National Republican., 1878-07-08

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Government from threatened shocks oi
labor riots and the undermining influences
OF communistic demonstrations In some oi
the larger cities. And, when this desire
found public expression, the encroach-
ment Of Confederate power, to which the
Presidents administration seemed to be in
clined toyield, alarmed the loyal people Of
the country tosuch an extent that the move
ment, If such it may be called, received
further, strength and encouraging recogni.
tion from among those who naturally
looked to the conqueror of the rebellion ~
the man whose services were demanded 10
the crisis Of Its threatened renewal. That
is oil there was or is Of II. Il was not the
result of management or intrigue there
had been no wire-pulling, and there was
no man or set Of men engaged in it. except
rs integrals of popular uprising
entitled to recognition as leader
II came about naturally, just rs
the nomination Of GRANT in 1865
c,me to pass in the natural course of events
With the departure of the situation or the
emergencies from which this yearning de-
sire for stability proceeded, II Is probable
that the movement would have subsidized
and the country would have relapacd
into the ordinary indifference regarding
the plottings and contemplating Of
politicians and so-called statesmen, II
the GRANT-haters, within and hanging
upon the skirts of the Republican party,
and the Democrats, who fear him for his
consistent devotion to Republican principles,
had not begun once more to assail him with
jeers and sneers and with infamous ISLANDERS
or with arguments that were born Of devo-
ton to the Confederucy.
Aud this is the present situation The
movement Is kept alive by the enemies Of
the man who alone can be benefited by its
agitation. To illustrate, we quote from Sat
urday sissue of our Democratic contemporary,
rs follows:
GRANT was graduated No. % In his class, at
West Point and while there did not discover
to his instructors any particular brilliancy,
and when, after a somewhat checkercd ex.
perienco in civil life, he received II commission
rs colonel iu the army from Illinois, through
tne 1hNOf Oh Hon. II. "AsHBIHNE, his
chances for promotion were presumably about
on an average with those OF any other mod.
| iOcre, with the remarkable exception that he
had a powerful friend Mt court. Through the
agency of this friend no received various pro-
motions, until he was placed In command OF
| the forces besicging Ficksburg. On the same
day when he wrcsted Nicksburg from weak
garrison, composed Of old men and boys,
many Of whom had been couscripted, aud
tta nnlN tan iTla tn anlA lAa,,
oral MgADE defeated tho flower of the
Confederate army at Gettysburg, In the
hardest fought buttle aud most decisive
victory of the war. Yet, who ever heard
of MEADE afterward? lie WIS forced
into obscurity by the clique ut Washington
which was engaged in organizing an advertis.
ing bureau for GRANT. The country cannot
| forget the food Of fulsomc addulation of "thc
great silent soldier which poured itself out
cndlessly and without apparent cause. WASH.
BuRSE had taken tho contract to make
GRANT President and was Mt his work
both with the press and at the War De-
partment And when at last IN the battles OF
the Wilderness, when the heart of the Confcd.
| eracy was broken, aud our troops outnum-
| bered the enemy four to one, II was managed
in Washington that GRANT should be in at the
death aud walk over the course, It followed OF
necessity that whoever was at the head of tho
army Mt the close of the war should be made
President. Had MEADE been the recipient OF
this court favor, he might have held GRANT's
place. We may ask, in passing, where General
TECUMsEH SHERMAN would have been about
this time but for little similar assistance
though of somewhat weaker quality.
To all which we reply that such mis-
statement of facts commits the Democracy
10 an endorsement of the Confederate nc.
counts of the war, and by so doing bclttles
every man who fought with or under
GRANT, as it exalts and excuses those who
fought against him. The /" four to one y
idea, 1t is true, puts to flight the boasts OF
the Chiyalry earlier in the war that one
SOuthron could whip five Yankees" and
is therefore something in the way of an ad-
mission of the equality of sectional bravery !;
but it is an excuse for the defeat of The
rebels based upon untruths, and one which
arouses the pride and animosity of the
North against the boastful and unrepentant
South to ten-fold greater degree than any
truthful statement of bull-dozing, bloody
shirt facts that have happened since the
war possibly could or would. Naturally,
this pride being aroused, the man whose
character and prestige is directly and -ndi-
vidually assailed, becomes the prominent
object of sympathy among those who know
that lie is traduced because he was their
leader. The charge, further made, that ho
is the stupid creature of accident is there
fore rcpelled as an insult to him and them
and they begin to recount the true glories
Of his victories and to recall the ability
with which he handled the immense forces
under his command rs well as the stability
Of his civil administration. A comparison
with the existing condition of things /.
then involuntary, and the GRANT move.
ment receives additional strength as the re.
suit of the assaults of his opponents.
But the weakest feature of these current
assaults upon General GRANT is to be fount
in the attempt to characterize him rs dull
or, as our cotemporary phrases 1t, "ret
tape hero" who owes his success to acci
dent and the devotion of ADLER friends. II
Is weak because it is always coupled will
the further idea that he possesses ill tn,
force and shrewd designing abilities o.
a Dictator; of a man who aspircs to ths
role of CESAR. 1t must be apparen
that such slanders as these add to tn,
La. Al.