The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-09-21
A CASE OF

The affection of the "big head" is a com.
mon one among nabobs, who, together with
their unaccustomeI wealth, have acquired Q
very exaggerated idea of their own import
ance. And it is not only among the vulgar
rich that displays of this kind are to be OBJ.
served. The world of politics is not without
its manifestations of similar nature, although
from necessity instances of political big-head
are much more rare than are examples OF
mere money big-head. But a we'll developed
offered in recent performances of Gen. Grant.
However successful Gen. Grant may have
been as a soldier, the verdict of the American
people declaring him a failure as a states
man was too direct, too plainly pronounced,
TO admit of its meaning or intent being ques-
toned. A discriminating recollection of his
W conspicuous failure in that field would
caution Gen. Grant to avoid anything like an
unnecessary intrusion upon it for the future,
but prudence of this kind seems foreign to his
nature. If otherwise he would not have
thrust himself forward for a third term in a
candidacy accompanied and aided by all the
scenic effects of a stage performance; a candi-
dacy destined to lead him to the turning point
of his fortunes and preclpitate upon him the
first great defeat of his life. And how dlsas-
trous have been the effects Of that defeat to
the prestige of Gen. Grant and to the moral
force with which his great name was once in
vested. How different are the sentiments we
entertained only a very short time ago
towards the Silent Man and those with which
we now regard the rather forward and self
vice is continually challenging our attention.
Then, his purposes were considered almost
fateful IN the certainty of their accomplish
ments. his utterances were regarded as ora
culac. Now his opinions are received with a
~contemptuous shrug by his enemies and with
undisguised annoyance by his friends who
cannot conceal their vexatlon at the course
taken by their idol in voluntarily descending
from his pedestal and lowering himself to the
level of the ordinary stump speaker of the
campaign. But the offender is not to blame.
He is suffering from a rather aggravated at
tack of big-head, and his recent course is
merely a manifestation of the symptoms to
be expected in such a malady. After a mill
tary career made up of unbroken successes he
was promoted to the presidency, rot because
of his fitness tor the position but because one
party fastened to avail itself of his strength
as a candidate lest the other should tender
a nomination. But the presidency up to
that time had generally been conferred as the
reward for distinction achieved in the higher
walks of craftsmanship. What more natural
than for a victim of the blg-head to imagine
that the office Of president was a school from
which its incumbent was to graduate a states
man by the mere virtue of the experience
through which he had passed. Something of
this kind IS evidently his idea. His lamenta-
BILE discrepancies were all too evident to the
public, but to him they have ever remained
invisible. The democratic tidal wave of
IA came as a direct vote of censure IDOL
his policy, but, nothing abasbed, he after
wards makes race for a third term, and now
forward advising" citizens of the
United States which of the two great parties
to vote for in the coming election. To others
may be suggested the query what he knows
about the principles of the democratic party,
or how safe a guide he would be- supposing he
did know something about the matter; but
with himself it is all a matter of sober ear
n~estness, and he gives his I" advice - as grave
ly as if delivering a sermon. 1t is the Big
Head, a we'll developed case at that. But
nature is so constituted that it is only
for us to become familiar with our
idols for those idols to lose the spell they for
merly exercised over us. There is a vastdeal
of philosophy in the sarcastic witticism that
L" a man cannot be a hero to his ralet de CHAM
bre," as we'll as in the homely old saying,
I" familiarity breeds contempt" Those PROV
erbs are merely different methods of express
ing the same truth, a truth which applies as
we'll to General Grant as it does to the en-
plOyer of the rdlet de chdmbre. The more
speeches Grant makes, the more advice he
gives, the further he will fall from the high
in which he was held by his coun-
trymen at the close of the war.
THE NEWS FROM MAINE.