Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-07-30

rent the popular neart when Wasnlng.on.
| that other grand commander, was caleo 20
i his reward Just at the close OF the lasI cen.
tury. General Grant has been helo IA Pc
| the whole Union OF late years, and nothing
more touching or beautiful has ever been
| witnessed than the universal sympathy anu
| tenderness with which they watched over
his last hours of WEAKNESS, weakness ana
suffering. The fatal end has been seen ap,-
| preaching stealthily but with cruel and re.
fentless steps, and the brave old hero fac
| ing death with imperturbable and undis-
rs stic and impressive picture, but one eI-
uuisitely in keeping with the dying mans
character. He showed no fear or deatn,
which he had seen in close prox1mlty ana
the battlefield never subjected him to 2
more awful strain than the slow sapping or
his vitality f,y the dread and insidious disc
ease which had seized him in its remorse.
less grasp. To this stricken man, caughs
in a power before which. even bis
iron will was hopeless, the popular
heart went out, and it is not too
much to say that could others
have assumed the burden of his woe, hum
dreds of chivalric souls would have been
ready to take upon themselves the pain
and weakness and death, even, to reileve
the illustrious sufferer and spare MN TO
the country. But it could not be, and tne
dauntless leader on many bloody battie-
angel in a struggle that must have but one
sad ending.
1t is not easy, within the narrow confines
of a newspaper article, TO do full justice
to the extraordinary character OF General
Grant Doubtless the eminence he VIII
occupy in history will be due chiefly TO MS
military achievements, and this Will De
natural and just. But to the generation
contemporaneous with him he has pre-
sented in his personal attributes many
claims upon the popular regard dissoclated
from his purely military career--or
rather, he was seen TO CON-
bine in that career the quali-
ties which most strongly appeal to Amerl-
cans for recognition and approval he
was grounded in simple principles OF man
illness and probity which distinguished him
all through his marvellous course, and ne
rose from obscurity to greatness and sue
cess by sheer force of merit and innate
ability. 1t is folly to talk of such men
coming to the front by accident. a
theologian has said that when the Al
The life of General Grant would seem to
verify this. From infancy to the break
ing out of the war his training had been
of the kind to fit him for the place destiny
had prepared for him, and his appearance
upon the stage of war was but the natural
and simple working out of events which
made him a necessity and brought his ca
pacity into play. He came to the front as
the leader Of our armies because it was seen
he had the ability to command, and
no higher proof of Lincoln's craftsmanship
and sagacity was given than when the
great war President discerned Grants UNI
assuming merit and placed him in undis-
puted control of the operations against the
Confederacy. How well Grant indicated
the trust reposed in him, the triumph of the
Union cause following plans mapped out
by him remains to testify for all time. 1t
was not of his own seeking that he became
President. 1t was in obedience to the
peoples will, and there can not be the
least doubt that his own preference would
have been to remain at the head of the
army in the high and congenial office
created for him by Congress But
the same simple principle which always
dominated his life made Difference to the
popular wish duty, and he cheerfully
accepted it. His Presidential term of
service fell upon the troublous reconstruct
ton period, and some of his acts awoke
bitter personal, factional and partisan hos
Utility; but through every executive step
taken by him can be traced the desire to
do strict and impartial justice and to serve
the best interests Of all the people of every
section. This has become so apparent that
the most malevolent political criticism
long since spent it's force, and the value of
Grants services as President has been con-
coded without question or reservation.
In his private life General Grant has
been model Of uprightness and propriety,
his devotion to his family being one of his
distinguishing characteristics. So, from
whatever point we view him, he stands
'9four square to every wind that blows"
The errors he made and the misfortunes
that overlook him were due not to weak
ness or moral lapses on his own part, but
to too great confidence in men who were
unworthy and abused the TRUST reposed in
them by one too honest and true himself to
suspect Implicitly in others. He was of the
type that the world loves and admires,
and all who are capable of approaching
real nobility of character will weep in COM
mon with the American people as they
realize the loss of this trulyigreat and good
M