Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1885-10-30
A AND

What the Sun and Herald Has to
Say--Gen. Sherman Has the Evil
dence, But Refuses to Open His
Mouth.
NEW YORK, Oct. 22-The Sun says Of the great
Johnson matter: zone controlling fact in the
history of Andrew johnson is that he was an
opium eater. To this Gauss his most eXtraordl-
nary eccentricitieS should, doubtless be at
tributed, and among Them the scheme he pro-.
posed to Gen, Grant was perhaps most lrratlOnL,
al. His career had several startling outbreaks
that were inconsistent with a state OF perfect
sanity, and, at the SAINT time, they were pre-
scented with a great deal Of Intellectual Shrewd-
ness, and this is one OF the CHARACTERISTICS Oh an
opium eater"
The Herald has interviews with several per-
sons on the subject.
Gen. Sherman, at st. Louis, fatty refused to
open his mouth further than to say that he was
perfectly familiar with the condition OF affairs
at the tive referred to, but that he thought that
the events had best remain unwlitten that they
might sooner be buried in oblivion. To all d.
rect questions the General returned fiat refusalS
to reply. His manner Of refusing made 1t very
evident that he thought DepeW wrote the truth,
but only part OF it. "Why," said the General,
II have papers and letters, a great mass Of doc
umentary evidence, prov ny just what trans PRED
in relation to the matter, tbuC l will never allow
any one but myself TO read them, and inf0rma-
ton l possess l will never impartt to q living
soul
Col. Fred Grant said it had been asked by the
Herald why this action of Gen. Grant had not
been brought up at the impeachment trial.
He said he knew Of no reason definitely, but he
did know that the General was very much OPP
posed to The impeachment proceedings, and
that his father had told him that one great
difficulty that occupied minds of the thoughtful
at that time, was TO who was to take J0hnSOn'S
place if he were inpeached. He further said
he knew of no documents in existence that were
absolutely cOrr0bOrative OF the facts of the
conversation that Mr.. DepeW had with his father,
but he had no doubt that there we're o public
men yet living who were cotempOraneoUS with
the period referred to, and who were made ac-,
quainted, privately, with the action OF Pres
dent johnson. There is no one who c1AsS
speak. SAID the colonel, with greater confidence
and more reliability than Gen. Horace Porter.
Gen. Porter generally corroborated Depew's
story and said Secretary Seward and Gen Sher-
man praised Gen. Grant for not accepting the
mission to Mexico. A curious complication
lay IN the fact that Gen. Sherman had already
been ordered to Washington 10 take Gen.
Grant place, it being taken for granted that
Gen. Grant would go upon this nilsson,
and Sherman was already on his
way to Washington. Gen. Grant commune
Gated with him, and asked to see him as soon as
he arrived in Washington. Gen. Sherman ar
rived in the morning and went to Gen. Grants
house, where the general told him of his alarm
in regard to the state OF things at Washington,
mentioning what had transplred with The presi-
dent, and the stand he had taken in the matter.
Gen. Sherman's patriotism was at once aroused,
and with p emptiness and frankness, character
iStic of the man, said: "You did right Grant
you did exactly right" The question with the
executive was then, what excuse he could
make for having ordered Gen. Sherman
to Washington, as he had arrived there he was
ordered on q mission to Mexico, accompanied,
II | remember rightly, by Lieut.. Campbell, of
Ohio. That is about the secret of the history Of
the mat er. There is no doubt that Gen. Grant,
by his force of character and determination, and
strength he had on account OF confidence Of the
people in him, prevented occurrences at that
time which might have been very disastrous.
Gen. Sickles said he had read Mr.. Depew's
letter with great interest. at is not a surprise
to me" said he, 'for President Johnson's atti-
tude toward the South and congress was looked
on with great uneasiness by Gen. Grant and
Secretary Stanton.
The Herald publishes interviews with A. M.
Kelly and w. w. Pasko which perhaps may be
best told by its comments as follows; at will
be observed President JOhnsOn's friends for ex-
ample, Mr.. Pasko and Mr.. Kelly, do not hesitate
to impugn Gen. Grants ~veracity, that is the
substance Of their letter, however, it may be
yelled by prOfusion of words. 1t Is a sad issue
that has been raised, but being raised 1t is one
which the country will insist shall not be avoid
ed but settled now and forever. On one hand it
involves the loyalty and honor of a president OF
the United States, who has lain ten years in his
| grave; on the other hand, it involves honor and
Yeracity OF the greatest soldier Of our continent
who also held the same office, and was borne to
burial less than three months ago. We deem it
our tllial duty Of Col. Grant forthwith to give to
the public the documents, letters and personal
recollecti0ns by which as he assured Mr.. DepeW,
in a letter we printed yesterday he has verified
Gen. Grants narrative Of President IOhnson's
revolutionary designs and proposals. The in
terrteW with Col. Grant, which we print this
morning Is not altogether satisfactory