Year: 1870

From the New York Tribune.


SIandering Grant.


Maybe one of these days the Journal
lists who make it their particular busi-
ness to traduce the President will be-
come discouraged at repeated failures,
and turn to some more honest pursuit.
Gen. Grant, from the beginning of his
career, has been persistently assaiied IN
the most shameful manner, and after
every assault his character has shown
forth not only untarnished but brighter
than before. For his first military sue
cess he was rewarded with calumnies,
which threatened for time to destroy
him; he held his peace, and false testi-
mony broke down of itself, leaving his
reputation higher than ever. At every
critical period of the war he was attack
ed again; before Vicksburg; in the Will
derness; at Petersburg; and perhaps we
shall never know how near we came to
losing his servises at moments when he
alone could save our armies. Under these
trials he was still silent, and the people,
penitent for their temporary injustice,
honored him afterwards with all the
more enthusiasm. When peace had
been declared he was traduced with re-
doubled malice by all classes of his
political opponents, from Andrew john
son down to The World, and the result
was his election to the Presidency by
most magnificent majority. In his
present elevated position the attacks
have been incessant, but though he has
kept to his sensible resolution of hold
jng his tongue, his enemies have been
uuiiormely and Immediately confuted.
The calumnces connec ell with the Sep
tember gold-panic were among the
wickedest and most ingenious to which
he was ever exposed; he never deigned
to answer them; yet see how easily and
completely they were refuted, and how
the popular respect for the President m
creased when it became known what
part he really had in the events of that
memorable period.


The other day it was asserted that the
employees of the Custom. House and
Post-Office were compelled to subscribe
to buy a life insurance policy for the
President. Such palpable lie seemed
to us unworthy of notice; but the Post
master of New-York exposed it; and so
did the Insurance Company from which
the policy was alleged to issue. Then
the lie appeared in q revised form. 1t
was asserted that subscription list for
thepurchase of policy had been started
and Gen. Horace Porter, one of the
Presidents Secretaries, was hawking it
about the country. TO those who know
Gen. Porter the absurdity of the report
was its own refutation. But Gen. Por-
ter's attention having been called-to the
matter he has denied it in language
which admits of no doubt. He says that
she has been accustomed to uphold the
fair name of the President, instead of
uniting in schemes to destroy him;
that he has neither been knave nor fool
enough to solicit subscriptions for an in
surance policy for him; nor even given
countenance to any such project. Neither
the President or Mrs. Grant has ever
heard of such a thing; and he is very
sure they would not accept it. He re-
members being spoken to about some
such insurance scheme to provide for
Mrs. Grant after the Presidents death,
and he said it must not be thought of;
that Mrs. Grant would not accept it, and
it would be a positive injury to the
President" So that lie we believe is
finally disposed of.


The Investigation of the San. Domingo
trouble has given rise to another cal
umny. Finding mong the papers sub
mitted to the Committee of Investiga-
ton the draft of the preliminaries of
treaty of annexation, the Presidents
traducers declared that, in contempt of
law and the privileges of Congress, he
authorized Gen. BabcOck to agree with
Baez upon the terms of the bargain, and
bonnd himself to exert privately all his
influence with Senators in favor of the
scheme before he permitted it to come
publicly before Congress and run the
risk of defeat. He had been furiously
denounced on this head for several days,
when it turned out that the protocol
was not the production of Grant but
of Baez, and had been submitted to our
administration as the basis upon which
the Dominican President was willing to
treat for annexation, but had not been
accepted. The defamatory attacks are
continued, of course. We never knew
the propagators of such stories to ac-
knowledge their falsity after it had been
proved; but this makes little practical
difference. for the people know the
truth, and will honor their President all
the more for the obloquy of which ne
has been made the victim. Judging
from the past we should say that Gen..
Grants enemies are taking the best
course to insure his election for another
term,