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

Bryant ana Is. A. russell, appointed Dy NcE Her-
son Post, No. T. G. A. R., prepared an address for
the occasion, which was read by e. G. Snyder. 1t
was an impartial analysis OF the character and
achievements of General Grant, as a soldier and
statesman, carefully abjuring all undue praise,
but successfully refuting all serious charges
brought against him by his enemies. The
address closed as follows
His fame does not rest like the unsubstantial
fame of mere genius, upon some startling and
unexpected performance, which, like meteor
for moment attracts the gaze and secures the
applause Of the world. then dwndes into
insignifcance, finally disappears aud is forgot
ten-but it rests like a pyramid which has stood
the shocks of ages upon permanent foundation.
each block of which is a solid achievement
wrought out with his own hands and brain, and
will endure while valor and patriotism, great
and noble deeds. and the virtues of pure and
stainless life, are deemed worthy OF human
praise"
Addresses were also delivered by Hon. NJ. D.
White, Gen. d. D. Manson and Hon. 2. S. Ken
nedy. Mr.. Kennedy spoke as follows:
Eulogy can add nothing to Grants fame. His
place in the worlds history is fixed, and nothing
the tongue of man can utter will change it The
Nation goes to his grave to-day not to praise him
but to bury him with the love it owes benefac-
tor We would not care to place him with the
great captains of ancient story, who went
abroad, with vast armies or conscrlpts,
And fire and sword on every side
Through many region sent
merely to magnify their own renown. What
Grant did was infinitely greater and grander
than the achievements of any of these With
out pride or cruelty and from motives of patri-
otism and gratitude to the nation that had edu-
Gated him to be its defender, he used his talents
to suppress the most powerful and best organ
lied rebellion of which we have any knowledge,
and save to mankind the practical example OF a
government under which all men are equally
Free and under which each citizen has an equal
voice IN determining by what laws the whole
shall be governed. He did not conquer any
nation, but he saved the greatest nation that has
ever existed from being conquered by its worst
enemy-the excited passions OF its own people
We cannot contemplate without horror the
condition in which this country would have been
left had the rebellion of 1861 been successful.
The very hope of maintaining free government
in the world would have been destroyed, and
perpetual anarchy and war would have engulted
both North and South in a common ruin; for it
is now known that there already an ncipient
rebellion within the rebellion, soon after the
government formed The very principle
upon which 1t was organlzed-the sovereignty or
a part over the whole-was but the parent of
disintegraton and lawlessness. 1t was standing
invitation ambition to commerce the work OF
destruction. BY these considerations we are
enabled to perceive the greatness of Grants
work. Now that passion has subsidized and
reason has been enthroned again throughout the
country, is it any wonder that millions meet
today to pour out their gratitude at his tomb.
Some have tried to bring reproach upon
Grants fame by parading his mistakes. But
when did the Almighty ever create a man wise
enough to act as much as Grant did in great
affairs, without making mistakes? 1t is still
| true, however, that he led the armies of the
| Republic during the most momentous and
| eventful crisis that any people ever passed
| through-a crisis in which the whole country
shook for four years with the thunder of contin-
uous battle-and that all his great military
enterprises, from Belmont to Appomattox, were
| crowned with the most triumphant success.
| He was President during the eight years when
passion was yet aroused, both North and South;
| when the Union was being reconstructed, and
| when statesmen were confronted by harder
| problems than had ever been given out to them
| before And yet the history of his administra
| ton is without lasting blemish He crowded
more great acts into the short period of thirteen
| years that he served the public than any man
ever crowded into the same space OF time before;
| and if he made mistakes. it can be truthfully
| said that none of them have resulted in detri
ment to his own fame or the good name of his
country. The few errors of his public life, after
all, are but spots upon sun that will continue
to shine as long as the glorious luminary Of the
| heavens.
1t has been said in disparagement of Grants
| ability that he would never have been heard of
had it not been for the rebellion Of 1861. This
may be true but is it not equally true that we
should have been without the Inheritance OF
Washipgton's fame had it not been for the Rev
olution of 1776G In time of peace the Monitor
| would have been las idle a painted ship upon
| painted ocean," and its dreadful power all I'M
known. But when in war the Merrimac drew
| forth the blaze of her solitary gun. it startled
| the world and revolutionized ocean warfare
| Grants great success in handling vast armies
| and gaining victories shows that he
| might have done what Alexander and
| Caesar, and Napoleon did under the cir
! cumstance which surrounded them. But Grant
| lived in a republic, and had no power to raise
armies and make war except in a revolt against
| free government; and that he did not wish TO
make name in that way should be counted his
| greatest glory. The evidences of sincere sorrow
and mourning that come to us on this sad occa
| sion, from the South, are an earnest that the
| time is not distant when all sectional bitterness
| shall be swallowed up in new patriotism, and
when united people shall stand around great
| monument in Riverside Park, and there, with
one heart, devoutly thank God that He gave to
this Nation Lincoln and Grant, whose wisdom
and courage preserved to man the right to be his
| own master, and to the world the best example
of just and righteous government.
AT FORT WAYNE.