Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-01-14
OUR HOTCH-POTCH.
Prospective and Perspective.

MIS-. Or3nC Is quoted as having SalO the
happiest period of her life and the generals
was when they lived in Galena "in a small
brick house and kept one servant"
Why was that the happiest period of
their lives? There must be some good rea-
son for Mrs. Grant having said what is at
tributed to her, Or she never could have
been "quoted" as having said so. Gen.
Grant has not only been brave soldier.
but also fortunate one. There have been
many soldiers in the world as brave as he,
but few, if any, that have been as FORUM
ate. He has placed his name high on the
column of military fame, and has been law
ishly compensated, and yet neither he
nor Mrs. Grant are correspondingly happy; |
and therefore, we, the common people, |
would like to know the reason why? The |
following excerpt, which We quote from |
the same journal from which We quote the |
above, may family foreshadow the why
Three eminent drinkers turned down |
their glasses and did not take drink OF
wine during the dinner, and have taken
nothing since. They were General Grant
erOn.
That sounds very much like the Ian
guage that temperance lecturers usually
apply to broken-down or damaged topers
and soakers. "Three Eminent Drinkers "
we don't consider ourselves very fastidi-
GUS in regard to our social and moral
status, but at the same time it seems to us
that we would as soon be considered one
of three eminent blacklegs, or three emi-
rowdies, as "three eminent drinkers"
Now, these are not Democratic cogitations,
for our Quotations are from the news
columns Of a Republican paper, and the
cogitator himself voted for Gen. Grant,
and his vote was one of the great mass
that made Gen. Grant our president. But
we did not then know that he was An g emil
nent drinker.' No wonder Mrs. Grant
and the general were happier when they
lived in a ''small brick house in Galena
with one servant
We are by no means in harmony with
all the ''fuss" that has been made about
the 'third term" We accept the propo-
sition that the aspirations of the friends of
the presidency. cannot bc fairly deemed a
'third term " in the sense usually applied
to such a contingency heretofore but, not
withstanding all that, we think it would
certainly be impolitic to elect him a third
time; if for no other reason than that of
giving him an opportunity to come out
from among those eminent drinkes, in order
that Mrs. Grant and the general might
again enjoy their aforetime happiness in
their little brick house, with one servant, in
Galena. Mrs. Grant is sensible woman
and doubtless fully apprehends both the
prospective and perspective of her hus-
bands career. Gen. Grant is legally, po-
litically and socially as eligible to the
presidency as any other man in the Union,
but he is not SO prudentially, patriotically,
or *demOcratically. ''Whon went there
by an age in Rome when there was but
one man." Is there no other name that
can start spirit as soon as Casar?" Gen.
Grants ability and his renown as an exec
utive officer of our Union were nothing to
brag Of-the Imaum of Muscat and the
MikadO of Japan, to the contrary, notwith-
standing. What do these potentates know
about the qualifications necessary for an
American president? If we are to take
our cue from the monarchists of foreign
countries as to the fittest man for our pres
ident, then we might as well abandon self
government, or "scll out - at once to some
enterprising political adventurer. But,
we dan't believe he really wants the presi-
dency another term. If he does, then we
admonish him that he will not only vio-
late the law of common prudence, but
also that dignified retirement which was so
becoming to a Washington, a Jefferson, a
Madison, and Jackson. General
Grant is now a private citizen-a
fellow American republican. Had he been
placed in the presidential chair without the
prestige of having emerged from a success
full and victorious war career, his admins
tration would have been regarded as a fail
ure ; as it is, his military fame has barely
covered his civil inadvertencies, and these
latter, in a very few years, would have
been forgotten, or obliterated through the
splendors of his military reputation. "The
Empire :" Well, we don't think that any
one, whose opinion is entitled to respect.
really believes that we shall ever, or ''hard-
~ ever have an empire at least not
in name. AS it is, our laws are so per-
verted, or SO defective, that it is neither
impossible or improbable that imperial
powers will be exercised-yea, and have
been, especially in the matterof succession.
Whether Gen. Grant is now or ever has
been an " "eminent drinker " we know not,
from personal knowledge. Mrs. Grant
knows more about that than any other per-
son in the world, but the apparent yearn-
ings after the happiness of the little brick
house, with one servant, i'll Galena, seems
to indicate that he has at least filled the
measure of his own glory, and any further
honors conferred upon him would only ac-
crue to the benefit of those who desire his
elevation to power again-tO those eminent
drinkers with whom he would again find
himself associated. Gen. Grant has more
at stake, and more to sacrifice, than any
other man in our entire country, and his
followers are sure to involve him in politi
cal decentralization il he listens to their