The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1868-09-17

back, all would have been lost. But
before ne left Washington to take
commanded the Army of the Poto-
mac, he had, on a thorough examina-
ton of the situation, aud careful es-
timation Of resources, formed the opin-
ion that he could, and the resolve
that he would, take Richmond, and
he never, for a single moment, enter
tanned doubt of success.
"WhO, at the time, formed a more
correct judgment of the condition of
the South than Grant expressed in his
celebrated letter of the 10th of August,
1864?
ssThe rebels have now in their ranks
their last man. A man lost by them
can not be replaced. They have rob-
bed the cradle and the grave equally
to get their present force"
GRANT Is A MAN OF GREAT ENERGY
AND ACTIVITY.
Nothing is more common than for
the masses to misinteFprer a prOmi-
nent man. From one acknowledged
and distinguishing quality, they infer,
and often altogether arbitrarily and
unreasOnably, the existence or non
.existence Of other qualities. Grant is
a quiet, unObtrusive and undemOn-
strative man; he therefore is, say some,
a slow, lethargic, unenterprising man,
never disposed to act at all unless
compelled to do so, This his whole
history eontfadicts. No one who has
seen him, and observed his firm, steady,
emphatic step, can afterwards doubt
that he is a man of great energy. He
has, through fife, been distinguished
for restless, untiring energy. When
ever he had before him any thing Of
importance to do, he knew, and would
know, no rest until it was done. He
was not only always ready and will
ing to do all that in the position he
occupied he was required to do, but
moro-anything he could do to for
ward the enterprise, whatever it might
be, in which he, in common with
others, was engaged.
At Vera Cruz he was appointed reg
mental quartermaster. As such he
was not required to take part in ac-
tual battles; yet he did fight in every
battle from Vera Cruz to the City of
Mexico; and by his distinguished gal
lAntry on the field, won two promo
tiOns.
While under the command Of Hal
leck, Grants movements in the field
were slow, and sometimes had the ap-
pearance of hesitation, if not timidity;
but the history of those movements
proves that they took their character
from the slow and timid mind of Hal
leck, aud that Grant was constantly
desirOus of pressing forward, and chat
ed at the needless delays which Hal
leck's dIstrustful, not to say cOwardly,
mind imposed upon him. But when
Grant was left to himself one brilliant
achievement followed another, with
rapidity seldom surpassed by the
most celebrated dOings of the most
distinguished masters Of the art Of
war.
GRANT IS AN HONEST MAN-AN INCoRRUPT-
IBLY HONEST MAN.
This even his enemies and traducers ad-
nit To be such in this day and genera
.tiOn, and "as the world goes" ais to be
one picked out of ten thousand" Sur
rounded by the faithless, be has always
proved himself faithful; in the midst of
corruption, he has stood a marked man,
pure and untainted; possessing the very
best of opportunities for the acquisition of
fortune by the misuse of official position
and patronage, he has remained heroically
poor, while thousands of others, with in
ferior opportunities and less business
sense, have accumulated princelY fortunes
and now insult the people whom they
have plundered by an obtrusive and vain
glorious display of their ill-gOtten wealth.
GRANT Is.A MAN OF LIBERAL EDUCATION.
That he is a graduate of West Point af-
fords assurance enough of this truth; but
ifmOre were wanting, I would refer to
his military orders and CORES spondence.
They prove him to be a clear, correct and
forcible writer; and whoever will examine
his controversy with President johnson
will not fail to perceive that his pen is as
trenchant as his sword. Ofthe seventeen
persons who have occupied the Presiden-
tial chair, more than half namely, nine)
were not as well educated as General
Grant, and seven of these nine namely,
Washington, Monroe, Jackson, Harrison,
Taylor, Fillmore and Lincoln) gave US ad-
ministratiOns among the best we have
ever had.
GRANT Is A MODEST MAN.
There never was, I suppose, a man of
less self-assertiOn than he. I do not know
what the Generals religion is, but two or
three brief interviews with him convinced
me that he has great deal of that script
ural charity which "vaunteth not itself,
is not puffed up, doth not behave itselfun-
seemly." To the enemies of his cOun-
try, in time Of war, he is bold and defiant.
Peace being restored, among his friends
he is the most backward and retiring of
men. No man ever did so much for, who
asked so little of his countrymen. Though
he has achieved greatness, honors have
had to be 'sthrust upon" him. He never,
or indirectly, asked a promotion
or an Office. He never demanded any rec
ognition of his services. He has constant
ly discouraged and avoided, and is still
doing so, all proposed public demOnstra
tions TO do him honor.
And, shame to say, this very mOdesty of
Grants has, with many. done him posi-
tive injury, As he shrinks from public
gaze, it must be, they say, because he de-
sires to conceal the weakness of which he
is conscious, in the seclusion and retiracy
which he affects. FOolsl He didn't
shrink from the gaze and the criticism of
the world when duty called him forth to
defend and save an almost ruined country.
But in this age ofbrass and false pretences
Grants unparalleled nlodesty seems not
to be we'll understood. or even, by many,
likely to be pardOned. Well may be say
with Hamlet:
"Forgivs me this my virtue;
For in tn fatness Of these pursy times,
Virtne itself Of vice must parduR beg,
Yea, curb and for leave 20 do him good"
GRANT IS OF GOOD STOCK.
I do not mean that Grants great-rreat-
grand father was a deputy bailiff some
where in England; that his grandfather
was quartermaster in the revolutionary
war, that his father was County Clerk, or
somewhere for twenty-five years,
or by political fstwning or bullyism sue
cpeded in getting profitable contract for