Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1868-07-30
General Grant ms a statesman.
From lie Life IF Ulysses s. Grant, ty Charles
Ia't aud j. II. Wilson, Brsaet Major Gene,

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great objects we have enumerated require
something in addition to mere soldierl
qualities, and that the tasks were of such
complex character that their successful per
formance demanded the talents OF states
man not less than those of warrior.
Inc advocates OF the contrary theory will
IN proof OF their assertion, cite the fact tina
Grant has never held civil offices of trus
and influence; that he has never been
member OF legislative body, nor the Gov
ernor OF Stated represented his country
at foreign courts, nor conducted diplomat,
correspondence, nor been accustomed to ad
dress popular assemblies on public cues
IONS, nor even mingled in politics. All thi
must be admitted. Grant has never been al
olllce-holder, nor an ofiice-seeker, nor par
tisan politician. He has issued orders fo
the government of millions of men through
years of peril, but he has never delivered
speech IN Congress, nor shonc as stump
orator, He has planned campaigns, pro
CANNED truces, received the equalization o
cities, and negotiated the terms of surrender
OF an armed Confederacy, but he has neye
waited in the presence chamber of Kings
nor wcaried the patience of Ambassador
with yapid diplomatic dispatches. His ge
MUS has been invoked to save republic O
lorty millions of people IN war, and his wis
uom 10 reconstruct shattered Union O
thirty seven States in peace but he has neve
sent an annual message to Legislature OF
to q Common Council of city.
Those who would measure the extent
ones abilities as a statesman by the number
OF offices he has held, should remember tha
Washington, Franklin, Knox, Hamilton
jackson, Taylor, and LINCOLN had nevel
had much official training or experience o
any sort in civil affairs, and especially il
| legislation, till they were called to discharge
the highest civic trusts. Knox and Hamil
ton went almost directly from the camp into
the Cabinet of Washington; LINCOLN had
only served single term in the lower branch
of Congress when he was summoned to the
Executive Mansion; and Taylor cast his first
vote at the polls at the election when he
| himself was successful candidate for the
Presidency. Though enthusiastic parties
rallied around Washington, Jay, Madison,
Monroe. Writ, Tompkins, jackson, Calhoun,
| and Taylor, and bore them into office, they
were never, in the popular acceptance of the
| term, politicians; they never breathed the
fetid air OF the caucus; they never addressed
political meetings; but their countrymen,
testing their character and achievements by
no such narrow standard, have ranked them
among the great statesmen of their times.
Now, we are not claiming that Grant is
the equal OF all these eminent civilians, but
only citing their lives to show that it does
not necessarily follow that men do not DOS
sess statesmanlike qualities merely because
they are not partisan politicians or have not
been trained in particular routine of civil
employments. 1t would be thought tlattery
to assert that Grant is the peer Of many of
the distinguished characters Just named !:
but he is certainly entitled to place in that
class Of men of whom Franklin, Knox,
jackson, Taylor, and LINCOLN were illus
trious types.
u hardly admits OF question that his edu-
cation was better adapted to fit him for
craftsmanship, than that afforded by most
OF the higher grade of colleges in this coun-
try. The Academy at West Point, not only
thoroughly tests and trains the intellectual
faculties, but its routine of studies embraces
law in its application to the ruling OF States,
the history of nations, policical economy,
the Federal Constitution, and the general
science of civil Government. He passed the
severe ordeal Of the academy with great
credit. Moreover, he possesses in large
measure those native qualities and cultivated
habits which enable one to supply deficien-
ces resulting from want of experience in the
conduct OF civil affairs. He has quickness
- DlChubl vi comprehension,
patient industry, pcrsistency of purpose,
self-reliance, and common sense; and, bet
ter even than these, he has had seven years
discipline in one of the greatest schools of
modern times, wherein he has been con-
stantly engaged In dealing with some of the
most important and intricate concerns, poll
tical and military, ever entrusted to the care
of a civilian or soldier.
Grant entered this Incompatible school on
the firing of the signal gun at Sumter.
Through the earlier portion of these seven
years, he was one of its most assiduous and
apt scholars. For the remainder of the pe-
Rod he was one of its ablest and most sue
cessftl masters. He who regards him as
mere soldier in an era so crowded with civil,
social, financial, and military events of the
first magnitude, takes a narrow and one
sided view OF the part he performed in this
grand chapter of the worlds history.
1t is the misfortune of distinguished mill
tary chiettains, that their achievements in
the field SO attract and dazzle the eye, that
observers are wont to overlook their less
brilliant but otttimes equally valuable servi-
ces in dealing with political matters of
quasi civil nature. Viewed in this ASPECT,
Grants position is not unlike that of We'll
linglon, whom, it may be remarked, he
somewhat resembles in the salient points of
his character The political aid rendered by
Wellington to the cause of the allies during
the five years he commanded in the Spanish
Peninsula, was as important as his military
campaigns. Though the British Cabinet
knew that throughout these five years much
Of his time and patience were spent in heal
ing the strife of political factions, regulating
the administration of justice, counseliing
with the feeble and impracticable Ministers
Of Portugal, and debating policy to the
proud and implacable grandees of Spain, it
was not till long afterward that these facts
became known to even the well-lnformed
who had only recognized
him on that theatre of his exploits, as the
hero of Vimeira, Talavera, and Vittoria,
and the masses of our citizens not aware of |
Grants civil services during the past five
years, only know him as the conqueror at |
Donelson, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, and the |
The like statement may be made respect |
ng General Scott. His military record is |
I'll aglow with brilliant deeds. But his civil |
abors were hardly less important than these,
.hough for years they were unknown to the |
5reat majority of his countrymen. Through
out his life he was skillful negotiator, and |
lpt at dealing with embarrassing public 1ucs-
ions, more than once by his informal inter
IcntioIi afcrhilS TIC CalanltleS Oh war. But |
Scott lived SO long that his fellow citizens
became familiar with his good deeds as a |
and they now revere his memory
lot less for these than for his more dazzling
exploits in the field.
In suggesting this comparison between
Grant and the two distinguished soldiers
ust mentioned, it need hardly be added that
he parallel does not run ON all-fours; for it
would be absurd to imagine that in all par
iculars he was the counterpart of two men
who but slightly resembled each other; and
IS we have seen, as soldier he is greatly
hyperion to either. But there were points
II the character of Wellington and Scott be-
ide those already named, which bear q
triking likeness to traits in the character of
trant.
Like Wellington, Grant is reserved in
manner and speech; apt to give dry, curt
nswers to those who would pry into his
thoughts; accustomed to state the conclu-
ions at which he has arrived without de-
ailing the mental processes through which
lie reached them; thoroughly dgesting plans
his own mind ere he announces them to
'thers; accurate in his own estimate of
haracter, so that in selecting his subordi-
lates and coadjutors he intuitively puts "the
ight man in the right place." with cool
nd impaSsiye exterior through which hows |