The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-12-17

to demonstrate that we must place
among the number of historical errors
the pretended marks of sympathy which
General Grant, President of the United
States, was said to have lavished upon
Germany on the occasion of the French
defeats. This article cannot fail to
please a certain number of -F'renchmen
who still have the weakness of desiring
to be admired by foreign nations.
When General Grant died, in 1885, all
most all the journals in France, and
even the Review des Deux Mondes,
spoke of the Germanophile sentiments
of the deceased, and of his famous tel
egrams of congratulations addressed to
King William. Even Victor Hugo, in
his poem of the aimee Terrible stig-
matized General Grant, and the Lar
oussee Dictionary treated him just as
harshly. With these two documents,
supported in their appearance in two
such high authorities, all Frenchmen
vibrated with rage against General
Grant, and now Mr. Theodore Stanton
shows that they vibrated in the wrong.
But, after all, what acts of antipathy
toward France on the part of General
Grant can be precisely pointed out?
We have the message of February Z.
1871. In this document. which had ref
erence to the constitution Of the Ger
man empire, established on January
IS, 1871, the President of the United
States celebrated the event and re-
joiced over it. He saw In it 1.-The adop-
ton in Europe of the American sys-
tenn This federation of twenty-four
states in one empire fiattered the van
ity of Americans, because it seemed
like copy of their institutions, Dor
rowing, as it were, from the fundamen-
tad idea of their system. In the state
of fever in which Frenchmen were
plunged in 1871, the message of February
Z was bound with cruel irony to evoke
the recollections of Lafayette and
Rochambeau. But the principal charge
against General Grant was formulated
in 1885 by French journal, and was
as follows: ION the occasion of each
victory he sent to King William his
Warmest congratulations. And NJ.
Auguste Vacquerie, on being interro-
gated on the subject of the poem of the
Anne Terrible" spoke of 1.-The tele-
gram Of congratulation sent to the
King of Prussia by General Grant ar-
ter the defeat of Sedan
If General Grant had really sent
these congratulatory kilograms, it
would be impossible to deny here the
evident Indication of his personal SEN
timents. But where are the documents?
Nobody quotes them; nobody produces
them. Mr.. Theodore Stanton asked Mr..
Hamilton Fish to enlighten him upon
this point and here is the essential pas
sage of the reply:
Until the letters or kilograms are
produced, 1 will remain firmly con-
WINGED that they do not exist, and have
never existed
| The affirmation of Mr. Bancroft, a
passionate Germanophile, is equally
worthy of attention. at is absolutely
false" he says, chat General Grant
sent kilograms of congratula ton 10 the
King of Prussia on the occasion of
| each victory over the French I was
then minister of the United States AT
Berlin, and I know that no telegram. of
that kind was received in my offices.
Moreover, L have had searches made
here in the Foreign Affairs among the
archives, and I have received from the
secretary of state the formal assurance
that nothing of the kind exists in tho
archives of the ministry"
Inc archives of the United Statas
embassy at Berlin are also without anv
kilograms from General Grant to Kine
William. The chief secretary saws so
in a formal letter
we must, therefore, conclude, with
Mr.. Hamilton Fish, that the story Of
the congratulations addressed bv tbe
PRESIDENT of the United States to the
conqueror of Sedan is merely a. myth.
But this legend, notwithstanding the
efforts of Mr.. Theodore Stanton, will
remain, probably. like all legends,
proof against historical criticism. #
signltles simply that France was aban-
ooheu IN 1870 by everybody and that
even the nations that owed her some
sympathy displayed complacencv and
excessive haste in discovering for them.
selves reasons to admire and to love
her conquerors.