Evening star., 1885-07-25
His Desire when President - Befriend
Hts PEOPLE.

HIS Desire when President - Befftem0
Hts People.
The New York Times correspondent called
upon Gen. Lafayette McLaws, at Savannah,
Ga, recently. Gen. McLaws was one Of the
officers who resigned his commission In the
federal army for the purpose Of following his
state into secession. During the four years
war which followed he held the rank of major
general and participated in some of the hardest
fighting. In his early days he had been on
terms OF the closest intimacy with the young
subaltern who was destined afterward to play
so important part in the history Of his coun-
try. When the war was over McLaws retired
to o farm in bingham county, refusing all
6e ~sted N not until
the White House. He had no Sooner sent in
his card to Gen. Grant than he heard the Presi-
cent, VINO was at the time busily engaged, call
out to his secretary:
Don't let McLaws go; want to see him."
"AlI at once" said Gen. McLaws, 81 saw q
waiting when they found there was one among
tnem whom the President was anxious to see.
M. Meeting me on the doorstep Gen. Grant held
out ms hand and said: Il am delighted to see
my Old army comrade. want you 10 dine with
me, when we can dream over the past
ALUer dinner he led me into his private room
and directed the conversation so as to find out
my personal condition. He listened to my mar
rative with interest, and turning to me he said:
old cn,,i Hnaws. would you take office under an
-. Taken aback by the question, at length re-
paied that was ready to perform all the duties
not come to see me BEFORE rejoined the Presi-
cent; 4 would have taken pleasure in confer
ring once upon you. My second term Of the
not been an hour Of that time in which I was
not only willing but anxious to confer the
eVer pe upon r,egphtabie TIA citizens In this how
dices of the northern politicians were at work.
put tne great hlndrance was in the southern
treated as aaS aTaSs
me an opportunity to befriend them. For a
s.outhern man to take office under me brought
mn, nim under suspicion at home "In fact" CON
tinued Gen. McLaws, "Cien. Grant spoke with
the air of a man who felt chagrined and disap-
pointed at the manner in which the politicians
own purposes. Finally, Gen. Grant said to me:
20 nome and have nothing to do with the
politicians, and leave your case with me, and
than reached home when 1 was nominated and
cohnrmed for the Savannah post office, which
position held until a few months ago.
knowledge" said Gen. McLaws, ''of the interest
taken by Gen. Grant In the south. A story told
n, me ny the ne, Hon: William Dougherty,, whose
memory all ie0rgians revere, proves beyond
question that there would have Been no sec
tlonal bitterness if Grant had been listened to.
When the policy of reconstruction had been re-
solved upon by Congress Gen. Pope was ap-
pointed to take control of the third military
district, OF which Georgia was part. On as
H..
an order announcing that fact, the tenor OF
winch gave, great satisfaction to the people.
Judge Dougherty was SO we'll pleased with it
mat he felt called upon to make visit to Gen.
rope and to express in person his sense of graft
ncation: This done he arose to leave when Gen.
Pope said:
"'Judge, have known YOU by reputation a
long time; 1t was my purpose to have invited
you 70 advise me on matters Of state, but now
that you are here we might we'll get to the
point My appointment to the command Of this
district was made by GeneralGrant for special
purpose. am from Illinois, state well settled
with the children of southern people. This fact,
in Gen. Grants opinion, would make me feel
more kfnship here than would some officer
without these associations. Gen. Grant further
best citizens, naming Gov. Jenkins, Chief JUS
tice Warner, and yourself. The constitutional
convention required under the reconstruction
act. II held under these auspices, will perform
Its work quickly and intelligently. He under
stands the difficulty you will encounter in deal
ing with the negro question, but to palliate it
he suggests that you adopt either property or
an educational qualification, such as is to be
found In SOME northern states. Cen. Grant
ton act are extreme, and does not expect
that convention of men like your
self would or could come up to them;
but what he asks of you is this: send your best
men to the convention; your refined reputable
citizens; let them adopt constitution as far ad-
vanced as the prejudiees of the people will ad-
init; let them give evidence of an honest pur-
pose to reach an agreement with the north; and
Gen. Grant promises, In return, to use the whole
weight Of his influence to have Georgia read
mitted into the Union under that constitution
What he desires, above all things, is Il supreme
enort on the part OF your people to bring about
states. He feels that Georgia is the pivotal
stale; that If Georgia has the courage-he knows
that she has the statesmanship-to make a
be followed by the entire south. have offered
the presidency OF the convention to Gov Jenk-
ins, but he has declined it on constitutional
grounds. l have offered it to Chief Justice
Warner, but he declines it because the fight is
too sharp and the prejudices too deep to be met,
Now, Judge Dougherty, will you accept the
"Judge Dougherty declined the honor, stating
that was too great task to try TO overcome the
prejadices OF a whole people; Contrary coun-
people into train Of disaster, which it has
taken nearly twenty years to overcome.
IAN officer who once served on Gen. Grants
staff ouce told me an incident which illustra ted
the quick decision of Gen. Grant 1t was lust
after the battle of Shiloh. The officers were
a. McClernand rode up to Gen. Grant, and
handing him an autograph letter from Pres-
dent Lincoln directing Grant to turn his COM
read the letter carefully, and them tearing it up
into small pieces and throwing them into the
AZ decline to receive or obey orders which do
not come through the proper channel
"Pausing moment, he turned to General
McCicrnand and said:
"'IOur division is under orders to leave this
department in the morning, and l advise you
to go with it, McClernand went, and that was
the last that was ever heard of the order, for the
elimination of events showed that Grant was
right, and no President dared to remove him
for change of commanders just after the bat
tie of Shiloh would have led to very different
results for the federals.
'The dogged determination to do or die,
which was 50 characteristic Of Grant, was what
gave backbone to the federal army. He would
never acknowledge defeat. Gen. Zachary Tay-
lor once told me an anecdOte of Grant, which
occurred during the Mexican war. Lieut.
Grant was In charge of o party of men
Of boats laden with troops from Aransas
Bay to Corpus Christi by removing the
oyster beds and other distractions. Failing
either by words or signs TO make those under
him understand him, Lieut.. Grant jumped into
the water, which was up to his waist, and
began making fun of him for his zeal, when
Gen Taylor came upon the scene, and rebuked
it by saying:
an would stand stand ready to set personal example
MIR. BLAINE'S ELOQUENT TRIBUTE.
His Estimate Of Grants Character-An
Extract from His Recent Book.
From Twenty Years Of Congress-"
Gen. Grants active service in the field closed
with the surrender of Lee. All the commanders
of the confederate forces followed the example
of their general-in-chief, and before the end of
the month the armed enemies ofthe Union had
ceased to exist. The fame of Gen. Grant was
1ulI he had entered the service with no facti-
tious advantage, and his promotion, from the
first to the last, had been based ON merit alone
without the aid of political influence, without