The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1885-04-11

it is meant by this that some other mer
had more of abandon and of a head.
long rashness, it may be granted !; but
he had what was vastly better,
A SOUND MILITARY JUDGMENT,
which enabled him to combine immense
and long protracted military operations,
and to calculate results with nearly alb
solute precision. Only an intellect OF
the broadcast grasp and of the greatest
c!earness and accuracy could have COM
pretended and planned the almost in
ilnitely various movements of the IN
ion armies, which finally closed around
the rebellion and strangled it to death.
1t was an exhibition Of intellectual
power which not only sets him among
the greatest of military captains, but
among the greatest men Of the world.
If there could have been any doubt
of this at the close of the war, his civil
career since has dispelled it all. Twice
called to the presidency, when our
foreign relations needed the wisest and
most careful treatment, he so admins
tered his high office as to command
the respect Of mankind, in this and in
other lands.
HIS VIEWS
on finance, on education, on immigra-
ton, on the rights Of citizens, and on
duty ofthe government to protect them,
here and elsewhere his Indian policy,
and his strong and just foreign policy,
all prove him to be as broad and able
and clear headed IN craftsmanship as
he is in generalshlp.
And yet not a few will have 1t that
General Grant is merely military man,
limited i'll scholarship, in the range of
his reading, in the breadth of his
thought, and in his capacity for affairs.
In confirmation of this we are referred
to his inability or indisposition for pop
ular address, and to his distaste for
what is called literary work. He is a
silent man, it is said less wise than he
seems; he enjoys the dash over the
road, the chase across the country,
more than he does the atlantic
Monthly or the latest novel.
Such critics forget that the glibbest
men are oftentimes the shallowest, and
that the most voracious bookmen are
frequently the weakest and most imma-
ture. These critics ought to know that
every healthy robust nature loves the
open air and those domestic animals
which give man the sense of a freer,
larger life. The time which common
men spend over books, in mastering
other mems thoughts, General Grant
spends in mastering and maturing his
own. What he knows he has thought,
Edown and through, for himself. His
mental insight, pure and simple, unaf-
fected by learned quirks and bubbles,
goes straight to the heart of his subject
In the great offices which he has adj
ministered he has never been lacking
Had he made constitutional or inter
national law special study he could
hardly have guided our affairs, home OF
foreign, more wisely than he did. His
HONEST JUDGMENT
and his thorough common sense simply
reduced to practice certain broad prin,
ciples of equity and justice, which were
matters both of intuition and intelli-
gence, and the result was an admins
tration as brilliant as it was strong and
just.
Test him by a comparison with the
best men of his own cabinet, and he
suffers nothing in the comparison. No
one Of them ever got the impression
that his chief needed his advice in or
der to know how to proceed. 1t wa:
no uncommon thing for him to ask the
opinions of his cabinet in doubtful
matter, and then to announce his Owl
decision in such manner as to show
that he had reached his conclusions by
a thorough study of the case. If he i:
not the great man that he is supposed
to be, it is little singular that the alb
lest men, who have known him best
accord to him the highest capacity fol
affairs.
Test him, moreover, by his power te
condense his thought into words which
drop into language, and become par
of the everyday speech of men, and i
may be questioned whether there is an
other man Of his generation who ha
said so many things that will live. How
many sermons and orations such say
ings as these have pointed and embel
f lished: The only terms l have to
offer are unconditional surrender" 90
intend to fight it out on this line if i
takes call summer" LET us havt
peace. "Now is the time to driv,
them" II have no time to bury m,
own dead, and shall advance at once.
1t should be said at this point, tha
5 HIS MORAL QUALITIES
are fit counterpart of his intellectual
qualities. And l include in the tern
moral qualities" both the sensibilitie
and the will. There is an impression
, quite general, we think, that he lack
the finer and gentler feelings of GU
, nature. The mistake is perhaps nat
+ ural, but arises from the tact that PEG
t pie judge him from their standpoint
l and not from his own Like the sur
geon who probes the wound or ampu
tates the limb, his profession has bee