The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1885-08-14
and stand unmoved at her helm, through
the terrors of the storm roaring around

and stand unmoved at her helm, through |
the terrors of the storm roaring around
1t.
There was mt Galena, Ulysses s. Grant,
our dead hero to-day, living in his quiet
home, silent, contemplative, unobserved
and unknown to fame, but he heard the |
mutterings of the coming storm, and
with modesty that 80 adorns conscious
power, said to his friends around him,
~ was educated ut the expense OF my
country, and now | think | should tend
or her my services" lie did, and then
entered upon career that made him
immortal in the annals of our country.
To follow him through that career IL no
part of my task to-day. A whole coun-
try marching To the solemn cadence of
funeral dirge, and the emblems of
mourning shading every Intel in Ameri-
ca, sufficiently attest the notority of the
greatness of the dead. From, u sub
ordinate. position that he accepted with
out repining, he vaulted to the highest
position in the conduct of our armies,
and led them To the full consumnati0n of
our hopes.
To analyze the character and endow-
ments of General Grant, il no difficult
task we find no contradictions or incon-
sistencies in his moral or mental econo-
my to perplex their perfect analysis.
Nothing was hidden under the veil of
policy, nothing was stimulated into
paroxysms by vain and unreasoning
ambition. He presented the spectacle
of u great, harmonious whole, almost
faultless in symetery, like the Parthenon
on the Acropolis, that even in moulder-
ing decay awakens every aspiration of
beauty.
Let us not, in the fullness of our ador-
alton, nor in the pride of race, suffer
ourselves to compare General Grant
with those of the past, who have been
apotheosised by fame, without regarding
the question whether they were the
friends or enemies of mankind.
BY such comparison We only exalt
them above their merit. Why compare
him with Julius Cesar, who on the field
of Pharsalia destroyed the liberties Of
Rome in the wild dream of an imperial
diadem?
Why compare him with Alexander
J the Great, who read his destiny in the
fictitious oracles of the temple of Jupiter
Ammon, and then led the hosts of Mae
edon down the declivity of their fame
into the wild riot of u Babylonian pal
ace?
Why compare him with Napoleon
First, whose deceptive star of destiny
led him over the SHOWS of Russia and
the sands of Egypt, until he Numbered
over PROSTATE France, into the dishon-
ored Mausoleum of the enemy of man
kind?
Let us avoid such comparisons, lest we
belittle higher civilization that model
ed our hero, not for ambition but for the
benefit of his race. Ifyou wish to exalt
the character of Gen. Grant, compare
him with those who have unsheathed
their swords in the interest of humanity
and public Justice. If you wish to exalt
his military prowess, say that he over
matched Gen. Robert F.. Lee, and COM
PEELED him 10 sheathe his sword forever
ut Appomattox, and you will have lifted
) General Grant To the very highest alti-
tude to which comparison can ever exalt
him.
General Grant possessed, in high de-
! gree, those attributes of mind that could
comprehend and perfect combinations in
the structure Of war, reaching across the
, present and far in the future. In addi.
ton to these, he was endowed with an
, uncomfortable will, an unyielding te-
I nacity of purpose, and colossal self reli-
I ance. With endowments like these, he
2 presented to the world a history of even
) uniform, unvarying success, not achieve
ment OF dazzling splendor, and then dis
, asters of unmihgated woe.
E i am sure that in the past many of my
: countrymen have unwittingly done Gen
Grant great injustice. His marked tact
turnity has been construed into inditfer-
ence, u want of sensitiveness and just
: appreciation of his true relations to 9th.
J, ers, as If in arrogance, she bore nc
no Dat l. aat
a modesty, when human pride would often
D have been beguiled into ostentation, and
his uniform difference to the highest
a amenities of life, repel such presump-
ton.
He never invested the performance Of
duty with the glamor of dramatic cir
D cumstances, or the pOmp of asserted tri
: umph. He lived and acted rs if in the
discharge ola sacred trust, and for which
;, he expected no reward but the conscious
; nessof duty performed. When did Gen
Grant ever descend to the exhibition o
I personal pride? Was it when he held
two armies asunder and received the sur
Ssnass Of &sSes II Re s Lam the A as
the Union Haunting above the clouds
, and a sullen foe loosing Its hold on the
! threat of u beleagured army? Was il
when ununifOrmed at Appomattox he
saw the sword of the Confederacy
1 sheathed forever, and the star of his
) glory riding in the zenith? No, at all
, these scenes that now forms epochs IN
) the history of liberty, he appeared but as
! a humble spectator.
The license of party strife and the
venom of chatting rivals have often hurl-
ed their poisoned arrows ut Gen. Grant,
but he has received them all in silence.
They never wounded HIM even to rail-
lery or retOrt. How much they may
have ranked in his bosom, the world
will never know, for to-day we will bury
him and the arrows in the same grave
together.
For many months past Gen. Grant has
been standing in the twilight of eternity,
waiting for the darkness to fade away,
but he has never clutched at time "as If
he were not born to die" he only want
ed to tarry little to finish legacy of
love to those who smOothed his pathway
to the tomb.
!. When, during his long struggle for life,
he knew the whole world was breathing
to the pulsatiOns of his waning heart,
not ray of vanity fitted across his de-
meanor; neither did he formulate any
sententious passages as the dying words
Of Gen. Grant to give piquancy to his
pOsthumous fame. As the mother who
bore, talked to him in the cradle that
rocked his infancy, so he talked to those
around him when death was leading HIM
away.
OF all the virtues that shed luster on
the fame of Gen. Grant, his magnanimity
fills the highest niche. No panegyric
can overdress it, no gratitude can over
draw It. lie fought for peace and not
for power. lie fought To unite and not
to divide. Hisgreatness of soul at Apo
mattox established no distinction be-
tween the conqueror and the conquered,
and evolved a principle of mutual re-
spect, that finally triumphcd over wound.
eel pride, over vengeance that was not
satisfied with its tribute of humiliation,
over the selfish assumptions of hostile
parties that regarded their own exist
ence as paramount to the reunion of a
scattered fold, principle that ut last en-
vironed the new republic with massive
rable of patriotic devotion.
Gen. Grant closed his eyes upon
country bereft of every hcrcsy that could
mock at the equality OF man. lie SAW il
rebuild upon grander scale the temple
of American concord, and us its rising |
dome illumined the blue cmpyrion
above, he wrote around its whole circum-
ference "let US have peace" forever. |
May the dismal echo of war never mock |
ut this patriots prayer, or break the end |
less silence of his tomb.
What spectacle the earth presents to.
day. Europe sends its plaudits career
ing over the ocean, and uncoilsciolsly
Yields an honest tribute to those aspira-
lions Of human right, that have for ages
dashed in fruitless frenzy against her