Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1868-10-30

/ through Ne0rgla, and his capture 0t SaYan'
nah 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,
we take itis nov reversed iny the court Of
anal appeak aot by dwarfng the reputa-
tlon OF Sherman, which suffers no just
abatement, but by the expansion iuto grand
or Proportions of that Of Grant.
Grant stands preeminent among all the
! generals who have led our armies in the late
war IN that he has exhibited The utmost
strength Of viii Of which the highest type
Of manhood is capable. The defenses Of
FiekSburg and the defenses of Richmond
we're both deemed impreguabIe, aud we're
defended with a pre- portionable confidence
and obstinaey; but they both yielded, at
last, 10 Grants matehless persistence and
uaequaled strategy And, in both cases,
he not only took the long contested posi-
lion, but compelled the surrender of the
! whole fcree defending them. Nothing
could be more clean and complete, even in
/ imagination, than Gen. Grants mastery
execution He did not merely, in each
case, acquire a position which was the key
Of wide theater of operations; he did not
merely beat or disable the opposing force;
/ he left no fragment of It in existence except
( as prisoners Of war subject to bis disposal.
Il any body is so obtuse or SO wrong
headed as to see nothing great in Gen.
Grant, beyond his marvellous tenancity Of
wiz, let that doubter explain, if be can, how
il has happened that, since Grant rose to
high command, this quality has always
been exerted 10 conspicuous energy precisely
at the point on which everything in bis
whole sphere Corporations hinged There
has been no display OF great qualities on
small occasions; no expenditure of herculean
effort to accomplish objects not of the first
magnitude. Il is only very clear-sighted
and very Comprehensive mind that could
always thus have laid the whole emphasis
Of an indomitable soul so precisely on the
emphatic Place How, if be be not a
general Of the first order of intellect, as well
a of the most heroic determination, does
il happen that in assigning great and bril-
liant parts to his subordinate commanders,
he has never, whenthe results of his strategy
were fully unfolded, appeared in the picture
except as the central fgure2 However it
may seem during the progress Of one of his
great combined campaigns, it always turns
cut at last. when it reaches that complete
ness and finish ia which he contrives to
have his campaigns end, that Re see him
standing in the foreground, aud that the
grouping is always such that the glory of the
other generals, instead Of eclipsing his own,
gives it additional luster 1t is this sureness
ofjudgement which sees precisely where lies
the turning point; which sees precisely what
are the objects that Justify the utmost
stretch Of persistence; it is this ability to
take ia the whole field of view in Just per-
spective and due subordination of parts,
that is the mark of a superior mind Gen.
Grant has taken out of the hands of all
critics sthequestion whether it belongs to him.
He has won his greatest triumph over the
most skillful and accomplished General on
the other side; over a General who foiled him
long enough to prove his great mastery of
the art Of war and the completeness of
who.e defeat is testimony to Grant
genius such as victory over any other Gen
eral of that Confederacy, or even an earlier
victory over Lee himself, could not have
given Apply to Gen. Grant what test
you viii; measure him by the magnitude Of
the obstacles be has surmounted, BY the
value Of the positions he has gained, by the
fame ofthe antagonist over whom he has
triumphed. by the achievements of his
most iliushious CO workers, by the sureness
wirh which he directs his indomitable energy
to the vital point which is the key Of a vast
field Of ofoperations, or By that supreme test
Of eonsummate ability, the absolute com
Pleteness Of mis- results, and he vindicates his
claim to stand next after Napoleon and
Wellington, among the great soldiers of this
century, if not on a level with the latter
On the Dist of May 1863, the very day
Gen. Grant was nominated the same paper
begins to disparage his merits IN the face
Of its past opinions as expressed in the
above article and attacks him in the follow
ing style.
From, The Horld, Nay q, 1868.
1t was possible for Grant, after
his failure to ight it out on one lin" in
his advance Of 1864 upon Richmond, to Law
ish the lives Of thousands of American sol
djcrs and to expcnd hundreds Of thousands
Of dollars Of the nations treasure upon
new campaign, and so finally wear ana wor-
~ down the strength Of the rebellion which
had already been moTtally wounded by
Meade at Gettysburg
Such is copperhead patriotism Such.
eopperhead consistency But the successful
General, the gallant soldier, the true patri-
OF cannot be hurt by such mendacity. The
honest expression of their sentiments be-
fore being tainted with partisan hatred,
bitterness and lalsehood, win be taken by
the people as the true measure Of merit,
while the partisan abuse that follows win be
justly ignored as the rawlings of disappoint
ed, uuscrupulDus and despairing party lead
ers trying, but 10 vain, to tarnish the bright
ness Of the fame of the man whom they
were unable to control aud use because of
his sterling integrity and devoted patriotism.
THE CoPPERHEAO POLICY.