Morris tribune., 1885-09-16
AN ANECDOTE OF GRANT.
The Chilling Reception He Gave Dele
CATION from South Carolina.

The assertion that Gen. Grant has
never been profane man, as many of
our generals were, has recently been
illustrated by anecdotes showing that
he refrained from swearing under very
trying circumstances. I never heard
the general swear, says writer in the
Washington Capital, but certainly saw
him mad enough to make things blue if
he had broken out.
In the spring of 1874 delegation
came here from a taxpayers convention
in South Carolina to expostulate against
the intolerable extravaganza, folly, and
fraud of their state government. Frank
Moses, ''the young native governor" :"
as he had been dubbed by those who
thought carpet-baggers the sum of all
evil. who had shown them that the fin
ger of Moses was heavier than the loins
of Scott, was nearing the close of his
term. To prepare for desperate eff
fort to redeem the state, a nOn-partissn
taxpayers convention was called, and
the result was San appeal to Caesar"
A delegation of twenty of the most
distinguished men of the state came
here; Gen. James Chestnut, who died
recently, was at its head. went with
them, by appointment, to the white
house to present the bill of grievances.
AS we were passing up the stairway to
the presidents reception room Senator
John J. Patterson, the carpet-bag rep
resentative of the Palmetto state, passed
down. He had grin on his somewhat
sardonic face, which was indicative of
disaster to those he grinned at.
Gen. M. c. Butler, now senator, cer-
tainly construed it as danger signal.
for he said to me: 'Now, I wonder
what Patterson has been up TOP" The
delegation was not long in finding out.
When they filed into the reception-room
Grant was standing to receive them,
one clinched hand resting on the table,
an angry flush upon his face, and an
expression of the eye filter for the bat
tle-feld than for the reception-room.
He went through the ceremony of intro
duction coldly, and then said: "What
can l do for you?" w. d. Porter,
Charleston's most famous lawyer, pre-
sentcd the resolutions of the conven-
tion and the protest of the taxpayers of
South Carolina against the continued
existence of the state government. Mr..
Lathers unrolled three long proof-sheets
of an individual protest, which he would
have proceeded to read had not Grant,
with an impatient gesture, interrupted
him. "Gentlemen, said he, 'sthat all
you have to say concerning the present
government of South Carolina is true ]
do not admit or deny. The administra-
ton of affairs in that state is in the
hands of those who were elected by
large majority of the people to repre-
sent them; you must find your remedy
at the ballot-box; but even if ] had it in
my power to prevent the evils of which
you complain [ do not think lam bound
to do So Why should help those who
shamefully abuse mep The convention
which sent you here even dragged the
name of my wife into it's debates and
made her the subject of false and scan
dalous accusations
The delegation was dumbfounded.
The members had not expected any
very warm sympathy, but this turning
of the tables was too sudden to find
them prepared. Those who had noticed
the exit of '.Honest John Patterson"
were, however, not so much surprised
at Grants familiarity with the proceed
ings of the convention. The sly poll
tician had primed Grant for the recep-
ton, and on the table close to Grants
hands was newspaper clipping-the
report of Gen. Mart Gary's speech in
the convention.
Gen. Gary, as chairman of the COM
mittee on federal relations, had opposed
an appeal to Grant. He denounced him