The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-11-18


The Most Striking Event in our sg,.,o..
The man who "does" the admirable :. %
view OF the Week" for the Boston TraveIa.
INDUCES in some pertinent reflections on
Grants elevation to the Presidency:
r., The strangest thing however, about Gen.
Grants present position at Washington is.
that ne should hold it al all,-and he must
ieei II hlmseit,-as the Doge Of Genoa felt
at versailles. Who would have thought. nine
years ago hat Mt Grant would ever become
President OF the United States? Mr.. Dcur.
las and Mr.. Seward, Mr.. Davis and Colone,
Fremont, Mr.. Breckenridge and Mfr. I,incoln
these were the men who were on The roll ~
possible Presidents; and Mr.. Grant. n retiraJ
Captain, had, apparently, about as much
chance OF becoming chief magistrate Of the
United States, as he had OF being called to
succeed Plus IL. He does nOt appear to he
a man.to indulge in day-dreams. but If ever
ne did 50, he never could have been such an,
AhaSchar as to place himself ia the Presiden
cy. Aet rresIdent-elect he IS, aud tha fact
tlat ne Is so embraces she most ennr,noue
change that ever took place, in so short a limo
in the history OF any great country. His alei
vation IS the striking incident in our bisto,,,.
that supports the view of human life that mon
are the spor OF circumstances, aud that they
have no control over their careers. Observe
now many great things had to take place be-
tore he coul1 SO much as think of aspiring to
the Presidency. 1t was necessary that fbere
should be long quarrel about slavery-tba,
the democratic party should divide itself at
the command OF the Slaveholders,-that the
dlsunionists should succeed in their plans
that large number OF States should leave lhe
Union in few weeks, which would have
been thought an impossibility year before it
took plaee,-thal new nation" should be
formed with regular government, of those
States,-that civil war should toIlow.-tbst
more than million OF men Slioul,, be called
into the field on both sides,-that the strong
er party should be beaten and baffled repeat
edy in conflicts and campaign, and that in
four years it should expend iour thousand
millions oil dollars,--that slavery should be
abolished, that the retired Captain Grant
should be able to obtain a commission.--tbat
he should so far succeed, subordinately. as TO
command attention,.--that he should so far
succeed 10 turning the tide of battle at
Shlloh,--that he should prove his capacity to
lead large masses Of men, larger than Welling-
ton ev~r led, and which Napoleon's imperial
armies did not always equal, that lie should
De victorious in all his great undertakings; Mt
Fort Donelson, at Vicksburg, at CHATTANOOGA,
and at Richmond-that he should be OF that
unyieldin9, perSevering order o; mind which
accepts no number OF repulses as a decision.
so long as there is any hope OF making an
other effort-that he should escape shot.
shell, steel, and sckness-that caumny, per-
secutiOn, and ridicuie should fail to depress
his spirit OF to lessen his exertions-that he
should triumph where men OF good reputa-
ton had failed so often that victory seemed
to be impossble-that he should escape the
ball or the dagger of the assassin-and that
President johnson should so bear himself as
to compel the Republican party TO remove
him from their leadership.
All these things had to occur in order to
make an ex Captain of infantry, wholly un-
known out OF his profession and the circle of
his relatives and intimates, President OF what
really is America. His merit is great, but h.
never conld have found an opportunity to
prove its existence had not the Southrons
gone mad, and had not the Northern democ-
racy turned idiotic. We not believe that a
a mute, inglorious Milton" ever lived. "A
poet-a man OF senius-cannot bs mute or
inglorious. Even Chatterton, though he died
in what may be called boyhOod, is as immor-
tai as Shakespeare All that such a man
needs, to make himself known, is apen. which
he can borrow,-a bottle OF ink, lor which he
can get trusted, and halt ream of paper,
which he can steal. But your solGier may be
as great genius as Cromwell and Wallen-
stein, Turenne and Marlborough, Eugene
and Frederick, Napoleon and Wellington,
rolled into one,-yet il opportunity be not
given him never can be be heald OF. Men
must become great fools in order that ne may
become great man. Had the Democrats
caused the secession war to be postponed
twenty years,.which they might have done
easily,-Gen. Grant no more would have been
hearu OF than would the Lord General Crom-
well had Charles the First had brains enough
in his head to keep it on his shoulders. They
furnished Captain Grant with a field on
which to snow what he could do, and he
improved" the opportunity and the people
liked his work so well that they placed him
as high as it is possible tor him to rise
The gentlemen who were contending for the
Presidency in 1859 have been passed over,
and the office has been conferred on III
Lincoln, who had the least prospect of get
ting it; on Mr.. johnson, who was not even
thought of in connection with it; and on
Gen. Grant, whose name never could have
been associated with the Office had there not
beensa great wa, into which the country was
forced. Such are the freaks and frolics of
Fortune, and they help make it appear that
no man is master OF his own actions, and that
individual greatness is almost invariably the
result oil the labors of men whom the indi-
vidual never could have known.