The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-10-30
GENERAL GRANT.


~
Slad to give others the results OF our thinking.
khe Great Captain, with all his childlike sim-
plioity and freedom from pretension, is some
what mysterious character. The contrast b3-
tween the grandeur Of his life and the
modesty OF his department utterly misleads
some people and confuses others. On his act
ing side, he is immense on his talking side,
very small. True greatness must find express
sion. and when grand deeds have given IL
ntterauce, only profound natures will under
stand them for the masses OF men, ana espe-
eially for the shallow, the hero must explain
hims elf in words. But such an explanauoh
is weakness; it reveals egotism, and, tnerelore,
in the highest greatness, Is weltni8h lmpoS5l-
ble Grant will never write essays on his own
eampaipns. nor make speeches to illustrate
the glory of his own career. Posterity must
Rtudy and history understand him.
This absence of speech in Grant is hardly
what men call reticence. Rsticence, as usually
understood, carries with touch OF art, and i5
conscious of an ulterior aim. A splendid
statesman may be an orator of rare eoquence,
and yet may be noted for reticence With
him. it is cultivated as an element OF strength.
He is never silent for the want of something TO
say. On the contrary, he holds back, aud
browns, in the silence OF his own mind,
thousand brilliancies because he knows that
much talk, even if fiue, would make him COM
mon. Speech is his trade; it is the substance
duu lOIUu VI MS utBus, IDSlo hAuot, bhOhOANAC1
be nothing little to disparage what is great,
but, as it were, field of silence, in which line
words shall be set in gorgeous clumps.
In Grant there is a reticence which is thing
of nature II is reticence of word, OF face, OF
action. II can hardly be said that he is care
full about his words but if he be, the deeper
truth is that nature was careful in planning
him. He never makes a striking remark,
either in public or in private, in his letters or
in conver5a alton, and he can well afford to be
without ambition in that direction. The dis
position to shine in this sphere is q sad defect
in some otherwise great men. The time spent
in getting ready for pun or bon mot is
thrown away on littleness, aud the wish to
be fine in talk is itself weakness. The alb
sence of this in Grant has, no doubt, damp
ened his popularity, for the fine sayings OF a
public man are the windows through which
the people suppose they look in upon his in
terror life. Many passages in Webster's
speeches, and many witty sentences of Henry
Clay and of President Lincoln, appear to be
OF this sort. They are the flowers that grow
out of the tissures in the great rock, or they
are the magnetism that makes the sdamant
attractive. In Grant the rock is solid and
bare, and the attraction is recondite element,
strongly felt only by kindred souls.
This is one reason why politicians have not
been more drawn to him. Especially does
this hOd of many distinguished radicals. 1t
was not to be expected that such men as
Horace Greeley and Wendell Phillips, and
others of their sort, whose trade has been in
sharp talk, should become enthusiastic for
Grant. They had stirred up the nation with
tongue and pen; their powerful eloquence,
clothing their honest testimony against
slavery, had been in the highest degree ef9c-
tive, and when their talk had eliminated in
successful war, they naturally sought dis
tinctly pronounced man for political leader.
Grant was not ready with speech or letter,
and they looked upon him col1ly. Such men
have followed, not led public opinion in
Grants support.
This reticence of the Great Captain extends
to his appearance, to his face, to his gait, and,
indeed, to his whole manner. In Sherman, q
tall, wiry, mercurial man, with an unquiet
face, whose every lineament is instinct with
restless thought, the people see their
passions reflected, and snare the wild en-
thusasm before them. Sheridan, too, has au
inspiring person, The popular idea paints
him as a great rider, ever mounted aud flying;
the enemy on the wing before him; the fire III
his eye; the hot blood burning in his cheeks;
and the wild rallying cry ringing from his
lips-a very picture OF valorous, daring, ire
sistible, dashing, patriotic force. The thought
of him brings a hurrah into the throat. Not
80 Grant. His very person looks silent.
Round, compact, short, his step equable aud
grave, his eye steady, its fire lying deeper
than the crowd sees, and yet certainly there,
though in the coal rather than the blaze, his
forehead not high; his beard rigid, his under
jaw prOtruding, and giving sort OF hardness
TO his expression, and that expression kind
of quiet, modest protest against speech-the
people must fall back upon history for en-
thusiasm, and shout rather upon conviction
and sense of duty than from impulse.
But even in the sphere of action, we see in
Grant the same reticence, the same severe
self-restraint, though unconscious here as else
where, he is so iLtent on one thing that the rest
Is ignored or perhaps utterly forgotten. Here
his reticence, which may look like defect
elsewhere, becomes the minister of genuine
streDgth-a power of concentration. 1t grows
into form OF devotion to his country, so COM
plete as to become almost impersonal A
striking example of this reticence in action
occurred in the writer's own presence during
the war. happened, on certain day, to be
in the hall of the House of Representatives in
Washington, and, hearing my own name
called, turned and saw Mr.. Odell of Brook
lyn. He was with General Grant, who had
been summoned from the vicinity of Richmond
20 give testimony before the Committee on the
Conduct Of the War. To my great sur
prise, he stated that this was this first time he
had ever visited the Capitol. He had been to
Washington number OF times, on business
with the President and the War Department,
but had never been in the Capitol until called
there as witness. The fact was most sin
gular one. The man whose fame was filling
the civilized world, about whom Congress was
talking by the hour day after day. who at that
moment was making most wonderful epoch
IN history, had often been to Washington, but
had never entered the Capitol till now, and
even now only because called TO the spot on
Lhe business OF the country. This seemed to