Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-07-06

TUESDAY EVENING. JULY 9, 1880.
HrSnt'S Speech.

TUESDAY EVENING. JULY g, 1880.
Grants Speech.
Restless General Grant is again on his
travels and continues his practice of
delivering little speeches, which are not
bad when you discover their meaning.
The general is troubled, as many of
very good sense are, with an inability to
clothe his ideas in clear language. lie
knows what he wants to say, but does
not know how to say it. Oratory is not
his forte, and he should avoid it when he
does not have a Russell Young by his
side to interpret his thought. Grant
has never been accused of a lack OF good
sense. The Philadelphia Times truly
says that " nobody ever suggested that
he was fool" but it is not justified in
its conclusion, therefore, that it was en-
tirely safe to assume that the telegraph
reported him incorrectly as saying at
Kansas City: L" am not aware of hav
ing committed an act in my life or saying
a word which has injured my own stand
ing one way or the other, and certainly
not in a political way" Probably he
said just those words; the telegraph was
more adcurate but less discriminating
than the Kansas City Times, which pub
lished what he meant to say rather than
what he did say, as follows: l am not
aware of having committed one act or
said one word intended to aid my stand
ing in the political world" The language
of the two reports is so different that II
is not possible to charge the variation
to the inaccuracy of the telegraph.
What the telegraph reported was, of
course, very great nonsense, but it doe,
not necessarily follow that Grant is foo
if he said ii thus. He is a dist inguished
illustration of the fact that a man may
talk apparent nonsense while thinking
very good sense. He has done it often
before. We are all so used to it that the
Philadelphia Times, which severely char
ac:erizes to-day the speech telegraphed
from Kansas City, on Sunday, when it
published lit, described it edilorially as
notable speech, g full of meat and valu
able as giving closer insight into his
character than he commonly vOuchsa't>
to the PEOPLE who have been studying
him for so many years, and still find him
an insoluble problem" This might he
suspected to be intended ironically but
for the further declaration that g it by
Il hat IN
which his Kansas City speech closed that
General Grant has commended h:n>e t
to the American people"
The Times read between the lines and
fo.lned Grants meaning in the jar
gon of his words; or more probably, in
view of the difficult task, it simply took
him on faith, and knowing that he was
generally a sensible fellow, gave him
credit for talking sense, without under
standing what he said. Still, it must be
admitted that it was exceedingly bold to
say that it was through such utterances
that Grant has gained the esteem of the
people. If he had no more than his
speeches to found his fame upon, liz
would be in great danger of being held tt
he lunatic for who would bother tt
get the sense out of his bad English if III
had not been good general and an ex
president? His distinguished position Sc
cures his being weighed at his real worth
His virtues and his weaknesses art
both discovered. His generalshp ha
been proven by success, which i
the only criterion, whether it b'
Il true or false one. His stateSmanshil
has not had the same voucher and doe
not command the same confidence. Blu
now that he is out of the army and ou
of the state, and, as private citizen
has ceased to threaten us with real
: imaginary dangers, he is in fair plac
to be Judged dispassionately by his fellow
citizens and to receive from them tn
full NEED of appreciation that he de
serves.
He is not an enigma. He is a man o
strong mind, strong will and good judg
ment when it is unprejudiced. He is ais
a man of good intentions and honest i'm
pulses. He no doubt meant to d
right as president and would have
done so had he been a fair judg
of the character of men and been fire
from the influence of bad ones whom h
clung to out of the loyalty of friendship
and with the boldness and obstinac,
which are the ruling traits that hav
brought him his fame. He would hav
made despot. He would not have beel
restrained from embracing the role by an,
veneration for democracy; nor woul'
he have aspired to it, probably, with an,
other aspiration than to govern wisel!
and we'll, as he was convinced he could
He would have been full of the good in
tentions that hell is paved with, and tn
hell on earth that he woult
have created in his imperial rul
would have come without his know
ing how and without his profiting b.
it, through the parasites that fastened
upon him. Grant as citizen is entitled t.
our esteem, as soldier to our applause
but:as statesman and ruler he has fairl.
proved his inaptitude, and that the yer.
virtues and strength of his characte
especially unfit him for that place in Ou
democracy. We trust that he will find ;
safe and pleasant berth in the presidenc.