The Portland daily press., 1885-08-10


has most distinguished him. To him
who led the armies of the North to victory
and final success in the fearful conflict that al
most rent asunder the bonds of our Union. a
grateful and admiring people will ascribe many
virtues and excellences. With such soldierly
qualities, common to other renowned COM
manders, skill in the disposition of his own
men, correct conjecture as to the probable
combinations and movements of his opponent
patience self reliance and religious conyic
ton that both he and his men had the righs to
die for their country and their cause; bred
apparently i'll a school like that of the Spartan
youths-whose whole instruction consisted in
learning obedience to their superiors, the
endurance of all hardships, and to
conquer or die in war;
while submissive himself to higher authority,
he enforced unquestioning obedience upon his
subordinates; while indulgent to the express
sion of apprehensive counsels in those who
would be his advisers he was yet stern, and
unyielding as fate in pursuance of a resolve
once formed; confident in himself and with
almost superstitious faith in his own DESTINY
he prepared no lines of retreat; but with a
tenacity Of purpose hard as the ice of the
Polar seas that the summer sun cannot thaw,
still but irresistible as the food of tie ocean
tides, with the single thought, to win-if need
be to die-he moved onward and onward,
crushing ard grinding like the mills of God,
all opposing forces
Constant as the Northern Star,
OF whose true-iXed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the armament.
The skies are painted with unnumberd sparks;
They all are fire, and every one doth shine;
But there's but one in all doth hold his place.
But we "eome to bury Caesar not to praise
him. The gallant soldiers who shared his
hardships and his trirmphs shed bitter tears
at the portals Of that open tomb where they
have laid their comrade and friend. The great
party, which fastened to crown with bays the
victorious hero end place in his guardian care
the Union he had done so much to preserve,
mourn, with healts bowed down with reverent
grief, the loss Of their most ilustrious leader.
The men who, holding resolutely to the
support of those theories of gov
eminent they had learned of their fathers,
opposed his civil administration, now stand
with uncovered heads around the bier of the
modest, unambitious soldier, the friend who
did more than "bear friends infrmities,' the
NOBLE true man who sacrificed his pride on the
altar of his conscience. But more than all
the subjects of his conquering arms, their
shields lowered, their swords broken and
their colofs dragged in the dust then con-
soothed the tortured spirit of their idol hero
through the generous terms of amnesty grant
ed the yanquished army and the fearless
assertion Of his determination to protect them
against threatened invasion of that amnesty
-subdued by kindness more, even, than by
arms, are pouring forth expressions of SYM
pathy, and forgetting the evils they endured,
looking with admiration upon the great
American soldier, whose fame is their
pride as WELL uniting with those whose
sorrow is truest and deepest, speak
tender and loving words of him who in
their hour of bitter despair, became their pro-
tector, benefactor and friend.
But there are many who will think it was
not as the arbiter of nations destiny that
General Grant developed the highest attri-
butes of manhood. He says, although a
soldier by profession 1 have never felt any sort
offondness for war; and have never advocated
it except as a means of peace" His friend
ships were as delicate as they were strong
'sNo reserve ever wounded, no distrust ever
destroyed" He recognized the greet natural
law that virtue expressed in self denial JUS
tee to all men and unselfsh devotion to fam
lily and friends, was the only and true source
of happiness; and with much more fitness tnan
the Greet Cardinal he could have said.
Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy Country's,
Thy Gods and Truths.
More than any man who has occupied So
conspicuous place before the country, he has,
after Withdrawing from public life and leaving
behind the power of rewarding adherents
grown in the respect, esteem and affection of
his countrymen. And may we not all give
expression to those feelingsI For do we not
all realize that he alone is great who triumphs
over circumstances and he who
conquers Fate is the only con-
queror! If it was grand to meet a
great emergency, to hold immense armies in
control and WELD the sword which shonld, like
the flaming sword of the Angel at the gate of
Paradise, forever bar the way to rank trans
gression and its kindred ills, was it not quite
as grand to meet, undismayed, the silent enemy
who daily sapped his life blood but in whose
grim presence he tered no faltering word nor
bated one jot of his manly dignity and self
control Napoleon, that lion chained to the
ocean rock, might well move the pity of the
world: for, in his solitude, he could only re-
call the empty triumphs that wore the lurid
light Of conquest. His last hours could never
be cheered by the serene consciousness of
great duty achieved and a great people led by
his hand to enduring unity and grandeur.
How grand this last exhibition of courage
endurance and calm satisfaction with life
well spent. For months, alone, he has quietly
looked into the face of death. While with
other men, the companionship of family and
friends gives courage and apparent support;
to this silent impressionless mfn with his
cold, sad introspection no deceptive prognosti-
cation of professional advisers, no hopeful
words of affection could becloud his clear
Judgment raise doubt as to the certainty of
his doom, or cheer him with thought of fellow
ship or succor in his last great battle.
He was not thinking of reward or punish
ment. He had long since obtained mastery
over passion and feeling. In true harmony
with himself he believed in virtue for its own
sake. Had he expected humiliation instead
Of immortality he would have borne his pain
and suffering with like calm endurance and
thoughtful, unselfish regard for the feelings of
wife and children and friends; he would have
looked in the face of death with
the same unfinching courage and
stoical indifference, grieving only at the
sorrow his death would bring to those near
md dear to him. He was buoyed up by no
martyrs exaltation. His imagination pictured
40 angels coming to bear him in their arms
He realized that he must walk alone through
he dark valley; and that neither the glory of
lis achievements nor the admiration of world
could aid him, his virtues alone his rod and
lis staff
For here resistless demonstration tlwells;
A death-bed's detector of the heart.
Here tired dissimulation drops her mask,
Here real and apparent are the same
You see the man; you see his hold on heay'n;
Whatever farce the boastfuI hero plays
Virtue alone has majesty in death.
Gen. Anderson was followed by Hon. w.
y. Putnam, the last speaker, whose remarks
ollow
SINGLE THOUGHT
/ desire to call your attention to but one
bought AT sunrise on Tuesday last the artillery
men fired single gun from Mt. McGregor
The cables and telegraphs lookup the reverber-
tions of that gun and they were repeated wher-
yer civilization exists.
The thoughts of those who heard them were
aiken back over the whole bloody period of our
var, and were carried forward an infinite dis
aDce in the future. The sound of that gun was
rot that OF t1nkling cymbal, nor did it aspire
o be the music of the spheres, it was but the
ound of single cannon. 1t was dull but it was
leep-mouthed and firm; and that gun-that sin
lie, deep-mouthed gun-with its report carried
round the whole of this great world, and car
led to an infinite distance in the future, to my
mind represents the greatest trait in the char
cter of Geu. Grant, his simplicity and
of purpose. Wemay call it logged
less, we may call it what we please; but to my
mind 1t was more than dOggedness. 1t was sim
,licity of purpose and truth to self, combined
With certain rare qualities which we hardly see
iven to more than one man in the course of
generation.
We have been told that he was man of few
words. This was part of this great trait of
lis simplicity. 1.-The shadows murmur but the |