The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-05-08
Grants Greeting in Memphis.

Gen. Grant to-day with generos7
and manly welcome. They will rec
ognize in him the great leader Of 1''T
Northern people during the CIV
war, the man whom that people a*
light to honor as their hero. tF
will greet him as the soldier Ne
magnanimity twicepreventedthen 2 -
initiation of our greatest soldier &
hero, the immortal Lee. They VILE
greet him as the soldier who rei0 i0seq
to make scene of the surrenQef fy
Appamattox, and whose thoughtiu
ness preserved to onr officers tlpE
ssKk-sls and to our ifsErI lieSE q :,.,.2 4
and horses with which to begin tie.
labors of civil strife after four years
of bloody, iruitless strife. They will
greet him as the soldier who in;er-
posed to save our brave Confederate
troops from the harrasSments and
annOyances and the degradations
that Radical malignancy had prepar-
ed for them as the finale of party
vengeance. They will greet him as
the idolized leader of the millions
who from every part of the North
ern and Western States ofthe Union
sent US in the years of plague an
unstinted help in moLey and men
and women, accompanied by ten
der and Christian sOlicitude for our
sick and dying. He is their repre-
sentative, the man whom above all
others they delight to honor. For
this, putting away the record of the
party whose inStrument-possibly
against his better nature-he became,
the people of Memphis will take him
cordially by the hand. They will re
call the traits of character whose
most prominent faults, even from our
extreme poiut Of view, lie at the
door of his coed nature, his love of
friends, his devotion to those who at
any time, especially in his hours of
need, have kindly served him. They
will put aside political differences
and self respecting will entertain the
soldier who 10 years ago rounded a
great career by acts that sounded the
very depths of a noble nature and
that were contrast with the then
prevalent tsentimentthat he stemned
in their accomplishment. He is our
fellow citizen He is an American.
Now, while the record of the sec.
items is still open, while history is
still! recording the evidences of the
great struggle, while so many of the
participants on both sides still sur.
vive as active agents of the people
in the administration, or in legislat.
ing for the administration, of the re-
stored government, it is too much to
| expect oblivion as to acts that haye
left their sting and smart to fret and
worry us even TO this very hour. But
if we recall the events that haye
chased each other SO rapidly since
the eyes of thu beloved commander
al Appomattox were blinded by the
tears of the sorest trial of his life,
we shall find that We have reason,
abundant reason, to be thankful that
in so short a time we are again as free
men, with none to make us afraid,
that we are again in possession of the
States the fathers and pioneers fash
ioned out of the wilderness, that all
the comities between the States Of
the American Union are restored,
that the Union itself, to which the
South contributed so much of brains
and blood, is stronger than eyer
stronger in it's attitude toward the
world beyond, and stronger in the af-
fections of the people. Looking back
along the pages of the history of our
race, we find no parallel to this.
Even to our own day the hate OF
England's greatest'ruler, Cromwell,
is perpetuated by intelligent raen.
The discOrdS, contentious and feudS
born Of political differences have for
700 years marked the course of par
ties in Ireland. In SpaIn, three fac
tions, fired to an intensity OF zeal
by the remembrances of the past,
wait the opportunity to seize the
throne of Alfonso; and in France,
the Legitimist, the Orleanist and the
Imperialist perpetnate contentious
which daily threaten the safety OF
the Republic. Unlike Germany we
have neither an Alsaco nor a Lor-
raine. Only here in this land. where
strong common sense tempers all we
do, was it possible for the surging
sea OF war to subside, and for the
genius of the people to evoke by their
fiat and their will an effective "Peace
be STILL" In the life of nation 10
years is but as day. Yesterday we
were at each others throats to-day
peace reigns in all our borders, and
we are enjoying the overhowing
fruits Of many industries, making
the whole world our market. The