= ——<—<——— oa 
IS 
ATLANTIC MONTHLY. 
A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art 
and Politics. 
VOL, XXIII.— MARCH, 1869. — NO, CXXXVII. 
r-- 
prone to intrigue indulge the hopé, of 
managing or improperly influencing Mr. 
Johnson’s successor, it only remains for 
them, seeing how blind they have been 
to the plainest pages of recent history, 
to take a lesson or two in the school 
of experience and pay their tuition. 
Secondly, it is but a reasonable cal- 
culation that General Grant, in the dis- 
charge of the duties of the Presidency, 
will win a substantial success not un- 
suited to his martial renown. Indeed, 
nine tenths of those who have risen 
above the folly of confounding the gift 
of popular oratory with executive talent 
concede already that he has all the 
main requisites for administering the 
affairs of the country at this time, ex- 
cept, possibly, the information derived 
from long civilexperience. His general- 
ship reveals governing ability of the 
highest order, circumspection only 
matched by energy, and an unerring 
faculty for selecting the right men for 
subordinates. As to the possible de- 
ficiency alluded to, —and we must al- 
ways bear in mind that there is no spe- 
cial training school for the Presidency, 
— General Grant is the son of his time, 
and, though he may not be learned in 
the statesmanship of books, he compre- 
hends his own age. Starting with that 
political ¢abula rasa, the mind of an 
army officer, — having really voted but 
once before the war (for Buchanan), and 
having always regretted that, — he en- 
joyed the excellent privilege of having 
relations of the institution they had so 
long fought and feared, Grant calmly 
foresaw and announced its extinction ; 
and, more than that, every stage of the 
extinguishing process can now be traced 
inhis military orders, in advance of the 
action of Congress and of the Execu- 
tive. The same remark may be made 
respecting the reconstruction policy of 
the government; its germs are all to 
be found\in the record of his field 
measures, while toward the maturing 
of that policy, he gave his valued coun- 
sels and his profoundest sympathies. 
Of all the great questions which appear 
to demand settlement during the in- 
coming administration, it may be truly 
said that none are older than General 
Grant’s public life, while most have 
already touched him at many points in 
his career, and engaged his earnest 
attention. For the last three years in 
particular he has reflected, upon the 
political juncture, perhaps with the pre- 
science that he would be called: to deal 
with it practically; he has conferred 
with the acutest statesmen of the \day, 
and has mingled with his countrymen 
in every part of the Union. It would 
not be strange, therefore, if the whole 
situation bearing upon the Presidency, 
comprising policies, men, and measures, 
should be at this moment as accurately 
mapped out in his mind as were his 
great campaigns before he fought them 
in the field, and should be followed by 
national results hardly second in value. 
