The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-07-30
The End at Last.

The End at Last.
OF General Grant it may be said with pc
,uliar appropriateness He has fought a
good fight, he has finished his course, he has
kept the faith. The life that closed at
Mt. McGregor on Thursday last was full
grown. 1t measured up to rounded COM
pleteness. 1t lowered a column of splen-
did symmetry, massive in its strength and
beautiful in its simplicity. 1t sounded all
the deeps and shoals of human greatness
and left its impress on the nations heart
and life.
The career of General Grant was dis
tinctively American. Twenty-Five years
ago he was. scarcely known outside of the
limits of neighborhood circle. In the
fiery crucible Of war the metal Of the man
was tested, and from that trying ordeal he
came forth chieftest of the laurel-crowned
victors. From the day he enlisted at the
head of a volunteer company, until on the
field of Appomattox he saw the star of the
Confederacy go down forever, whilst his
own name blazed across the red trail of
Mars in letters of inextinguishable lustre,
his upward course was series OF successive
triumphs. There was no backward step
Whatever ground he gained was held. His
victories were not the result of chance.
They were won by an iron will and logged
determination that defied the very dice of
destiny. Where others faltered and lost,
he pressed forward to new conquests.
Upon the broken regulations of the great
military captains of his day he strobe up
ward until the eyes of the nation centered
upon him and the faith of the people was
his without question. And when the
work of destruction was ended, then it was
that Grant IS true nobility of character
shone forth. In the record of his career
no brighter page can be found than that
upon which is written the terms of Lees
surrender The magnanimlty of that act
will live, not only in history, but in the
hearts of the survivors of the tattered
legions of the South, and of their children
and children S children. When the con-
ditions of that surrender were threatened
by the highest power of the nation, Grant S
manhood interposed to shield his former
foes, and prove friend indeed. Through
out his administration as President the
same high purpose to do what he believed
to be right and just was manifest. Mis-
takes he made, as all men will. Nor is it
any wonder. There were no presidents to
guide him in the discharge of his high
duties. Questions novel and difficult were
to be solved. Conditions without par
allel had to be dealt with. From the
crushed and broken fragments of war;
destruction and chaos. had to be wrought
the pillars upon which great and growing
nation should rest secure. This he did.
The fifteenth amendment was added to the
Constitution during his term, and a day
was set for the resumption of specie pay
ment. which all the power of Congress
could not persuade him to postpone.
These, perhaps, were the most conspicu-
were not the only ones. 1t was to the
latter, however, more than to any other,
that the nations progress and prosperity
are due. Had his unhinching determine
tion yielded to popular clamor, the effect
would have yet been disastrously felt.
Upon the close of his presidential term
followed his tour abroad, when kings and
rulers We'd in paying tribute to the greatest
soldier and statesman of his day. They
who had been impartial observers of the
stirring events in the new world s recent
history, and had marked the happy issue
out of all our troubles, were not slow in
recognizing the genius of the man whose
hand had grasped the helm during the
tempest of war and held it firm as the ship
sped through the scarcely less dangerous
quicksands of reconstruction.
The return of General Grant to his
home his broken health and fortunes, and
his manly bearing when the tide of adj
versity set in against him, are too fresh in
the public mind to need recall. Where
others would have yielded to the stress of
circumstance, the grim old warrior
buckled on the1armor of battle again and,
battling the assaults of the last great
enemy, finished the work he had set about
to do. With the completion. of his Mem
oirs the splendid struggle ended. Calmly,
wistfully he awaited the final summons.
1t came none too soon for him. 1t found
him ready to lay down the wreath Of earthly
honors and receive the reward of the just
made perfect. AS the light Of the new life
shone full upon HIM it disclosed a nation
bowed in grief. All bitterness was blotted
out. The petty spites and jealousies that
earthly greatness breeds, gave place to a
juster estimate of genuine worth; to a
deeper inquiry into the motives of
the man; to keener appreciation Of
his manly qualities of head and
heart. Around his couch of pain the
tenderest sympathies of nation clustered,
and the people of all sections became
united in common sorrow. He was
great in all that constitutes man. and on
the scroll of fame his name will shine with
an added lustre as the years go by.