The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-02-03

! 1t is fair to presume that the Tufts President
is entirely ignorant about the matters whereof
h dlscourses so volubly: that he has accepted
the ISLANDERS of virulent campaign as actual
verities; that he has nurtured the evil reports
that have reached him in his cloister, until
they have absolutely ncapacitated him from
exercising the functions of q rational judgment
and that his whole nature has become 50 per-
verted and demoralized that the poison of cal
umny exudes from every fibre of his being, un-
til straight jacket is a much more suitable
garb for his condition than a collegiate's gown.
| If he had ever seen the ex-Presdent, aud all
the more il he had ever known him, he would
have discovered that the adjectves he applies
to him are as absurdly inappropriate as were
| ever used by tongue or pen. So far from being
| Coarse, Gen. Grant is remarkable for his deli
| clcy and gentle bearing. There is a native re-
| finement about him which the associations Of
| the camp have wholly failed to impair. Nclword
of profanity ever passes his lips. He is notice
| ably crcumspect in his behavior, serene in
temper, moderate Of speech and charitable in
| his estimate of others. There are no conceiv-
able circumstances under which he could be
tempted to violate propriety so grossly as to
terms employed by the President of Tufts Col
Ieg5. Once when . Congressional orator
hurled angry philippe at him, he was asked
if ne had read tha speech. 81 have" said he,
''yvae- y,tI u It," And what did you think
of it?' was the next question. "Well, l made
up my mind 1 would much rather be the sub
iect than the author OF such a speech as that"
And that was all the criticism he had to offer
l1on it. Ths remark certainly was pungent
and forcible, but not an expression Of bitter
ness escaped him, although in that particular
instance the provocation was great.
Selfish, forsooth Those who have witnessed
the magnanity of the great soldier as displayed
so uniformly and often so strikingly towards
his comrades in the field and his associates in
civic affairs, his generous consideration, his
wonderful forbearanee, will be amazed to find
50 false an accusation aimed at him from the
reeesses of Tufts College. He never thought of
himself in war or in peace. The welfare of his
country was his supreme concern. When Hal
leck deposed him under misapprehension
that did him cruel injustice, he made no COM
paint, but waited with manly patience till the
error was rectifed. He never sought promo
ton. Every advance he made in rank was a trib-
ute to his merit. There was not single exhibit
ton of the spirit o. self seeking throughout the
whole course of his magnificent military ca
reer. When he became President he never
waited an instant to determine how his ap-
proval of or dissent from a Congressional
measure, might affect his political fortunes.
His vetoes OF the Soldiers bounty bill, and of
the Imitation act were signed III defiance of
representations that they would detract from
his personal popularity 1t turned out, TO be
sure, as it generally does when public servant
is true to his convictions, that advantage
rather than injury resulted to him, as well as
to his country from the course he pursued; but
he is none the less entitled to the need of
praise for having left out OF his calculation all
consideration for his own interests. And
it is a fact which no American citizen is ex-
cusable for being ignorant OF that there never
has been an Executive who manifested less
concern about furthering his individual ambi-
tion than this quiet unassuming statesman,
whom the people persist in honoring and loving
in spite of the misre presentations and cal
umnies which find ready acceptance in the
study of an occasional recluse who mistakes
indigestion for virtue and spleen for purity.
As for the imputation of brutality, there is no
sense in it at ALL unless it means that this man
made war in earnest for the sake of conquering
peace that should be lasting Ii there is or
ever was a student in Tufts College, who is
more free than Gen. Grant from any Of the bad
qualities that tend to brutalize human nature,
he must have taken extraordinary pains to
avoid the example of his preceptor. The dia-
tribe of that functionary which we are discuss
Jag deserves the epithet of brutal. 1t is one of
those rash and random disquisitions that is
mendacious OF statement, hbeous in tenor,
shocking to every cultivated taste and injuri-
GUS to public morals. It's author should by all
means abandon the field of polemics and de-
vote his leisure hours to a more careful study
of the Sermon on the Mount and the iniunc-
ton of st. Paul to the Ephesians, "let all bit
terness and wrath and anger and clamor and
evil speaking be put away from you, with all
MALICE
The country sorely needs reform; there is
no doubt whatever about that. But it is no
in the domain of politics that the besom of
publication can be most usefuly set to work,
for in the conduct of our national affairs we
have been making improvement steadily and
rapidly for a score Of years. The machinery of
government is cumbersome and unwiedly.
We seldom do anything expeditiously or to the
best advantage. There is great deal of cir
cumlocution in the management OF the OuS-
ness of the departments. We don't dispatch
matters as readily as our merchants conduct
their operations We have too many laws and
there are few of them that SO free from am
biguity as not to be susceptible of opposite in
terpretations. 1t would be a blessing il we
could simplify our statutes reduce their num-
Der and amend their imperfections. But as to
the administration of them, there is not much
ground for fault6nding. 1t is not very often
that derelctions are brought to light and in
these days nothing that happens is hidden. II
there were any instances of malfeasance we
should not only be sure to have universal bla-
zon of them, but their enormity would in all
probability be grossly exaggerated.
Judging by this extraordinary effusion OF
the President of Tufts College, it is among our
seminaries Of learning that the missionaries of
reform can be most usefully employed. If the
sources of our literature are impure the waters
that flow from them must inevitably be un-
wholesome. What kind of graduates can be
expected to go forth from that Institution, un-
less the students should be sufficiently en-
dued with grace and wisdom to reject alto
gether the counses of their chief? We should
let loose upon the world every year parcel of
narrow minded, dismal visaged, peevish, fret
full, snaring, growling, canting, whining ami
mails who would be pests in every social circle
they beclouded with their presence. They would