Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-11-12
UNION SPECTATOR AND GENERAL ADvERTIsER.-
GROVER CLEVELAND.

A few years ago Grover Cleveland, out
side of the limits of the city of Buffalo,
was unknown. He was a plain, modest
man, without aspiring pretensions or eager
longings after preferment. He was known
to be sound and reliable lawyer; OF we'll
balanced mind, and reasonably well edu-
Gated. He was a hard worker, an honest
man, and endued with what Milton styles
''the unconquerable will, the courage never
to submit or yield' to public wrongs or
violations of official duty. He was pos
sessed with the old-fashioned idea, nay,
conviction, that ''public office is sacred
trust;" and so he rather shrank from It's
responsibilities and forbore to seek it
Such, apparently, was all there was OF
Grover Cleveland; seemingly as little like,
ly to come to the font as man OF rapidly
developed power, as one of the few, called
men Of destiny, chosen to grapple with ad-
verse forces and to conquer them-to dis
charge stern duties with unyielding de-
termination-as Thomas j. Jackson ap-
peared to be, when, like an unpretending
citizen, he was seen on his way to take
command at Harper's Ferry. In Jackson,
however, the hidden fire of heroic genius
lay beneath his plain, perhaps cold, exte-
rior. With him, no duty was too lowly
for his reverent regard; no position too
high or great for him to fill; no trusts toe
sacred for him to perform. And SO. men
called him man of destiny, as from COM
parative obscurity, and through obstacles
which none but Jackson could have sur
mounted, he came into the broad light OF
universal fame as, the First Captain of his
age!
Thus far it has seemed to be so with
Cleveland. He has taken three steps
First, from his law-ofice to the Mayoralty
of Buffalo; Second, from this to the post
of Governor of the Empire State of
the Union; and third, from this to
the first Office in the world! There
is something strange, mysterious, almost
awe-inspiring in all this. Apparently,
Cleveland has had little-almost nothing
to do with it all. Each successive step has
been taken in obedience to a Gala com
mand-"to go up higher''-to perform
greater duties-to assume graver response
bilities! Whence, or how, these calls
came, we scarcely know. We only know,
that when they came, he obeyed them, and
that he has never yet faltered in doing the
duties of official trusts. Nay, thus far,
CHS enemies being judges" he has beer
faultless in this regard; and we predict that,
in the future, he will continue to be, as far as
man may! Indeed, we recognize this great
truth: that men CALLED, as Jackson acas,
and as Cleveland has been, to. high duties,
neUer fail. They cannot fail, for the rea-
son that the call is either one from
God, as to which and what is to come OF
it, there can be no mistake; or it comes
from the people, who know what their su-
preme necessities are, and who, with sa-
gacity almost unerring-an instinct near
akin to observation-disclosures and lay hold
of the man; possessing the manhood power,
the true courage and the incorruptible in
tegrity, which fit him to do for them what
their supreme necessities demand.
Whether sent of God, then, or found by
a people in great need, Grover Cleveland
has been chosen for purpose; and that
purpose, we believe, he will surely fulfill.
Nay, according to our view of it, he must
fulfill that purpose, or cease to be the man
he is! And so. by and through him. and with
Gods good blessing, o'tr coantry-yes, we
of the South Can noi1. say. car country
shall have purified government, and with
that, rest and peace andsincrease III pros
perity! And, therefore, we'll may our
readers all rejoice!