National Republican., 1885-08-10
GRANTS MEMORY,
THE SAD NEWS RECEIVED IN THE
GAY CAPITAL.
Press Comments on the Life and
Character of the Dead Hero
Many Unfriendly Criticisms
Born Of National Plque.

DOlh vi lNullOudl IIuuG.
PARIS, July 2i.--lhe news of
Gen. Grants death was printed in
two evening papers only, the Temps
aud the Soir, both Of which ap.
pear later than their contemporaries.
The journals of this morning all refer to
the event, but very few of them express
any opinion. They content themselves
with giving a short biographical sketch
of the general. Naturally his sympathy
for Germany is not overlooked by most
of the papers, aud while some of them
dismiss his death with the remark that,
as he was sworn enemy Of France, they
have no need to dwell upon his career;
others are more severe. They reproach
him with having forgotten Lafayette and
Rochambeau, and recall that If he was
well received there at the time Of his
visit it was because republican France
wished to ignore the toasts and messages
sent to the victorious German emperor
jn 1S70.'Tl. Some recall, also, the
whitening verses Of Victor Hugo in the
"Annee Terrible" and the fact that tho
poet refused to receive the general.
"If,' says the Gagnc Petit, "the cruel
event which afllicts the United States at
this moment is destined to awaken only a
few regrets on this side of the Atlantic,
the sympathies Of France for the Amer.
leans and above oil for the Democrats,
whose tendencies are more in conformity
than that of their adversaries with our
national genius, continues none the less
warm. May the statue of liberty, which
has just been sent to America, be in the
new world the symbol of the hopes of
France and also, perhaps, of its illu.
sions." The DiI.neurieme Steele, in q
bitter article, after having recalled the
services of the general to his own coun.
try, criticises the financial scandals that
clouded his civil administration, regrets
the misfortune Of his later days, and, of
course, reproaches him for his German
sympathies. The writer remarks how
difficult it is in a democracy as busy as
that of the United States for an EXPIRES.
ident to carry the weight of power after
having retired to private life. "There
is nothing more seductive in theory than
this retirement Of chief Of state into
the ranks of simple citizens; there is
nothing more delicate in reality. M
II is great sorrow for refined souls to
find in the abasement or simply
in the platitude of a vulgar exis.
tence those whom they have admired
with enthusiasm, and to see the gods of
other days descend from their pedestal,
tramping among the crowd, and be-
smearing themselves like everybody. 1t
seems that great people like the Amer
leans ought to do everything to spare
this bitter Illusion" The IntrdRsigeant.
Rochefor's paper, sees in the generals
death great good fortune for America.
because ''his Cesarean tendencies would
have been fatal 10 his country. He died
gnawed by the somber ennui caused by
the melting away of his ambitious
dreams" The Petit Capordl, Bona.
partist organ, takes the generals death
as text to show that his German sym
pathies were inspired by his scorn for
French republicans. "He judged them
80 well," it says, "that notwithstand~
Ing all the Fluctuations that were
sent to him by the men in oppo-
sition under the empire, he never
deigned to reply to them. In reality.
this rough soldier, Notwithstanding his
brutality and certain feebleness of con-
duct, was none the less one of the most
remarkable characters of our time" The
rays, another Bonapartist journal, is
very seyero On the general. 1t accuses
him of having been, in 1871, Prussian
spy, "the same as his friend Washburn.
This evenings Paris pays high tribute
to Gen. Grants military merits, but
thinks that he did not display as Presi.
dent the brilliant aptitudes that he
showed as general. 1t ascribes the be-
ginning of the decadenee of the Repub.
lican party to the evils that grew up
while the general was President, and
it thinks that the feebleness Of char
acter shown while he was at the
white house had something to do with
his own failure at the close Of his life.
The Paris passes over the attitude of
the general toward France in 1870 by
saying that it does not wish to insult the
dead. The Liberte pays a just tribute to
Gen' Grants militnry qualities, but
makes some reserves upon his civil
career. 1t regrets that he was forced at
the. close of his life to engage in fnan-
cial operations that ended disastrously,
and hopes that his misfortune will teach
the American people to place their great
men in position where they will not he
obliged to risk their reputation. Speak.
ing of the antipathy of the general for
France, the LibeHe says it cannot
forget that the French expedition to
Mexico, and the support that the em-
peror gave 10 the south, had sown tho
seeds of an antagonism that was not
Iuenched when the Franco Prussian war
broke out. The faults of the empire, il
says, certainly gained US the ill.will of
the American public, which had pre-.
viously been friendly TO us, The Temps,
the leading journal Of France, says that
Gen. Grant was one of the highest mill.
.ary figures Of this century, and although
he did not as President meet all the hopes
that his past had raised, it would be un.
just to render him responsible for the
speculative fever that reigned during his
two terms. "He was certainly not
Washington; but his fellow. citizens had
shown him something of the enthusiastic
respect that they always justly sur.
rounded the memory OF the founder of
the republic. They could never forget
that without the arm and the sword OF
Grant the Union would no longer exist,
and that without his indomitable energy
the south might perhaps have turned
into irreparable defeat the reVerses of
the beginning of the war. They have
always remembered those somber days
when the simple and cool courage, the
silent genius, and the stubbornness of
the Illinois colonel, who was never dis
couraged, brought back the victory to the
flags of the federal army. This is why
a great people is in mourning to-day for
this great warrior"
These extracts will show the tenor of
the whole French press with rec.nrA III