St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-03-12
SHERMAN AS A CANDIDATE.
He is Charged scitt a Change of front--
His DecOtiOnt to His fife.

He is Charged scith a Change of front---
His DeuotiOntO His Wife.
st. Louis (Mo.) correspondence Wheeling
CIV. Va.) heteIligeacer:
Gen. Bacon is credited with saying that old
Tecumseh has fully resolved to write no
more letters declining or accepting the nomi-
nation for the presidency, and so he will leave
the matter wholly to the will Of the conven-
ton. When shown what a Boston paper had to
say about the generals unpopularity in New
England, Bacon became a little more emphatic,
and said that the statement that
Gen. Sherman is so unpopular there that he
could not get thirteen votes in Massachusetts
was simply a lie, and when he was
shown what the esthetic paster and clipper
wrote about the general having no politics he
simply smiled and said: s'He has none of
that fellows sort. But III wager my head
against football that the fellow who wrote
that silly stuff was hiding behind a big book
in Harvard when Uncle Billy was pounding
his way through to the sea- Why, sir" con-
tinued he warmly, ''last summer wherever
Gen. Sherman went i'll New England he had
perfect ovation.''
Gen. Bacon belongs to Gen. Sherman IS
military family, and holds the most confden-
tial relations to the old hero. So your cor
respondent sought to get a letter from Gen.
Sherman's own hand through the courtesy OF
his old staff officer. But it was no go. He
said it was true that Gen. Sherman had al
ways been the most unapproachable and
most communicative and laxative of our
public men, free with the tongue and pen,
always and everywhere carrying his heart in
his hand. With nothing to conceal, he had
always spoken and written as the spirit
moved him, without hesitation or reserve.
Indeed, on this question of the presidency
the general had several times written letters
with his own hand saying he was not
now and would never be candidate
for the presidency before any convention of
the people. But it had become burden, an
intolerable burden, to him, to have to repeat
his views on this subject every day, and some
time ago the general declared with peculiar
mphasis that he would never name the sub
ject again. And he will not. When Uncle
Billy says he won't, there is an end of it.
Wherever Gen. Sherman goes he hears his
name mentioned in connection with the
presidency every day, but he absolutely and
sometimes quite gruffiy refuses to answer
any question put to him on this head. His
mail-you ought to see it. Almost bushel
country and from all sorts of persons, beg
ging and beseeching him to say the word and
he shall be president. He simply directs
them to be filed away, and never answers
one of them nor permits his old staff officer
and friend to even acknowledge their re-
ceipt.
On the presidency he has suddenly become
silent as the tomb. Those nearest to him
-b<,l lo=H el,aI-a hot dc Il
wink knowingly, as if to say: "That means
business" He used to converse freely with
everybody about the presidency, and was
kept busy half the time explaining that he
would not accept the office, until finally sick
and tired of it, and perhaps for another rea-
son, not yet made public, he bridled his gar
rulous tongue, threw away his voluble old
pen, and became mirab7e dictu! candidate
in earnest, without knowing it and without
saying SO!
That Gen. Sherman's reticence now sim
ply means that he is candidate for the
presidency requires no other proof Here
there is no manner of doubt about it at all.
His letters-and know-are not from Re-
publicans alone, nor all from the north by
any means. Persons high in the councils of
both parties, unknown to each other, urge
iAAAhi w eSSSPp lhC SICdo pii@O' iAS 10 90 POP
ular with one party as with the other, because
he never made stump speeches for either, and
never voted but once in his life, and that
time for Breckenridge, in 1860. He has the
least political record, so-called, of any
man who can be named for the great office.
But the soldiers literally bonn
bard the old fellow with earnest
letters begging him to. become candidate
and assuring him of the vote of every man
who wore the blue. His old foes at the
south daclare their confidence in his integrity
and patriotism, and are perhaps the most
earnest and demonstrative of all in their ap-
peals to him to enter the lists for the presi.
dency.
1t is said the old fellow never growls Oh
swears, audibly at least, while going through
his mail and newspaper clippings and marked
paragraphs, except when some fling at the
Catholicism of his wife is seen, or when any
reference whatever, however kindly, is made
to her religion. Not that he has any religion
OF his own, but he regards his wife's relig
| ion, as indeed it is, 'snobody's business
And thereby hangs tale. 1t is well known
indeed, here that but for that Gen. Sherman
would have long since settled all this talk
about his running for the presidency by sucl
! clear, strong ringing, unmistakable, an(