Year: 1871




been making a little speech in New Orleans


in which he said just what might have beel


expected of him; that is, that he knew NOR


about the state of the country than any
body; that he had more legislative capacit,


than the whole of Congress; and that if theI


would drop their attempt at government


and give the charge of affairs to him, h


would restore order and harmony in II,


time. This is no new theory of the gallant


soldier. He has always believed in the gov


ernment of the sword. He has never af


fected to conceal his contempt for men whe


wear black coats and who paid for their owr


education. He did noble and glorious work


during the war, when the fighting grew


hard enough to tame his tiightiness and


keep him down to his pace, but he never
| had a political idea which was not absurd


and fantastic: and his convention with


Johnston, by which he surrendered all the


results of the war, was a most grotesque


Illustration of his incapacity to appreciate a
| political principle.


| Mr.. Stanton never rendered the country a


greater service than by his prompt and de-


clded reputation of this surrender, and the


vast personal popularity of General Sher-
| man was not enough to protect him from


the general condemnation his action re-
ceived. He outgrew this blunder, serious


as 1t was, because every one recognized his
| gallantry and his good intentions and
| merely smiled at his innocent ignorance of
| public affairs. During the four years which
| preceded the Inauguration of General Grant
as President, his distinguished friend and


comrade was kept from any glaring indis-
| cretions. partly by the strong influence


which his chiefs good sense and prudence


exerted upon him, and partly by the natural
hope and anticipation OF succeeding him in
command of the army, in case of his pro-
| motion TO the presidency. This brill mt
prospect helped, at least, to make General
Sherman a partisan of Grant, and conse-
| qUently sound and safe in politics.


But now that the general has attained
the legitimate summit of his aspirations, it
is only natural that his uneasy activity of


mind should sting him into occasional out
breaks of eccentricity. AS Rchelieu thought
himself better poet than statesman, and
So wasted his leisure in wooing an migrate
Muse, our sanguine soldier is not satisfied
with the command Of the army, but itches
to show the world what a statesman is dis
guised in his uniform. ThereHs something
fascinating about the generals political
utterances. They are so honestly and
naively ignorant, SO destitute Of any con-
nectlOn with known facts, so confident and
cOck-sure of his own powers and his own
sagacity, that they have the same charm as
the theoretical campaigns and conspir-
acies of a lOguacious school girl. Let us
soluiSIs HdNc Charge Oh lu0 mdIItf.
says the outspoken chief, and we will
soon settle everything in satisfactory
manner" How wonderfully this sounds
like young lady's g If | were President"
which is always followed by some deliciously
absurd misapprehension of the executive
sphere and function. General Sherman
does not seem to remember that the army
only numbered a million of men, and that
this was not majority of the patton. He is
pnnaIiU nj of bn har
than two-thirds of that army disagreed with
him, and held the same just and wise views
OF government that were sustained and put
in practice by Lincoln and Stanton and
Grant. The glory OF that army was that
they were citizens before and after they
were soldiers, and General Sherman is
soldier, with no clear perceptions OF the dig
nifty and worth of the citizen character.


In view of these patent and notorious
facts, the generals speech might have been
passed over with an indulgent smile by the
country which knows and honors him for
what he is. foibles and all. But it has
been given singular and unaccountable
prominence by the organs of the opposition.
One morning paper, which changes its
faverites oftener than Haroun or Brigham,
seizes upon the general and makes him a
candidate for the presidency upon the
strength of this speech. AS the same paper
will nominate dozen or so more before
election, we can not pause to discuss its
merry y-andrew performance of yesterday.
But we feel bound TO give one word of can
did caution to another paper, which as
sumes airs of leadership in the Democratic
party, and which, as it only changes posi-
ton radically two or three times year,
may b. considered as having some regard |
for its reputation for consistency. |
1t also makes this rattling speech |
of General Sherman's the occasion |
for delighted editorials crediting the speaker |
with more than human saSacity and integ- |
rity. 1t does not nominate him for Presi- |
dent, but, on the contrary, timidly suggests
that he had much better stay where he is,
at the head of the army-a good, perma- |
nent place, etc. 1t holds up to him his pre-
decessor in the command of the army as an
awful example of what generals come to |
when they begin to think of the White House
But these gentle honilies will have little
effect upon the ambitious and arrogant
mind OF the brilliant soldier 10 whom they
are addressed. He will be likely to accept
as genuine all the praise which is lavished
lpon his political sagacity, and will reject
he rest as lmpertinent "The White
touse gad-hy crazes when it stings," and
he dilettante schemers of the Manhattan
Jlub had better beware how they make
of Tecumseh Sherman. We think
le would make bad President for all of
Is. he does not know enough of the
irst elements Of political science to keep
lis despotic and eccentric impulses in
heck But he would be an infinitely worse
andidate for Tammany than for u.s. His
igid honesty, his tiighty notions of personal
ion0r, his overweening self-cOnfidence,
Utterly unfit him to be the servant and fig
re-head of that gang of groveling rogues.
ie would smash into splinters any plat
orm they could frame before month of
he canvass was over, and if by any i'm
robable luck he came to. be President, we
Tould expect, before the cabinet was
ormed, to see Boss Tweed kicked down the
teps of the White House, slate, diamond
reastpin and all, by the rash and splene-
We soldier, whose civil policy the ring
ould no more predict or follow than the
light of a meteor, and whose hard integrity &
ley could no more mold to their scoundrel
nrposes than they could knead granite to
leir daily bread.