The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1878-08-01
Grant and Bismarck,

4 -
Herald describes the visit Gen. Grant
paid to Bismarck in Berlin: The Gen
eral saunters into the courtyard and
the sentinels eye him for moment, curl.
ously, and then present arms. His visit
has been expected, but certainly an ex-
President Of the United States would
come in a carriage and six, and not
quietly on foot-throwing away half
smoked cigar as he raises his hat in
honor of the salute, he advances to the
door, but before he has time to ring, two
servants throw them open, and he passes
into an open marble hall. Of all princes
now living, this is, perhaps, the most re-
nowned-this of Bismarck-Schinhausen
who comes with swinging, bending
gait through the opened and opening
doors, with both hands extended to meet
the General. You note that time has
borne heavily on the Prince these past
few years. The iron-gray hair and mus
tache are almost white; there is weari-
ness in the gait, tired look in the face.
The Prince wears an officers uniform,
and on taking the Generals hand, says
he, +" Glad to welcome Gen. Grant to
Germany"
The General answered that there was
no incident in his German tour that
more interested him than the opportu-
nifty of meeting the FRINGE. Bismarck
expressed surprise at seeing the General
so young man, but on comparison of
ages it was found that Bismarck was
only seven years the Generals senior.
"That," said the Prince, shows the
value of military life, for here you
have the frame of young man, while 1
feel like an old man."
The General, smiling, announced that
he was at that period of life when he
could have no higher compliment than
being called young man. By this
time the Prince had escorted the Gen
eral to chair.
One of the Princes first questions
was about Gen. Sheridan.
"The General and I" said the Prince,
"were fellow campaigners in France,
and we became great friends"
Gen. Grant said that he had had let
tiers from Sheridan recently, and he was
quite well.
Sheridan" said the Prince, " seemed
to be man Of great ability"
eyes," answered the General, {" I re-
gard Sheridan as not only one of the
great soldiers of our war, but one Of the
great soldiers of the world-as man
who is fit for the highest commands.
No better General ever lived than Sher-
idan."
81 observed" said the Prince, that
he had wonderfully quick eye. On
one occasion, I remember, the Emperor
and his staff took up position to OBJ
serve battle. The Emperor himself
was never near enough to the front
was always impatient to be as near the
fighting as possible. WELL said Sher-
idan to me, as we rode along, we shall
never stay here; the enemy will in a
short time make this SO untenable that
we shall all be leaving in a hurry.
Then, while the men are advancing, they
will see us retreating.' Sure enough, in
an hour or so, the cannon shot began to
plunge this way and that way, and we
saw we must leave. 1t was difficult to
move the Emperor, however; but we all
had to go, and," said the Prince, with a
hearty laugh, eve went rapidly. Sher-
idan had seen it from the beginning. 1
wish I had SO quick an eye."
The Prince then asked about Sher-
idan's commapd-his exact rank, his
age, how long he held the command, and
remarked that he was about the same
age as the Crown Prince.
The conversation next turned on the
attempted assassination of Kaiser Will
helm. The General said the act was
specially terrible in view of the age of
the intended victim, compared the deed
with Lincoln's murder, and said he was
not sure but that it should be severely
punished. Bismarck agreed that there
should be no Communication of sentence.
Our late war was then taken up.
" You are SO happily placed" said the
Prince, ]" in America that you need fear
no war. What always seemed SO sad to
me about your last great war was that
you were fighting your own people.
That is always so terrible in wars, so
very hard"
"But it had to be done," said the
General.
Yes," said the Prince, "you had to
save the Union just as we had to save
Germany"
"Not only save the Union, but de-
stroy slavery" answered the General.
~ suppose, however, the Union was
the real sentiment, the dominant senti-
ment," said the Prince.
In the beginning, yes," said the
General; "but as soon as slavery fired
upon the flag, it was felt, we all felt,
even those who did not object to slaves
felt that slavery must be destroyed
We felt that it was stain to the Union
that men should be bought and sold
like CATTLE"
81 had an old and good friend, an
American, Motley" said the Prince
"who used to write me now and then
Well, when your war broke out hs
wrote me. ae said: / will make s
prophecy, and please take this letter anc
put it in tree or box for ten years
then open it and see if I am not {
prophet. 1 prophesy that when thi
war ends the Union will be established
and we shall not lose a village or ham
let. This was Motley's prophecy" sait
the Prince, with smile, "and it wa
true"
eyes," said the General, cit wa
true"
81 suppose if you had had larg
army at the beginning of the war i
would have ended in a much shorte
time"
"We might have had no war at all,
said the General, "but we can not tell
Our war had many strange features
many things which seemed old enougl
at the time, but which now seem prov
Dental. If we had had large regula
army, as it was then constituted,
might have gone with the South. 1
fact the Southern feeling in the arm
among high officers was SO strong this
when the war broke out the army di
solved. We had no army-then we ha
to organize one. A great commando
like Sherman or Sheridan even the
might have organized an army and pu
down the rebellion in six months or
year, or at the furthest, two years. Bu
that would have saved slavery perhap
and slavery meant the germs of the ne
} rebellion. There had to be an end {
, slavery. Then we were fighting a
enemy with whom we could not make