The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1880-10-15
BALDY's REPORT.
Major Gen. VIM. +. Smiths Comm chts
on Grants Statements.

The following appears as communi-
cation in the New York Sun of We'd
nesday last:
To the editor of the Sun:
STA Geographic dispatch in the
New York Times of this morning gives
what purports to be condensation of
an interview between the Rev. G. IL.
Fowler, d. D., and Gen. Grant, said to
have taken place in Gen. Grants libra
ry at Galena on September 81 last.
In that interview Gen. Grant is made
TO assert that after having received one
vote at the Democratic Convention
held at Chicago in 1864, Hancock be-
came crazed by the 'sbee in his bon
net ;" that after that he (Hancock)
would hardly speak to him (GranD,
and shaped everything to gain Demo-
cratic and Southern favor.
Gen. Grant is made to say, "He
(Gen. Hancock) is crazy to be Presi-
dent. He is ambitious, vain and weak.
They (the Southern people) will easily
control him;" at the same time as
serting that 1t was he (Gen. Gran) who
nominated Gen. Hancock for the post
of Brigadier General in the regular
army, and afterward for the vacant
Major Generalship in the regular army.
Gen. Grant thus confesses that after
Gen. Hancock became SO crazy with
the Presidential bee that he would
hardly speak to him (Gen. Grant), he
nominated n vain and weak man for
tho post of Brigadier General and
Major General in the regular army Of
the United States. What a high regard
Gen. Grant must have had for the eff
liciency of the regular army, and what
a flood of light this throws on some
other nominations by Gen. Grant.
The fact is that the whole country
would have cried shame if the services
of Gen. Hancock had been ignored.
Gen. Grant also says: "When the
army of the Potomac was hunting for
a commander it took almost everybody,
even came over into the West for Off
GERS, but nobody ever even suggested
Gen. Hancock for the place. There
is nothing to be said on this subject ex-
cept that when Gen. Grant came East
as Lieutenant General commanding
the armies of the United States he
found Gen. Meade in command of the
army of the Potomac, who continued
in command until that army was
disbanded. Was Gen. Grant making
all these attempts to supersede Gen.
Meade
TO call Gen. Hancock Il weak man,
in view of his brilliant record in the
field during the war, to call him a
| weak man in the face OF his civil ad-
| ministration in the South in 1867, and
in the face of his writings which are
before the country, such as General
Order No. 10, the letter to Gov. Pease,
the letter to Gen. Sherman, the letter
of acceptance of the Democratic nomi-
nation, and his letter with reference to
the Southern war claims, is to express
an opinion which does no credit to
Gen. Grants intelligence.
Gen. Grant gives long account OF
what he calls the inner history of Or
der No. 40, in which he says: 81 can
demonstrate that he (Gen. Hancock
did not subject the military power to
the civil, but that he used his military
power to overthrow the civil"
The history of Gen. Hancock's adj
ministration in Louisiana and Texas,
from and after the publication of Cen
erai Order No. 40, and the statements
contained in his letter to Gov. Pease,
which have never been contradictcd,
directly refutes Gen. Grants assertion.
Gen. Grant says that Gen. Hancock
"would be. easily controlled by the
Southern people," presumably, in hos
tility to the interests of the country !;
Whlle In ms own speeches., MADE after
returning from Mexico, his assertions
were positive as to the good faith and
loyalty of the South and in this very
interview to which l refer, speaking of
his own nomination, he says s'NIany
lifelong Democrats in the South had
given the strongest assurances that
could deliver them from the evils of a
solid South"
The unanimity of the Southern peo-
pie in accepting the nomination of
Gen. IIoncocl> would seem to prove
conclusively that these "many lifelong
Democrats in the South'' are now
among the supporters of Gen. Grant,
and came out for Hancock.
Gen. Grant says Gen. Hancock is
crazy to be President. The ambition to
be President is one which is worthy of
any man in this country, however
great his reputation and abilities. To
charge it upon Gen. Hancock as IL fault
comes with exceedingly bad grace from
one who served in that capacity as
long as Gen. Washington, and who de-
based himself so far as to go down into
the arena and struggle for third term,
like any other political gladiator against
the best sentiment of the country.
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