There are any number of indications that there is on foot a plan to force the nomination of Grant for the next Presidential vacancy. It scarcely needed the confirmatory information in another column from Boston, concerning the proposed series of grand receptions to be given Grant on his return from his Old World vagabondizing. This Boston revelation is simply an incident among many others, all tending in the same direction. It may be, and probably is, true, as stated in this scheme, that New York politicians will furnish the money for these public receptions, and that they expect to secure a return for the money invested. Both are probably true, the latter more especially. It has never been doubted by intelligent men, familiar with Grant’s administration, that he could be used by individuals to further private ends. The number of presents which he received, the vastness of the fortune he accumulated in a few years, and the rascally character of many of his appointments and personal friends, all go to show that Grant did not limit the employment of his powers as President to the Constitutionally and honestly belonging to his office. There was more corruption, malfeasance, rascality, swindling, speculation and deviltry generally under Grant’s Administration than during any other period in our history.
The men who grew wealthy from subsidy-schemes, the whisky rings, fluctuations in gold and Government securities, and in the scores of other dishonest practices connected with Grant’s official career, are the men who wish to see him once more in the White House. They are yearning for the return of the–to them–golden era of rascality, when honesty in office was the exception, and plunder the rule. To this class is added another large one whose members believe that Grant is the only man whom the party can elect. To them party is of more consequence than aught else, and they would welcome the nomination of Grant, were he thrice as culpable as he is, upon the assurance that he is the only man who could be elected. There are still others who, never having believed in Grant’s mercenary character, and his unfitness for office, still remember him as the man who received the sword of Lee, and who are willing as a matter of gratitude to keep him in the Presidential chair for life. All these classes make up a powerful element who may be able to overpower the good sense of others who fully understand this enigmatical humbug, but who are men in whom the sense of party allegiance is stronger than their convictions of right.
The tremendous onslaught which has been made on the South by so many of the party organs, and by certain officials, means the nomination of Grant. It is true that the President in his message only claimed that there had been any interference in the elections in two of the Southern States, and even then, only in certain parts of these. However, facts seem to be of no consequence to the party organs, and therefore they are teeming with denunciations of the entire South. Their purpose is to “fire the Northern heart;” to convey the idea that the entire South is in a state of rebellion, and that the country needs a strong arm to restrain these rebels. In due season Grant will be presented as the strong arm, and his nomination will be urged as that of the only man who can suppress the new rebellion. Stupid, malignant and insensate as are these indiscriminate attacks upon the entire South, they will have weight among that large class which feels much and reasons little, and takes for gospel whatever may be placed before it by its party press.
The proposed receptions have no connection whatever with a desire to do Grant personal honor. They are purely political. They are a part of the mortifying farce which has been in progress in the Old World ever since Grant landed on its shores. There Grant has never received a single personal compliment. Every reception given him, every honor of which he has been the recipient, have been paid to the country, of which, as ex-President, he was to some extent the representative. There is not a single city of any account which he has visited in which, in private, he has failed to be the subject of endless ridicule and caricature. Everywhere his boorish manners, his lack of knowledge of the ordinary forms of polite society, his sullen silence, and his intemperance have made him a more marked character than even his position as an ex-President and and ex-General. The reports about his having been offered the Bulgarian throne are simply silly lies, invented to give him consequence on this side [of] the water, and give him an impetus for the Presidential nomination. King of Bulgaria! Grant could not, to-day, secure the position of Constable on the London police force. He hasn’t the sobriety the patience, the dignity, that are essential to the position.–Chicago Times (Ind.)