The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-04-29
THE srArEsMAssHIr OF eEASr.

Governor Achln<fgs Vi OAAos Al A@S
eulogy Of Grant on Wednesday evening.
said:
The period OF lis presidency constituted one
Of the most important periods OF our national
fame. II would have been df1culf, e1oATrsss-
ing and hazardous to any man Could aay man
have done batter, ! believe be wa tee maj
for tie place and that he ii ed the ful measure
of the trus. to which his fsl.ov-cisize7s ca-ied
him
This is timely word, for many persons
who concede General Grants military
talents are disposed to deprec1ate his
craftsmanship. Grant was president from
1860 to 1877, period Of political heat and
stress that would have severely tried
the ablest, most adroit statesman in
American politics. In the settlement OF
the Alabama claims, the Geneva award
and the treaty Of Washington, Grant had
Charles Summer. Mr.. Summers speech in
the Senate concerning the Alabama claims
was Of the most absurd and inAammatory
description, and President Grant promptly,
through Secretary Fish, disayowed 70
England all sympathy on the part of the
Mr.. Summer, however, succeeded in per-
suading our minister to England, NJ.
Motley, tina, it was his duty to obey his
instructions rather than those Of Secretary
Fish. whereupon President Grant
promptly recalled Mr.. Motley and made
an enemy for life Of Sumner.
The Geneva award and the treaty Of
Washington were the fruit Of Grants COM
mon sense policy. which made for peace,
while Summers Alabama claims speech
rested on an ultimatum SO insulting to
England that she would have had the
sympathy Of all Europe in showing Us the
door.
General Grant also vetoed the imitation
bill at time when his warmest personal
friends, like Logan and Senator Morton,
favored it; he also in 1875 vetoed "the
equalization of bounties bill" This scheme
would have cost the government s300, Co.,
coo and the money would have gone largely
to claim agents and bounty brokers. The
scheme was supported by the demagogues
Of both parties. bidding then as now for
'the soldier vote" was rushed through
congress in the closing hours of the session.
duly signed by Vice-President Wilson, and
was Immediately presented to Grant. Grant
at once refused to sign it, and at this late
hour of the session his refusal was as eff
fective to kill it as veto. The declara-
ton of Grant that he would not sign it
removed all motive for the perfection of
the bill.
The efforts of President Grant to per-
ton in San Domingo; his efforts in the di-
rection of the Nicaragua canal are appre-
ciated today and fairly described as evil
dence of his far-seeing, practical foreign
policy. His prompt and timely warning
during the electoral commission debate of
1877 that he should make it his business to
see that his successor, whether Democrat
or Republican, was peacefully inaugurated
treasured and Gained the country
at time of critical excitement. Grant
was q great soldier, an able statesman, and
the fact that he was sometimes duped does
not discredit his claim to greatness. The
peoples confidence was perfect in the in
tegrity of Grant in those days when Bah
cock and Belknap abused his confidence,
and subsequently when the decent news
papers of both parties treated with de-
served contempt the effort to inculpate
him with the financial conspiracy of Fish
& Ward. The secretary Of George WASH
ington took brides from the French minis
ter; Alexander Hamilton. when secretary
of the treasury, was the dupe of design
ing woman, the wife of one of
his clerks; Admiral Nelson was An
tony when Lady Hamilton played
Cleopatra. Andrew Jackson's collector
of customs at New York City, swartwout,
proved to be great scoundrel Grant
was sometimes dupe; never q conspira-
tor; great capacity is not seldom associ-
ated with great credulity. And yet of this
great and noble man the poet Lowell
could write:
We turn our eyes away, and so will Fame,
As If in his last battle be h4d died
Victor 70. US and spotless Of all blame.
This same poet Lowell. who exaggerated
Grants infirmities, said of Grover Cleve-
land, who played whist while his neigh
bors went to war:
He has left the helm OF state to be with M
here, and so long as 1t is iutrusted to his hands
we are sure that should the storm come he will
say with seneca's pilot, 80 Neptune, you may
save me il you will; you may sink me il you
will; but whatever happen, l shall keep my
rudder true"
If Grant did not keep his rudder as true
as Grover Cleveland then Grant is grossly
misunderstood by millions Grants dying
words included the following, which might
have moved the heart of even SO infatu.
ated a political dude as Mr.. Lowell:
feel that We are on the eve OF q new era.
when there is to be great harmony between the
Federal and Confederate. canno. stay to be
living witness to the correctness of this
prophecy; but feel It within me that 1t is 10 bs
80. The universally kind feeling expressed for
me at time when it was supposed thst each
day would prove my last seemed to me the be-
ginning OF the answer to "Let us have peses"
Among the candidates announced for
nj -ha