Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-02-28
HILL ON GRANT.

HILL ON GRANT.
At a period quite recent, wher
the world was called upon to believ'
in the existence of a Grant boom il
the South, Senator Hill of Georgis
was one of the Southern politician,
who was represented to be in favor
of the third term and the man or
horseback. Though the illusion O
the Southern Grant boom is now
completely dispelled, some extracts
from Mr.. HIPS letter on the subject
will be found instructive. We give
the extracts as we find them in the
New York World:
Senator Ben Hill has written to a
gentleman in Brattleboro, VT, who
furnished it to the Reformer, a let
ter under date of January 26, 1880:
The Senator had been asked by his
correspondent, "Do you, as some
people claim, favor Gen. Grant for
President, and has he any following
among the Southern Democrats
and in case of his nomination by
the Republicans, do you think he
could carry a single Southern
State ?' To which the Senator an
swers, 81 do not favor Gen. Grants
election to the Presidency under
any contingency that / can now
imagine. Gen. Grant has some fol-
lowing in the South, among those
who say they are Democrats, but if
he is nominated by the Republican
party he could not carry a single
Southern State. There are a few
men in the South who are still un-
friendly to the Union. Having
failed to dissolve that Union by
secession, they now hope to see a
worse result, practically accomp-
lished through the opposite extreme
of centralism and despotism. They
believe this result can be reached
more certainly and speedily through
the third election of Gen. Grant
than by any other means. An
illustration of this class is furnished
in Gen. Tombs, of my own State,
who sent congratulatory message
to Gen. Grant at Chicago ending
with the expression "Death to the
Union.n But this class are very
few, and they are all intense origi-
nal secessionists.
There are also a few men at the
South who, while not unfriendly to
the Union, have utterly despaired
of the preservation of the Union
under our constitutional system;
who believe its subversion in prin-
cipIe has already been accomplished
and its subversion in form is only a
question of time, and they believe
this inevitable result can be reached
more easily and with less shock
through Gen. Grant than through
any other man. | doubt whether
both of these classes combined num-
Der one hundred men in Georgia,
but they are men of intelligence
and they entertain with favor the
idea of electing Grant nominally
for a third term and really for life.
There is a third class in the South
who believe Gen. Grant will be
elected by the Northern people any
how; who know his partiality for
his friends, and who expect by an
nouncing themselves as his fore
most friends in the South to COM
mand the offices which will then be
in his gift. These last are more
numerous and more noisy and less
intelligent than the first two classes
above, but they are too
weak in every sense to authorize
any chance of giving the electoral
vote of any Southern Stale to Gen.
Grant.
Nearly all the Southern people
have a kindly feeling for General
Grant. He is stronger at the South
than any other Republican. Our
people viii never forget his manly
and magnanimous conduct toward
them at the close of the war. If he
had manifested the same magnan-
unity In his administration of the
he would have become
an idol with the Southern people.
But his seeming disregard or ignor-
ance of constitution obligations; his
use of the army to sustain the car
pet-bag plunderers; his encourage
ment of the Returning Board frauds
both in State and Federal elections,
and his unexpected subserviency to
bad men who filled the world with
scandals during his administration,
have fully convinced our people
that Gen. Grant was not equal to
his grand opportunities and ought |
not again to be trusted with power,
however personally honest and kind |
he may be,
In conclusion Senator Hill re-
marks: "We Of the South present |
no names for Presidential honors.
believe the very best thing which |
could happen would be an admins
tration of the Government by q |!
wise Southern statesman, for it |
would be the pride and pleasure of
such statesman to so administer |
Our national affairs as to Danish |
from the minds of the Northern |
people the last vestige of. distrust |
and apprehension of Southern ma
IiOnal fidelity growing out of past
sectional controversies. But we are |
aware that the sectional temper of |
the North is not in condition to
reason calmly on this subject and |
would not brook such suggestion. |
40 thoughtful man in the |
South is even expecting such hon |
0rs. All that we expect or ask is
that Northern statesmen shall be |
presented who will do equal justice |
TO all sections, and whose lives show |
that they do not regard the abuse
and caIumny of any section as the
test of loyalty to the Union. There
are many such statesmen in every
State of the North, In both parties
but not one such is even spoken of
for the Republican nomination.
can name men in New England
even in MISUNDERSTANDING would |
the Government in a
spirit worthy of Washington, and
either one of whom the Southern
people would rejoice in aiding to |
elevate to that high position.
After all, such men must ulti-
mately be chosen, or the people will |
lose the right to choose at all. The |
people must end the triumphs of
fraud, or fraud will end the hber-
ties of the people and that, too, at |
no distant day."
An affaBIe Manner.