The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1892-11-30
known I wrote to Senator Lewis that

known I wrote to Senator Lewis that I
was for Grant. He replied that he had
repeated to General Grant our convsrsa-
ton on the oars, and that he had sent me
a message to come and see him. I went
Immediately to Washington, had an in.
terview with Gen. Grant and told him Of
my intention. I felt assured from my
conversation with him that he earnestly
desired perfect peace between all sections.
But this could not be secured without the
harmonious action and cooperation of
the Southern people with him.
If he should quit his party and come
over to them he would come shorn of his
strength. The South must come to him.
The bloody chasm between them and
Grant was no wider than the one between
them and Mr.. Greeley.
had never before been in the White
House. When I walked with my son
into bis room where Grant WAS sitting,
his presence inspired something of the
awe that Roman provincial must have
felt when first entering the palace of the
Cesars. His manner soon relieved me
of embarrassment and restored my self.
confidence. He Immediately began tell
ing me how near I came to capturing
him on the train when he went up to
take command of tho Army of the Poto-
mac laughed and said. "Well, Nh.
President, if I had caught you, things
might have been little different now.
Yod might have been calling on me-"
He answered: "Yes, perhaps co."
told him that intended to support
him, and that if be would hold out an
olive branch to the South by getting
Congress to pass an act relieving our
laading men from the disability imposed
by the fourteenth amendment, I thought
we could carry Virginia for him.
It would take the wind out of Greeley's
sails. he said that he would see what
could be done about it. I knew that he
WAS in favor of universal amnesty, he had
recommended it in his last message. a
bill to that effect had passed the house,
but had been defeated by an amendment
tackled to it by Sumner in the Senate.
Two or three days after my interview
General Butler reported an amnesty bill
II have no doubt at Grants suggestion,)
which vas rushed through one night
while Sumner was asleep.
The irou-clad oath had already been
repealed, and I VAS eligible to any Office,
State or Federal On the contrary,
nearly all the men who might be my
competitors, ifI had political ambition,
we're under the ban of the fourteenth
amendment. Nobody but a politician
would have discovered an unworthy mo-
tive in my asking Grant to use his power
TO set them free. General Eppa Hun
ton, who had been q distinguished con-
federats soldier, and was afterward one
of the electoral commissioners, was thus
liberated and sent to represent my dis
trict in Congress, while was denounced
through the State as an apoatase. A
charge more unjust was never brought
against mau since Socrates was accused
of ccrrupting the Athenian youth.
Grant was elected by an overwhelming
majority, and it was no fault of mine
that the Southern people did not partici-
pate in the triumph. Shortly after the
election I received note from Grant
requesting me to come to Washington to
see him on business. Invent. He spoke
of my services in the campaign and his
desire to reward ME. I told him I had
repeatedly said that I would not accept
any Office from him. I never did. Yet
people generally believe that he appoint.
ed me Consul at Hongkong.
Tt was painful thing to break away
from old associations and traditions, and
20 against the current of opinion in the
South.
never subscribed to the doctrine that
man "must go with his people" in party
contests. If that is 30, then the minority
is always wrong, and every demsgogue
who floats into power on popular wave
is a patriot, Judas Iscariot can claim
the full benefit Of the maxim.
In the moral as we'll as in the material
world there ia often an apparent motion
in one direction when the real motion is
in the opposite.
So men could not for long time un-
derstand why Columbus sailed to the
West in search OF passage to the East.
Byron swan the Hellespont by going
partly with the current. Ifhe had meas.
ured his strength with the waves he
would have never reached the Asiatic
shore.
During Grants second term I WAS
frequently at the White House. I never
failed to see him but once. He WAS then
in the hands Of dentist. He appointed
good many of my friends in Virginia to
Office just to oblige me. and he never
once asked question about their poll.
tics. Some of them had voted against
him.
never heard him speak word about
the war that would wound the most SEN
sitive Southern man. lie once remarked
to me that if he had been q Southern
man he would been Southern
soldier. Of his old army comrades who
TOOK the Confederate side he always
spoke in the most afectionate way.
Speaking of stonewall Jackson he
once said to me: jackson was the
most conscientious human being ever
knew. If you could have persuaded him