The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-09

| occasion to use it. So far as the world and the
| enemy knew, the only lineshe shielded was the
| advance. With him, war was no parade of bat
| talon or review of army corps He fought, not
for the sake of the fighting. but for the peace
| which was to follow. Other department and
/ army commanders, in their orders and procla
| nations, frequently exceeded their powers, so
| that the government had to annul or modify
| them. If Grant was not we'll versed in the sci
| ence of government, and knew not accurately
the limits of the war power, he at least never
! assumed to go beyond the authority committed
| to him.
His bearing toward his subordinate officers
| was magnanimous. No officer under him ever
| failed of a just commentator for an action
! we'll performed. and no officer ever blamed
| for the miscarriage of any adequate attempt to
| perform duty assigned to him. There came
| from him no complaint of treatment received
/ from his superiors whether just or unjust He
| used the means furnished him and did the best
| he could, believing that the government on its
| part had done its best He believed in his men
| and they believed in him. 1t has been said and
perhaps truly, that his presence with his troops
| did not elicit those outbursts of enthusiasm
| which other more dashing leaders inspired.
| Perhaps his troops had learned that victories
| were not won by shouting and huzzahs, that
| brass bands were not terror to the enemy.
| THE boys" were at least cheerful when the
| ''old man around"
| He able as few men are to arise above his
own mistakes If he ever became conscious of
be the only honorable part, at once and in the
manner best calculated to atone for injury
acknowledge his fault and endeavor to undo the
mischief. Himself true to every trrst and faith
| full to every man who reposed confidence in him.
| he expected the like fidelity in others. Hence
he at times was led to trust men unworthy of his
confidence much to his own detriment.
| AS to his administration of the civil govern
ment, when elected President by cEs of the
! great political parties little can be said with
| perfect candor at this time without transgress
| ing the proprieties of the occasion. Should his
! friends fully and fairly speak the commenda-
ton which they feel. they would Justly pro
| woke the criticism of those who could not here,
| with due regard to the hour, with the like
| spirit of candor respond thereto Suffice it to
say, that few if any of his political enemies,
would even suggest that there is any just ground
| for impugning his motives while chief executive
of the Nation.
| Grant will be best remembered as a military
cheftain. But here his brightest laurels will
not be hard-fought battles won, or armies sur
| rendered to him. Lincoln and Grant stand in
separately connected in the minds of the people.
| They stand pre-eminent in the history of that
| momentous era. In closing his second inaugural
| Lincoln expressed the motive prompting both:
| with malice toward none. with charity for all,
| with frmness in the ght, as God gives us to see
| the right, let us finish The work we are in"
| What Lincoln expressed as sentiment, Grant
exemplihed in action. From Belmont to Ap-
| pomattox he had given the enemy no rest It
| was ever: Fight or surrender" But when at
| length that enemy was capable Of no further re-
| sstance, and surrender was inevitable. his hand
| guided the pen gently it had welded the
sword relentlessly. The terms of capitulaton
breathed the spirit of ''mace toward none,"
charity for all" In that fresh moment of the
dawn of peace, in the presence of the two armies
yet confronting each other with mus
kets in their hands, Grant realized
| that then and there was the time for the ending,
| not only of hostities, but all personal enmity
| and bitterness; that from that hour both armies
| were to dissolve and their membe to become
| felow-countrymen. No officer that day sur
| rendering passed under the yoke of humiliation
by the surrender of his sword, the badge of
soldiers courage and honor. The men took
their horses home with them ito work their
| little farms" In his own army he forbade the
! firing of salutes. saying THE war is over, the
| rebels are countrymen again." From that
| hour he became the pledge to those who had
| yielded their arms to him that the terms of the
| surrender should be faithfully kept He would
| have resigned his commission as general of the
| army rather than have served government that
| would not keep faith with the vanquished. From
| that memorable day until his death, the desire
of the great soldiers heart was for peace. Peace
| not in form, but in spirit, in which all this land
| should be knit together in fraterna affection.
| And this day and at this hour, the spectacle of
| that solemn procession moving through the
| metropolis of the Nation led by Hancock and
| Fitzhugh Lee, and of Sherman and Johnston,
| Sheridan and Buckner joining in bearing the
| great General to his sepulture IS mere senti-
| ment.
| The blue and the gray have disappeared. They
who wore them have scattered far and wide.
They are fOnnd In every part of the country
| engaged in all the varied pursuits of life. And
wher ever you to-day find survivor of either of
| those great armies who made the earth tremble
with their tread" you find sincere mourner So
long as heroic achievemen mt and generous conduct
! shall be rightly estimated by an heroic and
generous people, so long will the name of Ulysses
| S. Grant be written in all hearts throughout the
| length and breadth of this reunited land Thus
| it is that in his death he cemented that peace
which he did so much to secure.
know we not that there is Prince, and a
| great man fallen this day in 1srael?"
THE TRIBUTE OF CAPTAIN MYERS.
| Captain W. r. Myers, Secretary of State,
followed Mr. Smith, speaking as follows:
| esteem it great privilege to be permitted to
add in this presence few words TO the vast
| ocean of eulogy that has already been pro-
! nounced, and that is now being uttered all over
| this united and happy country. The life and
character of General Grant is to-day
familiar to and better known by the
| people of the globe than that of anv
| other man the world has ever produced; and
the luster of his name will continue to blaze
and burn, and its benign influence will be recog-
| nized and acknowledged more and more as the
wears roll on, until the pendulum of time shall
| cease to vibrate The world is not to day fully
| prepared to judge him dispassionately. In the
| conflicts of blood and carnage through which he
passed, there yet nger aspertiesn the breasts of
many on both sides who failed to participate in
in the terrible scenes and struggles that made
his name illustrOus, and SO long as these feelings
| continue to rankle in their hearts, they are in
capable of doing entire justice to his name But
| his sublime courage and genius a soldier has
| long commanded the love and admiration of all
| who bore arms under him, and the profound
respect of those who arrayed against his
| invnclble hosts.
Whatever may be said of him. in war or peace,
| I, for one, never doubted his integrity of purpose
or his patriotism and devotion to his country
| The wsest and best men, after n lapse of time,
have been able TO see their errors, but few like
| him. have had the lofty courage to confess them.
| and in the face of devoted personal and political
friends make manly efforts to correct them.
But it is as a soldier and military ehieftain that
! his name will go down to history; and as such
| Will continue to shine with increasing ulster