Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-07-23

over, although some of the Confederate
forces still continued in the field. On
the 14th of April Johnston made over
lures of surrender to Sherman, and Cobb
Welded to Macon on the 21st of the same
month, while Taylor surrendered all
Confederate forces east of the Mississippi
on May the 4th. The struggle of four
years was over, the Union saved, and
from the contest there came as its chief
actor and most successful General, Ulys-
ses Simpson Grant.
AS military man the world will esti-
mate General Grant according to the
work he had to do, and the manner in
which he did it, and the success which
crowned his work. He has been much
criticised by military men, but it is the
non-professionals who will say what his
rank among military leaders shall be,
and they will Judge him by what he has
accomplished, and not by how he accom-
plished it. He was successful, and that,
after all, is the great criterion.
In political matters General Grant was
far more unfortunate than in military
matters, and at no time in American his
tory was there ever seen so much corrup-
ton among public officials as during his
second term as President of the United
States. Looked upon as the savior of his
country, in 1868 he was elected President,
for the American people thought that the
highest civil reward within their gift
would scarcely compensate for the
eminent services that had been rendered
the country He was as unfit civil
ruler as he was fit as military leader 1t
is true that he fell upon evil times. The
war was over, but discomfort and desola-
ton pervaded the South. Desolation per-
+ vaded the North, but the North was vic
torious. The Administration of President
Johnson had just closed, and that Admin
istration had seen a gigantic effort to i'm
peach the President, and although it
failed, yet it could but have a.
n l1lOSJ pCIlllClOuo uDO1 IhC OOLlIO1N
Alarm and suspicion filled the country,
: and idlest and widest rumors gained
unprecedented currency and credit. The
3 history of reconstruction in the States
that were in rebellion is the history of
3 anarchy and corruption. To bring them
back into the Union and adjust their
. Il. /
arising out of the result of the war, was
one of the most delicate and intricate
5 problems with which any nation has ever
{ had to deal. General Grant was not the
man to solve it, nor was it successfully
solved until after his policy was completely
4 abandoned. The doings of the Admins
tration in Louisiana best illustrate this
policy. Mr.. Casey, brother-in-law Of
4 General Grants, was made Collector of
+ the Port of New Orleans, and his time and
s attention were chiefly devoted to politics.
The doings of the Kellogg Government
are too well known to need recital, but
among the most outrageous things done
+ was the sending of United States soldiers
into the State House and ejecting some of
+ the members; and this not in the interest
3 of good government and liberty, but in the
: interest of the. Republicans and carpet
S baggers. From General Grants connec-
ton with the whisky Ring his reputa
B ton must suffer. Among the things that
s he did that must be commended by all,
4 was his veto of the Initiation Bill. The
service he did the country in that case
\ was one of the most signal and prais
s worthy of his two Administrations.
General Grants political career and his
1 fitness for the high civil Office to which
! he was elevated by the people
cannot be better summed up than
in the words OF an eminent Eng
s lish political writer, Mr.. E. d. J. Wilson:
General Grant was an able and FORUM
& ate soldier. Political training he had none
4 (as he has confessed in a recent message to
j Congress) when he was called to the highest
Office in the Republic. He had good intentions
and no conscious sympathy with corruption.
But there his merits ended. Incapable of
u eSIlUldUlIS pOllIlCdl CdpdCltN, luUOl6rdIlb VI
ScrupulouS, temperate, and critical minds,
the President insisted upon soldierly
dicipline among the rank and file
of the Republican party; and if
they obeyed their orders and stood
+ firmly by their colors he was
I not too careful to inquire into
q their slight departures from the moral code.
a A good Republican had claim to reward i'll
the shape of office, just as a loyal soldier
4 had to pay and pension; and the party chief
was under the same obligation to sustain his
followers against carping complaints as a
general in war time. This was, in brief,
President Grants political morality"
In 1880, General Grant became can
didate for third term, and on the first
ballot received 304 votes out of 755, while
Garfield, who received the nomination,
did not receive a single vote ON the first
and second ballot. General Grants
strength in the Convention remained
constant, the lowest number of votes he
received being 302 on the twenty-ffth
ballot, and the highest number was on
the thirty fifth ballot, when he received
313. On the thirty-sixth and last ballot
he received 307 votes, and Garfield 800. /
But the sentiment of the country was
against General Grant, as his candidacy
was departure from the custom estab-
lished by Washington and adhered to by
ali his successors. And this was as it /
should be.
In financial matters General Grant has
never been fortunate, but the most un-
fortunate and disastrous financial connec-
tion he ever formed was with Grant and
Ward. General Grants name and fame
were used by that concern TO swindle