Show written tor for this AROUND THE WORLD WITH GRANT copyrighted ISM 2896 by frank 0 carpenter washington D C april 1897 SPENT an afternoon this week in chatting with john russell young about his bis experiences perien ces with general grant and nd with some of the other itimous famous men whom he has known mr young is the most eminent newspaper correspondent of the day he is is one of our best writers of english and he be has for years been one of our chief molders of public opinion P for the past generation his r 14 y relations relations with the leading men of the time have been very close asa As a boy he knew president lincoln seward and stenton while he was correspondent wr the new york herald in london he saw much of gladstone salisbury and beaconsfield Beacons field and also came into contact with prince bismark gambatta Sam betta and other famous men of that time As our minister to china he made a strong friend cf li hung chang and when the great viceroy made a visit to this thin country last year he came to philadelphia and spent a day aith mr youngs young Is family it was during this tour around the world with general grant that john russell young first met U V hung hun chang and today there is no man living outside of general grants own family who has sustained such close te relations lations to our greatest military hero mr young is now fifty six years of age but his blue eyes are as bright as they were when he began his newspaper career as a copy holder bolder at the age of fifteen in the office of the philadelphia press and his brain is as active as it was when he rode out to the battlefields to report the occurrences of the late civil war mr young is a delightful talker his words flow as smoothly in his conversation ersa tion as in his writing and his talk is full ot of striking comparisons our conversation opened with a word about john hay who has just gone to england end land to take lake Ba Bayarc yards Ps place as ambassador bas to great britain mr young said 1 I have known colonel hay since he came to washington now about thirty six years ago I 1 had been sent here by the philadelphia press john W forney was then the editor he was also secretary of the senate and I 1 was here as his bis assistant to write for the paper and to do whatever he asked me to do one of my duties was to carry the papers from the senate to the white house john hay had been brought to washington by president lincoln on account of of h s friendship for hays lather father mr lincoln wanted to give john the educational advantages ct the position and he had him made one of his private secretaries I 1 remember well how colonel hay looked in the early sixties he had cheeks as rosy as those of an irish milkmaid and he was a rather girlish looking fellow president lincoln who was quick to discover what there was in men had bad seen that hay had considerable literary ability and he gave him the answering of such letters and notes as needed especially good wording he would tell hay what to say and would generally sign the letters without chari changing ging them even in those days john klay hay was fond fand of writ ing poetry he often showed me verses which he be had bad written and now and then he would A read them over to me how did president lincoln impress you mr young I 1 asked he did not seem as great a man to me then ashe as he does now the canonization of lincoln did n not 0 t begin until some time after h bis is death he had some little idiosyncrasies of pronunciation and action which hid to a certain extent his real greatness his wonderful modesty and simplicity was partially the cause of his appreciation non he was perfectly simple in all of his ways I 1 can give you an incident which illustrates what I 1 mean colonel forney owned in addi tion to the philadelphia press the washington chronicle and I 1 was sometimes left in charge one night might when this was the case we received a richmond paper which in some way had bad been smuggled through the lines which contained a dispatch stating that charleston had been taken it was very difficult to tg get such papers and they often gave us important advance news this paper came in about 2 in the morning As I 1 read it it seemed to me that the president ought to know of the capture of charleston I 1 was only a boy but I 1 decided to go to the white house and tell him so I 1 took the foreman of the office and together we walked to the white house we rang the bell and after a time a messenger opened it he told us in response to my request to see mr lincoln that he had long since gone to bed and was now asleep v I 1 but said 1 I we have important news for him I 1 have received information which he should have and I 1 am sure he ought to be waked up to hear it alter a while the messenger said he would go to the presidents bed room and awaken him he went A few moments later the president came down clad in nothing but his night shirt he asked us to step into the east room I 1 remember as he walked in front of us that his long shirt napped flapped against his legs and that as he sat on the sofa and listened he threw one bare leg over the knee of the other and scratched at the hairy calf I 1 told him that I 1 had bad a rich mond newspaper stating that charleston was taken whereupon he asked me for the date of the paper when I 1 replied he said that he had bad advices advises two days later than that which stated that the bombardment bumbar bumbard dment menty was still going zealously on I 1 remember noticing that he pronounced bombardment as though it was spelled and zealously as though its first vowel was a long c e well the result was that we found our news to be of no account the presidents spies had given him information in advance of mine and I 1 was of course much mortified to find that I 1 t had bad disturbed the president for no purpose he put me at my ease however saying that he was glad to be awakened at any gme to hear good news even it if it ft was at 4 instead of 2 he went with me to the door and said good bye without showing any feeling whatever about being bein aroused from his sleep after midnight what were the relations between president lincoln and general grant I 1 asked they were perfectly friendly replied mr young president lincoln ampro ampre dated grants ability but grants mitt enill tary reputation was such that for a tin time he be feared that he might be a candidate against him for as president I 1 was present during a conversation con verav at the W hiie bite house in 1864 which showed me that this was the case f 1 was not well at the time and I 1 had called at the white house with col forney that I 1 might get an order from president lincoln to go south when we arrived we found secretary stanton and ex senator morgan of new york with the president after a time the conversation turned to grant and president lin coin said 1 I am curious to know what that man grant is going to do down at vicks burg I 1 have feared for some time that bis success might make him a presides preside bial candidate but I 1 have just received news that he has no ambition in that direction I 1 feared that he might have the presidential grub in his brain that is a curious worm and if it once attacks attack sa a man it is hard to get rid of I 1 have sot sd from it for tour four years and it sull still sticks to me in order to learn how grant stands I 1 sent for russell ru ss ea I 1 jones jo nes the marshal for the northern district of 0 illinois he is is you know one of grants closest friends I 1 asked him if the presidential maggot had yet attacked grant no mr president was jones r reply GI 1 I can assure you that gen grant is irdee frebe from that ambition he has only two ideas the first is to put the rebellion and the second is to see you reelected elected re president of the united stats states I 1 know of what I 1 am speaking and you can be sure I 1 am right at this mr lincoln threw himself hirr iselt back in his bis chair and concluded that statement of jones jonelis Jo is a great relief to me did grant really desire a third term as president of the united states mr young I 1 asked no replied john russell young general grant had no idea that sucha thing was thought of until after the f movement abent was well under way before y he ew went it around the world I 1 had bad a talk iz i with bim ina at malaga spain in which I 1 aske asked him as to this matter he then K privately told me that he would not 4 w F again sisaia be a candidate for the presidency et and that he had no desire lor another F term lie he wag was so positive in his state ament that I 1 did not bring up the a again although I 1 could see that he felt his hs gain experiences and observations during his trip around the world would have enabled him to do a vast deal of good for our colu country had he had these ad vantages before being president I 1 re 41 4 member hearing him say several times I 1 2 won upon noticing certain things thines in the far T east adf 1 I wish I 1 h had ad known this ten years 1 I ago aeo suppose grant had been elec elected tedda a r i third time mr young would his ad ministration been of value to the coun I 1 try 9 I 1 the loss to the united states by the I 1 failure to make grant president a third I 1 1 time cannot be estimated mr young tf 4 emphatically reeled roscoe conk F 5 hug who you know delighted in in ang ine expressions said to me once in talking alki about this matter 1 l the battle of waterloo put back progress ae ss in france at least six centuries the defeat of grant has put back the borress ress ess of this country just as much had ad grant been elected upon his rf rc laurn lt Urn rn from hs his trip around the world aj continued titina ed mr young he would have I 1 sr not only kept the monroe doctrine as to 10 this he hemisphere hemi i phere but he woula have ap rs blied d it to the whole coast of eist east asia M V MV ft would have been upheld from peking I 1 0 to o singapore the united states would ave insisted upon the autonomy ot of i chiba Cb ina japan and corea and would have ll aste iste d every effort of russia and eng ene daod to make those countries merely A trade ade appendages of themselves it arade yr would have enormously increased our allans pacific specific trade and by reciprocity v treaties tie S the western part of our country would id have had bad a large share of the i trade de of east asia 9 how did you happen to go with beneral Se grant around the world mr young you were the only newspaper aftan of the party general grant asked me to go as a personal friend and not as a newspaper correspondent he did not care what the newspapers said he was never a beeker after notoriety and he was anxious to keep in the background father than in the front As it was he had nothing to do with my newspaper work he had no objection to my writing and I 1 wrote just as I 1 pleased he read much of my matter after it was published and seemed to like it 11 what kind of a traveler was general grant iid did he observe things closely I asked yes was the r reply me ly I 1 grant was a careful observer he studied the people and their customs the government 3 and the public works he otten often went about incognito as it with me we would slip out of ofa the back doors of the hotels and thus avoid the crowd we were not known when away from the hotels and we took long rides and walks in nearly every foreign city we visited it was you mr young who asked grant to name the four greatest men he had met during his tour around the world yes replied john russell young 1 I ask asked ed that question of him when we were crossing the pacific on our way home we were discussing the great men of the different countries when I 1 asked the general whom he thought were really pre eminent among them he replied 1 I have met four men during this trip whom I 1 consider really great they are beaconsfield Beacons field gambetta bismarck and li hung chang and and 1 he added 11 1 I am not sure but that li hung chang is the greatest of the foure four ff 11 grants relations with li hung chang were very close were they not yes replied mr young general grant spent some weeks with li while he was in china and the two grew to be very intimate they would sit for hours together chatting of all kinds of things you see grant was looked upon as a monarch in those foreign countries he had all the honors of a monarch and through his influence he was able to do a great deal ot of good for china he settled the trouble which was then brewing between china and japan had he not done so the clinese japa japanese i uese war would have probably occurred then it was through his friendship with li and with the japanese statesmen that he was enabled to reason away the causes of the war had grant been elected for a third term I 1 dont think there would nave have been aawar between those two nations 11 why did grant choose beaconsfield Beacons field rather than gladstone as the greatest english statesman that he had met mr Youn young gJ 1 I rather think that grants feelings turned more toward beaconsfield Beacons field on account ot of Beacons fields sympathy with the north during the war general grant had little friendship or admiration with those who sympathized or aided the south when our nation was in peril I 1 thought I 1 noticed this with all of the noted people whom grant met during his stay in egland E gland he treated everyone courteously courteously but he did n not ot warm up UD toward sue such men as sympathized with the south among whom were gladstone and salisbury how did you like your work as minister to china mr young very much was the reply 1 I had met li through general grant and when I 1 came back as minister I 1 found him very friendly and through him I 1 was atle able to get much done for the united states when you were sent out to china mr young did you have any special instructions no 11 was the reply 1 I was appointed by president arthur I 1 thought he might have some such message to give me add before I 1 left I 1 called upon him aud asked him if there was anything he wanted me to he replied no all I 1 it have ave to say is dont get et us in into trouble and do as you ito please secretary said the same thing only in different language and I 1 was one of the few ministers atio went out without any special instructions Is the mission to china a very important one 1 I think it is replied mr yount young and just now I 1 believe it is a duct much more important place than any other in our whole diplomatic service it should be filled by a man capable of under standing the situation and of taking care of our interests in the far east the countries of east asia are on the edge of a change and the times are full of f diplomatic possibilities england cussia russia germany and france are alt all plotting and working to get the eastern trade and you cannot tell what situations may arise not only china but also japan corea and siam are involved in the struggle and our ministers to these countries should be able men and such that they can work together for the good ot of america and american interests it might be a good plan to combine them in some way having separate ministers as now but making the others subordinate to or in a certain way advisory with the in minister inister to peking you were instrumental in bringing general grant and horace greeley together mr young what were the real relations of the two 1 I dont think they ever really understood each other was the reply 1 I knew horace greeley right well for you know I 1 was at one time one of the editors of the tribune I 1 thought greeley ought to know grant and I 1 believe had the two became thoroughly acquainted they have been strong friends greeley however did not like generals as civil officers he did not think that success in war should lead to political advancement he was a man of many cranky notions one of which I 1 remember was that a |