Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-09-20


heads of the party, the men eminent In
leadership, the older men who were in au-
thority before was known, the younger
men who have since won from the party its
highest consideration, all lowered
their colors and followed mine.
Where should be in regard to them? I
would have to antagonize their honorable
ambition. At its best the nomination would
only come with strife. Men who were and
are friends, but who have as much right TO
the great honors of the country as could
possibly claim, would be my enemies. 1t
would be the bitterest campaign in history;
would leave heartburnings that years could
not compose. l can only conceive one con-
tingencv in which my friends would con-
slider me as 1 am considered by the editor of
that journal, and that is some widespread
revolution, or social upheaval, when the
strong hand and military prestige would be
required to save society. l should take that
summons. But it will never come in my
time, not in the United States, whatever
we NAV see in England and Germany"
N'Or France" asked. NO." he added,
f'France has been through it. History never
repeats Reign Of Terror.
GRANT DID NOT WANT THREE TERMS
This was to me most memorable CONVEX
Eation-noted at the time-the impression
Iv in the vein L have written. / was his
constant, almost daily companion from this
time until year later, when we returned
from japan. I never heard him again men
ton the subject. Nor had 1 any reason to
believe it was a matter of correspondence
with the public men who were plotting"
rs the political cant of the time went.
Grant, to whom nv relation was was that
Of a secretary, invited such access to his
correspondence, in which 1 was always
only too glad TO aid him, that would have
known i. So far as the trip around the
world being a political programme toward q
third term. when he was in Spain he had
abandoned all idea of it. This know. A
letter from General Sherman received few
days later than our Malaga visit, at Pau,
saving that President Hayes was anxious to
have him go to China on the Richmond, de-
termined the matter, and in December we
sailed from Marseilles.
1 have introduced this conversation as q
perlude TO what seems necessary relative to
the statement herein quoted from General
Badeau. In the work entitled ''Grant in
Peace, most interesting volume, valu-
able as in elucidation of the character of
Grant, General Badeau says:
BADEAU'S ESTIMATE OF YOUNG.
After a st ~ of few days in Chicago re-
turned to the East, and shortly afterward
Mr. Russell Young, who mad accompanied
Grant during the greater part of his Euro
pean and Asiatic tour, went out to visit him
at Galena. Young was opposed to Grants
third nomination, principally, perhaps be-
cause he thought he could not be elected.
He had long and repeated conversations
with the General, in which he represented
the views of those OF Grants friends who
were averse to his standing again. Mrs.
Grant suspected Ioung's purpose and tried
TO thwart it, and the discussions between
Young and the General We're usually carried
on in her absence This was only few
days before the convention was to meet at
Chicago. General Grant had even yet made
no outspoEen declaration of his intention,
though OF course, having allowed his friends
TO use his name without objection, he could
not in honor withdraw it without their con-
sent
But Young induced him to write a letter,
addressed to Senator Cameron, authorizing
his friends, if they saw fit, to withdraw his
name from the convention. This was most |
extraordinary influence for any one man to
exert with Grant, and 1 have known few
parallel instances. 0OI ng. however doubt
less appeared as the spokesman of others |
whose opinions backed his own, though his |
fidelity and friendship gave weight to what |
he said. But the letter was sent, in opposi- |
zion to the views OF Mrs. Grant and without \
her knowledge, and was calculated, of |
course. TO GarMpen the enthusiasm and be- |
wilder the couu>els of Grants most devoted |
adherents. l can conceive of no step more |
Onllke General Grants ordinary character |
or behavior than this halfway reversal of |
what lie had previously countenanced.
COULD NOT STEP OUT THEN.
But It was too late to recede; his friends
had committed both him and themselves,
and they were not influenced by this phase
OF iTTesolUtion which had passed over him.
They made no use of the letter, nor did |
Young, and those to whom it was submitted |
have never made it public. Grant never |
censured then for the fidelity that disre-
EarCeQ his suggestion of withdrawal, and all |
the remainder of his life he remained more |
than grateful to the men who supported him |
SO faithfully at Chicago, just as he never |
forgave any whom he thought had betrayed
him at that time.
lie never aterward spoke except with Bit
fCIness Of his lifetime friend, Washburne,
whom he believed, know not how rightly,
had played him false; and he remembered
the violence OF some who supported Mr..
Blaine with an acrimony that was not con-
hned to them, but was extended to his
great rival Even former followers, who
Gid not support him il the concluding pol
itical effort OF his life, never held the same
place in his personal regard. His failure en-
bitterec his feeling to all who contributed
70 1t. This remark has no reference to
Young Grant followed Youngs counsel |
and in the end, perhaps, wished Others had
cone so too 1t was at his urgent advice
that J oung was afterward appointed Minis
ter to China by President Arthur.
BADEAU OvERESTIMATED HIS INFLUENCE
There is an essential correctness in this
narrative, with one or two reservations.
General Badeau does General Grant an in
justice in supposiEg that 1 exerted an Sex
trsordinary influence" over him, or that to
me must be attributed Grants 'half way
reversal of what he had previously counten-
anced." As have said, when 1 returned
from Japan in 1879, 1 had never heard an
OF opinion from him as to the
Z h1rd tpr HplriDrr in mind fha |
able conversation in Malaga to which / have
referred, knowing the temper of his mind,
aud that he was infexible in opinions, es-
pecially when, as in this instance, he had
carefully considered the matter, gave it
no thought. When Mr.. Gordon Bennett,
on my meeting him in New York, said with
some feeling that nothing could prevent
Grants nomination and election quoted
the Malaga conversation. Returning
10 London, where l remained until late in
the spring Of 1850, read the American
newspapers-the third-term discussion tax
ing yolume-with the Malaga conversation
In mind, and with secondary interest. If it |
ever became serious, l was sure that Grant |
would, as at Malaga, end the business in
quiet, decisive way.
This opinion was so fixed in nv mind, so
firm because of my knowledge of Grants
and the wisdom of what he had |
said, that l remember my surprise when
read in a private letter, written perhaps
in March, 1880, from friend who was near
him, this sentence: ''It now looks as if the |
General would be nominated on the first |
ballot" l should have deemed the state
ment increduIOus but for the author It |
showed that the third term movement had
life, and that II had the negative, if not the
positive, support Of Grant. Nothing could
have surprised me more.