Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1868-07-01
What the Democrats Used TO Saw Of
General Grant


Presidency and since several months before he
was noninatsd) the Democrats saw that be was TO
be the Radical candidate, the Conservative or Dem.
ocratc papers have been blackguarding him and
charging that be was blunderer In military sf-
fairs In other words, not an able military man
Among these journals none are now mora abusive
Of Grant Than the New York World the leading
paper Of that party in the United States Below
We publish what this same New York World said
Of Grant before anybody thought Of the present
contest
From The Sew York World, April lI.h, 1855
LIEUTEEAEr-GEEERAL GRANT.
Gen. Grants history should teach us 70 discriuI
nate better than we Americans are apt to do, be-
6sen glitter and solid work. Our pronenesS 20 run
4IteF oemagogues and spouters may find a whole
some corrective In the study Of such character as
his. The qualities by which great things are ac-
complished are here to have no necessary con
noctlon With snowy and superficial accomplish
mentz Whe1 ths mass Of men look upon such q
CHARACTER they may learn truer respect for them
selves and each olheri they are taught by u that
high qualities and great abilities are consistent With
the simplicity Ct taste contempt for parade and
painnes5 Of manners with which direct and earnest
men have q strong natural sympathy. ulysses
Grant, the tanner, Ulysses Grant the unsuccessful
applicant for the post of City Surveyor Of ST. Louis
ulysses Grant, the driver into that city of his two
horse team with load Of wood to sell, had within
him every manly quality hch will cause the name
Of Lieutenant General Grant TO live forever in his
tory dis career is lesson in practical democracy;
II Is quiet satire on the dRndyism, the puppyism
and the shallow afectaton OF our fashionable ex-
quialtes, as we'll IS upon the 5wagger of paus-
Die, gl0-tongued demagogues. Not by any means
tnst great Qualities inconsistent with cultivated
manners and fluent elocution; but that such su-
perfcia Accomplishments are no measure Of worth
or ability.
Gen. Grants last brilliant campaign sets the final
seal upon his reputation It stamps him the sue
perior OF his able antagonist well as of all the
commanders who have served with or under him In
the great campaigns of the last year. It is not nee
esssry to sacrifice any part of their welearned rep
utatOns TO his Sherman and Sheridan deserve all
that has ever been said in their praise bat there
has never been time since Grant was made Lien
tenant General, when anybody but Sherman on our
side, could have been chased with him Since
Sherman's bold march through Georgia and his
capture Of Savannah and Charleston, there have
been many who, in their strong admiration of his
great achievements, inclined to rank him as the
greater general OF the two. That Judgment, take
IT, IS now reversed by the court of final appeal not
oy dwarhng the reputation of Sherman, which suf-
iers no just abatement, but by the expansion into
graDdeE proportions of that of Grant.
Grant stands pre-eminent among al the generals
who have led our armies in the late war; in that he
his exhibited the utmost strength Of will of which
the highest type Of mankind is capable The de-
fenses Of VicksbuTg and the defenses Of Richmond
were both deemed impregnable and were defended
with prOpOTtOnable confidence and obstinacy: but
they both yielded a. last TO Grants rnatchess per.
sistenCa and uIegualed strategy. And, in both
cases, he not only took the long contested positions
but compelled the surrender of the whole force de-
Tending them. Nothing bould be more clean and
complete, even in imagination, than Gen. Grants
masterly execution. He did not merely, in each
case acquire position which was the key of wide
Of ha M heaf
able the opposing force; he left no fragment Of it
in exstence except IS prisoners Of var subject 10
his disposal
If anybody Is 80 obtuse or 60 wrong-hsaded as TO
see nothing great in Gen. Grant beyond his mar
Yeoue tenaciy OF will let that doubter explain, If
be can, how it has happened that since Grant rose
to high command, this quality has always been
erted IN conspicuous energy precisely at the points
on which everything IN his whole sphere Of opera
tiona hinged. There has been no display Of great
qualities on small occasions no expenditure of her
cuean effort 10 accomplish objects not Of the aTst
magnitude. 1t is only very clear-sighted and a
very comprehensive mind that could always thus
have laid the whole emphasis of an indomitabls
SOIL so precisely on the onphetlo Place. How, Sc
hs - 80 general oI sne nzst order Of intellect
well Of the most heroic determination does il hap
pen that In assigning great and brilliant parts TO
his subordinate commanders he hss never, when
the results Of his strategy were fully unfolded Gp-
peared in the picture except the central figure
1
/ ms great combined campaigns it always turns out
at last when it reaches that pleteness and hnish
/ in which be cnntrives TO have his campaigns end,
that we see him standing in the foreground and
that the grouping ia always such that the glory of
the other generss--instesd of eclipsing his own
gives it additional lUstre It Is this sureness OF
Judgment which sees precisely where lies the turn
ing point; which precisely what are the objects
that justify the utmost stretch of persistence it is
this ability to take in the whole field of view in lust
perspective and due suboTdinaton of parts that is
the mark of g superior mind. Gen. Grant has taken
out of the hands Of all critics the question whether
it belongs TO him BE has won his greatest triumph
over the most skillfu and accomplished General on
the other side; over General who foiled him long
enough 20 prove his great mastery of the art of
and the completeness Of whose defeat is testimony
TO Grants genius, such as a victory over any other
General of the Confederscy, even en- earlier vic
tory over Lee himself could not have given. Ap-
ply 20 Gen. Grant what test you will measure him
by the magnitude of the obstacles he has surmount
ed by the value of the positions he has gained, by
the fame of the antagonist over whom he has tri.
umphed by the achievements Of his most llustrioul
co-workers by the sureness with which he directs
his indomitable energy TO the vital point which il
the key to 8 vast field Of operations or by that SUI
preme test Of a consummate ability, the absolute
completeness Of his results and he vindicates BIZ
claim to stand next after Napoleon and Wellington
among the great soldiers Of this century if not on
level with the latter.