New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-10-31
Grant.
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Grant.
1t is not claimed bv his best friends that
General Grant is q brilliant man but bril-
liancy is generally accompanied by qualities
that do not wear well, and the American
people do not pin their faith Overnuch to
brilliant men. Washington was not a bril-
liant man. lie was probably as far from it
as any man who has ever filled the Presi-
dental chair. But he possessed an excellent
Judgment, hard common sense, and we'll
balanced mind that enabled him to do the
right thing at the right time. Lincoln was
anything but brilliant man. His practice
as a lawyer and politician gave him facility
in speaking, and his close sympathy with the
people, and the painstaking care with which
he studied their wishes and needs, enabled
him to embody their best and highest aspi-
ratiOns, as we'll as their real necessities in all
that he said and did. Hard common sense,
pure goodness of heart, and lofty patriot
ism were what gave Lincoln such wonderful
popularity and power. He was a great man,
but not brilliant man.
General Grant has points of resemblance
to both Washington and Lincoln. In re-
spect to his supreme self-reliance, he is like
Washington. During the darkest hours of
the revolutionary war, and when the face of
Washington relied almost wholly on his own
Judgment to fix his course of action. He
held councils of war, and took the advice Of
his true and tried generals, but when the
supreme moment arrived he never shirked
responsibility, but acted on his own judg-
ment, which sometimes differed widely from
that of his counselors. He sometimes re-
treated when they counceled an advance, and
sometimes advanced when they urged re-
treat. History represents him as rather a
silent man, at least, more apt to mature his
plans and purposes in his own mind and
carry them out vigorously than to promulgate
them to the masses, or even unfold them to
those nearest them. Grant is remarkably like
Washington in this respect. 1t is the con-
current testimony of all his staff officers and
subordinate generals that, though he always
took counsel of others, he invariably relied
on his own judgment. Though dillident in
social intercourse he is bold in action, and
his natural shyness never led him to dodge
an issue or shirk responsibility, no matter
how vital the one or weighty the other. He
is, like Washington, reticent man. He
does not carry his opinions around in the
palm of his hand or pin his purposes to his
coat sleeve. He gathers in the matured
opinions and best judgment Of other men,
fuses them in the crucible of common sense,
and turns them out in crisp sentences or in
mighty deeds. Washington was not phrase
maker; neitheris Grant. Neither his natural
bent, his education, nor the habits of his
mind lead him to speech-making; bat many
of the worlds greatest men have not been
speech-makers. Some of the Greeley organs
profess to see great mark Of craftsmanship
in the fact that he can make q thousand
speeches in thousand hours, and that he
can prate about such a variety Of subjects.
His education and practice as an editor have
eminently qualified him to do this. The DIFF
ference between Grant and Greeley on this
head is that the one cannot tell what he
knows, while the other can tell q great deal
more.
A striking point of resemblance to Lincoln
i'm Grants character is his intense American
ism and his implicit confidence in the people.
He is plain and transformations to the last
degree. When Mcclellan was general of
the armies he used to dash about Washing
ton in full uniform with thirty or forty troop
ers at his back, and his movements were as
conspicuous as those of any European mon
arch. Grant used to trot around in undress
uniform, no military sign about him but the
small stars on his shoulders, and accompanied
by only one orderly to hold his horse. Even
now he more generally walks than rides,
seldom appearing on horseback except for
pany with his wife and children. Lincoln
realized that our Government was of the
people and was to be administered for the
people. Grant says, -" have no policy ey-
cept the will of the people" No man ever
lived against whom the cry Of Cesarism and
dictatorship was more absurd. Notwith-
standing his implicit confidence in his own
deliberate judgment, and his readiness to as
sumo all proper responsibility, Grant is too
strict disciplinarian and has too profound
a reverence for the popular will to ever think
of trampling on it or of violating the law.
The laws that Congress makes he executes
rigidly and faithfully. He obeys orders.
What the people, through their representa-
tivcs, direct to be done, he does. No matter
how severe, or how unequal, or how odious
law may be, if it is legally enacted and the
duty put on him of enforcing it, he does it.
This is the habit of his mind and the result
OF his education. He does not cOnstruc stat
utes; he executes them. lie does not legis-
late; he enforccs. lie docs not attempt to
pass laws, but only to apply them. lie does
not fly any kites, nor try any experiments.
He is not brilliant enough to strike out
any new line of government, but is contel}t
to strike close to the ancient landmarks and
the acts of Congress. He is no Fourierite
like Greeley. lie believes in the laws of ma
turc and the experience of mankind. He is
no agrarian, but a believer in the rights OF
property. He has been farmer, but does
not attempt to lecture on the subject and
make a fool of himself like Greeley. He is a
soldier, but gives the credit of all his victories
to those around and under him. He is reticent
butsclf-poiscd, quiet but self-containcd, spar.
ing in words but tremendous in deeds. He
is not o brilliant man, but thoroughly sen.
sible, safe, patriotic, representative Ameri
indianapolis Journal, l4M.
What is called the "funcrap Of Per;
| Hyacinthe has already taken Mace. 1t is