience to some hysterical feeling ofalarm
in the minds of Mr.. Lincoln and his Score
tary Of War
OF course if this story were true IL
would DO disastrous to the fame of Mr.. Lin
coin and General Grant. 1t would show ]
that Mr.. Lincoln was coward and Gen.
eral Grant worse than q coward General
Grant says it is oil fiction, and he gives
for the first time, and what is really USE
full chapter OF history, an account Of what
did take place when he came to Washington
to command the armies and met Mr.. Lin
coin and Mr.. Stanton for the first time.
The whole scene comes out as vivid as any
scene from the historic pen of Gibbon or
Victor Hugo. We have Mr.. Stanton meet
ing the new general in cordial manner,
General Grant not to tell Mr.. Lincoln his
plans, because Of the Presidents gentle
and tender nature and his proneness to
confde in politicians We have Mr.. Lin
coin meeting the new general in a