The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1885-01-16
Mrs, Grant Declines Vanderbilt's Offer.
THE GENERALS RELICS.

in which the great railroad millionaire
makes proffer of fortune to the ex-
Presidents wife. and in which Mrs,
Grant makes fiat final denial of the
gift, was the subject of general com
ment in all parts of the city. The gen
eral verdict was that the letters reflect
ed credit alike on the man who made
the offer and upon the lady who de-
cined it, and that that the outcome OF
the correspondence has been to cut off
great deal of gossip, and possibly I'M
pleasant talk. which might have been
started had such sum of money been
taken from Mr.. Vanderbilt by the
Grant family. A curious feature of
the case in the mind of the public was
that the final offer of Mr.. Vanderbilt
to make trust fund of the proceeds of
the property sale for the benefit of Mrs.
Grant, after being accepted on her be-
half by the General, should then have
been declined in the short, decisive let.
ter of Mrs. Grant. To those who know
the Grant family well and the peculiar
tiles of the several members OF it. there
was no great surprise felt at this Gu
rious feature of the correspondence. 1t
has frequently been the habit OF Gen.
Grant to allow a matter to grow and
seemingly give it his approval, and
then when the decisive moment came
to put his foot down and make a final
disposition of the whole matter in such
a way as showed that he was watching
the whole case closely and had taken
the shortest way to make his view of
the matter felt.
II was in this way that he allowed
the recent effort of Messrs. Field, Drex
ell and others to run on even when he
was informed of every move made,
and when the thing had gone as far as
he cared to have it, came his letter nip
ping the whole scheme in the bud He
had given no previous sign or intima-
ton that the plan was not meeting
with his entire approval, but there was
no mistaking the import OF his note.
So it was with the recent bill reported
in the Senate by Mitchell, the chairman
of the Pension Committee, which would
have given Gen. Grant a pension Of
$4,000 year. This he disposed of at
once by his letter of Dec. 5, in which
he declares that he would not accept
the pension provided in that way, even
though the bill was passed unanimous
ly by Congress, and received the ap-
proval of the President. He did not
in this note, give way to an expression
of opinion on the other proposition,
which has been suggested for the act
ion of Congress, providing for the re-
instatement of the General at the posi-
ton at the head of the army which he
left abou, sixteen years ago to enter
upon his duties as President Of the
United States. The passage of such a
bill would be entirely in the line OF
military etiquette and it is believed and
guardedly asserted by the few friends
who enjoy intimate relations with the
old warrior that he would accept such
a position, aud then as retired officer
of the United States Army feel that he
occupied position which would entl-
tie him to the pay coming with the du-
ties of retired officer.
The bringing about of such a result
would require very careful legislation
lest it should be used as precedent
which might be extended to all branch
es and grades of the army as well as
the navy service aud open the way to
no end of complications in the future.
1t is thought, though, that the problem
can be successfully solved and the mat
ter disposed of without bringing about
any hitch in the somewhat delicate ma
chinery of army codes and decisions.
There is besides strong popular feel
ing in favor of some such measure, in
stead of the rather indelicate method
of making out-and-out donations to
the object of the nations solitude.
The General himself is a very busy
man Just now and spends fair allow
ance of each day at his desk engaged
upon his literary work in connection
with army remembrances. He has
found that writing is very agreeable
way OF passing the time, and it seems
to take his mind from the occurrences
of last spring, when the Grant & Ward
bubble burst into the face of the world
and drew so much scandal about the
Grant name. 1t enables him, when he
wishes, to deny himself to all visitors,
and it was this excuse which met The
| WORLD reporter when he called to get
the Generals views of the act of gen.
erosity which Mr.. Vanderbilt has SO
nearly succeeded in accomplishing.
1t is now estimated by the author
that the first volume of his memoirs
will be ready for the publisher by the
lst of May. AS yet no house has been
selected to attend to the mechanical
part and business end of the book
though almost every Publisher in the
country has sent in request that he bt
accorded the exclusive right of putting
his imprint on the title-page.
An intimate friend of the Grant fam
lily said of the letters and the situation
II think that Mr.. Vanderbilt has don,
enough to make the old General NOR,
than ever his friend, The one thing
about which there was solicitude oil
the part of Gen. Grant was that tn,
many gifts which he had gathered "
in his tour of the world should find
suitable resting place under the care o
the Government at Washington. Their
was narrow chance of this failin.
after the collapse of the Wall stree
tirm, but this is now happily avertet
and there will be no risk now of thes
gifts, really presented to the Unite'
States through Gen. Grant, findn!
their way into private collections an,
museums here and there over tn
country. This possibility was reall,
worrying the old General, and nov
that it has been disposed of he is in
very good frame of mind, though h,
says little of the many troubles whiol
have crowded upon him of late. O
course / could not venture to question
Mrs. Grant in regard to such matte
as that touched upon in her letter tt
Mr. Vanderbilt. That she decline
ought to be final without question anC
don't think that there was any othe
reason beyond sober second thought
| n FnlI raol;yat;on &c tba antiro ;,,,,o,