The New York herald., 1879-09-21
General Grants Return to His Native
Country.

The steamship City of Toxic, in which
General Grant embarked for his homeward
voyage has filled the ordinary term of her
trips and has arrived in the harbor of San
Francisco. The long expectant people of
San Francisco have been for some days pre-
pared to give suitable welcome to the
illustrious soldier, statesman and traveller,
who though simple citizen. occupies
larger space in the worlds regard than the
proudest contemporary heirs OF ancient
thrones
There is no living man whose career can
be compared with that of General Grant.
If we view him merely as a soldier, there is
no soldier since Bonaparte and Wellington
who has accomplished equal results. He
has. indeed greater resemblance to Well
ington than to Bonaparte; fer the daring
and impulsive genius of the first
Napoleon ranks him in the high
est order Of military genius and makes
him the one modern compeer Of Alexander,
Hannibal and Caesar, the three most illus
trious captains of antiquity. But it Gen.
eral Grant has no title to be ranked with
profession, whose fame is not for day, but
for all time, he has just claim to be
classed with Turenne. with Frederick the
Great, with Wellington and Moltke. next
to Napoleon the most successful command
ers of modern times, and to be placed at
the head Of any list from which the great
Bonaparte is excluded.
Tba u.>1an ~ ~
tions in the many countries through which
he has travelled was principally owing to
his great fame as a soldier. While it is
true that nothing SO fascinates the multi
tude as brilliant military achievements it
is equally true that nothing SO recommends
man to the attentions and courtesies of
mobiles and monarchs. The profession in
which General Grant won his great renown
is the one profession which members of the
proudest aristocracies and scions of the
most illustrious royal houses think it not be-
meath them to practice. Even monarchs deem
it not below their dignity to wear military
uniform, and their willingness to bear the
sham insignia OF military rank attests their
respect for military talents. On this point
the loftiest and the lowliest orders Of
society are ut one; the great warlike achieve
ments which dazzle the multitude exert IN
equally potent fascination in the highest
circles of royalty and nobility. Not
merely in popular estimation but in the es-
imation of monarchs and the leaders of
society resplendent military achievements
constitute the best passport to enthusi-
astic recognition.
We should be slow to admit that this is q
false estimate of merit. The independence
and freedom Of nations depend ON their
ability to defend themselves against aggres-
sion. 1t is their military achievements
that have made great nations illustrious.
What would Prussia have been without the
great Frederick? What would have been
the condition of England if yelling on
had been defeated in the Spanish PENN
sula and at Waterloo? How could the
American Republic have been established
if Washington had been an unsuccessful
general, or how could the Union have been
preserved ii Grant had not been the first
military character of his age? The whole
course Of civilization ancient and modern,
has been determined by military victories.
Why have Salamis and Marathon been such
potent names for twenty centuries if great
military victories are not the turning points
in the life of nations? 1, is the general
voice o the world that the victories of Gem
eral Grant saved the great American Re-
public, and it is not surprising that all the
world has done homage to the first military
character Of the age.
We imagine that the high civil digniiies
conferred on General Grant by his CRATE
| full countrymen have had but slight in
fuence in the honors paid him by the lead
| ing potentates of the time. No mere ex-
President of the United States regarded in
his capacity of civil ruler, could have
called forth the impressive demonstra-
tions of respect which have greeted Gen
eral Grant from the beginning to the end
of his travels. 1t is his brilliant military
renown which has loomed above his other
claims to consideration and made him the
most honored traveller that ever accom-
plished circuit among the nations of the
world.
The career of General Grant comprises an
Iliad and an Odyssey, and something
more In the fabulous ages of the world
he would have combined the interest which
attaches to Agamemnon with the interest
which attaches to Ulysses, eclipsing the
military renown of the former and surpass-
| ing the fame Of the latter as a wanderer
through all the lands and all the seas of the
habitable globe In the whole history Of the
world, in the whole romance of the world,
there is no career like that of General
Grant. Who of crowned monarchs could
have made the circuit Of civilization with so
many distinguished marks of honor? Who
of contemporary military men could have