GRANT, ULYSSES S. (His CIVIL CAREER.) 



433 



a physical constitution that enabled him to 

 endure every form of fatigue and privation 

 incident to military service in the field. He 

 had an intuitive knowledge of topography, and 

 never became confused as to locality in direct- 

 ing the movements of large bodies of men. He 

 exhibited a rapidity of thought and action on 

 the field that enabled him to move troops in 

 the presence of an enemy with a promptness 

 that has rarely been equaled. He had no hobby 

 as to the use of any particular arm of the serv- 

 ice. He naturally placed his main reliance on 

 his infantry, but made a more vigorous use of 



1 cavalry than any of the generals of his day, 

 and was judicious in apportioning the amount 

 of his artillery to the character of the country 

 in which he was operating. While his achieve- 

 ments in actual battle eclipse by their brill- 

 iance the strategy and grand tactics employed 

 in his campaigns, yet the extraordinary com- 

 binations effected and the skill and boldness 

 exhibited in moving large armies into posi- 

 tion entitle him, perhaps, to as much credit as 

 the qualities he displayed in the face of the 

 enemy. 



His Civil Career. Gen. Grant's father was a 

 Whig, and an admirer of Mr. Clay, whose 

 public policy embraced three great measures : 

 First, a national bank, or a fiscal agency as an 



i aid to the Treasury in the collection and dis- 

 bursement of the public revenues ; secondly, 

 a system of internal improvements to be cre- 

 ated at the public expense and controlled by 

 the national Government ; and, thirdly, a tariff 



, system that should protect the American la- 

 borer against the active competition of the la- 

 borers of other countries who were compelled 

 to work for smaller compensation. From 

 1834 to 1846 the country was engaged in con- 

 troversy over the policy of the Whig party, of 

 which Mr. Clay was then the recognized head. 

 Indeed, the controversy began as early as the 

 year 1824, and it contributed, more than all 

 other causes, to the new organization of par- 

 ties under the leadership, of Clay and Jackson. 

 Gen. Grant was educated under these influ- 

 ences, and in the belief that the policy of the 

 Whig party would best promote the prosperity 

 of the country. Those early impressions rip- 

 ened into opinions, which he held and on which 

 he acted during his public life. It happened 

 by the force of circumstances that the Repub- 

 lican party was compelled to adopt the policy 

 'of Mr. Clay not in measures, but in the ideas 

 on which his policy was based. It is not now 

 necessary to inquire whether the weight of ar- 

 gument was with Mr. Clay or with his oppo- 

 nents. The war made inevitable the adoption 

 iof a policy that Mr. Clay had advocated as 

 expedient and wise. 



The Pacific Railways were built by the aid of 

 [the Government and under the pressure of a 

 ; general public opinion that the East must be 

 brought into a more intimate connection with 

 ;our large possessions on the Pacific Ocean, for 

 .mutual support and for the common defense. 

 VOL. xxv. 28 A 



The national banking system was established 

 for the purpose of securing the aid of the banks 

 as purchasers and negotiators of the bonds of 

 the Government, at a time when the public 

 credit was so impaired that it seemed impossi- 

 ble to command the funds necessary for the 

 prosecution of the war. The same exigency 

 compelled Congress to enact, and the coun- 

 try to accept, a tariff system more protective 

 than any suggested by Mr. Clay. The ne- 

 cessities of the times compelled free-traders, 

 even, to accept the revenue system with its 

 protective features; but Gen. Grant accepted 

 it as a system in harmony alike with his early 

 impressions and with his matured opinions. 

 It has happened, by the force of events, that 

 the policy of the old Whig party has been re- 

 vived in the national banking system, while 

 the Independent Treasury, the leading measure 

 of the old Democratic party, has been pre- 

 served in all its features as the guide of the 

 Treasury Department in its financial opera- 

 tions. 



When Gen. Grant became President, these 

 three measures had been incorporated into the 

 policy of the Republican party. Their full ac- 

 ceptance by him did not require any change of 

 opinion on his part. It was true that he had 

 voted for Mr. Buchanan in 1856; but his vote, 

 was given in obedience to an impression that 

 he had received touching the qualifications of 

 Gen. Fremont. The fact that he had voted for 

 Mr. Buchanan excited suspicion in the minds 

 of some Republicans, and it engendered hopes 

 in the bosoms of some Democrats that he 

 might act in harmony with their party. The 

 suspicions and the hopes were alike ground- 

 less. As eurly as August, 1863, in a letter 

 to Mr. E. B. Washburne, he said: "It be- 

 came patent to my mind early in the rebellion 

 that the North and South could never live at 

 peace with each other except as one nation, 

 and that without slavery. As anxious as I am 

 to see peace established, I would not, there- 

 fore, be willing to see any settlement until this 

 question is forever settled." 



Thus was Gen. Grant, at an early moment, 

 and upon his own judgment, brought into full 

 accord with the Republican party upon the two 

 debatable and most earnestly debated ques- 

 tions during Mr. Lincoln's administration 

 prosecution of the war and abolition of slavery. 

 Upon this basis of his early impressions and 

 matured opinions his administrative policy was 

 constructed. And thus is it apparent that in 

 1868 he was in a condition, as to all matters of 

 opinion, to accept a nomination at the hands of 

 the Republican party ; and it is equally appar- 

 ent that he was separated from the Democratic 

 party by a chasm wide, deep, and impassable. 

 It is, however, true that Gen. Grant's feelings 

 were not intense, and in the expression of his 

 opinions his tone was mild and his manner 

 gentle. It often happened, also, that he did 

 not undertake to controvert opinions and ex- 

 pressions with which he' had no sympathy. 



