The Portland daily press., 1886-06-01

Tba fnfted sf croWFtoe and the pale jessamine;
The white pink and the pansy, streaked with
The glowing violet
The musk-rose and the wellattired woodbine,
With cowslips wan that hang the penslve mead,
And every flower that sad embroidery wears"
Friends and countrymen, since last our
comrades met to perform the service that we
now render to our fallen heroes, other dlstln-
guished soldiers have been called from the
ranks of the living. Nature herself is IN
mourning Every breeze that plays through
the open leaves of summer; every stream tnaI
-murmers on its course to the mighty sea, and
every sound that marks the life OF matter
upOn its ceaseless round, is burdened with a
sigh. The song of every bird that tunes its
lay to the awakened deity of the year is
marred in sweetness by an involuntary note
of sorrow. The hum Of business has been
muffled. The work of man has been para
lyzed; his voice has been broken with emo
ton, and the nations Of the world have hung
their temples in black. Nature, through her
breezes and murmuring streams and her
songs of busy matter; the birds, through
their carols, and men and nations through
their common humanity, have united in one
sad wall for the loss of noble man, and q
greater leader than ever beforemarshalled
troops in fierce array of battle.
The silent chief, whose work is destined to
influence posterity to the latest syllable OF
recorded time, has gone to his couch, and
neither the call of his country nor the siren
beekoning of earthly glory will e'er break the
soundness of his sleep upon this hlther side
of eternity. The mortal remains OF Ulysses
S. Grant repose in peace beneath the weeping
will reduce them to ashes, and the lapse. of
ages will transform those ashes to other
forms of matter; all that was earthly of that
noble figure will change its form OF material
ity, and at last the mere personality of Grant
will be extinguished and forever lost to hu-
man gaze.
"Can it be?
Matter immortal, and shall spirit die?
Above the noble shall less noble lie?
Shall man alone, for whom all else reviyes,
No'reSurrection know? Shall man alone,
Imperial man. be sOwn in barren ground,
Less privileged than grain on which he feeds?"
But, my friends, the supreme work that
our now sleeping hero perform ed will en-
dure until the wrecking of the human race
shall leave this planet a mere counterpoise
of the other mighty worlds that pursue their
ceaseless roll around the blazing orb Of light
and day, waiting their appointed time to cast
themselves into their sire'S arms.
Friends, this noble mans work needs no
monument no written scroll, in order that 1t
may be perpetuated. 1t Is higher than the
dome Of st. Pauls, loftier than st. Peters;
it rears itself above the pyramids; 1t scars
beyond the highest mountain tops, and it is
written in letters of the sunbeam across the
blue arch that forever looks down upon the
busy tribes of men.
1t were task of supererogation to repeat
at such a time the fascinating story Of this
great mans life, or with careful hand to
trace his career from the period when, taking
command of the 21st Regiment of Illinois
volunteers as its colonel, that career began,
until, as Lieutenant General Of the armies
of the United States, he received the sword
that misguided men had placed against the
breast of new born liberty.
1t has been justly observed that no sub
Il TT1,ia
til the historic proclamation of emancipation
had been promulgated, and it may well be
added that no comprehensive plan for the
final crushing of the enemy was conceived
until the mighty chieftain to whose tomb we
are this day sorrowing pilgrims, was placed
in position by the immortal Lincoln to lead
the Union hosts to certain and final tri-
umph
In the dark hours of 1861 star arose in
the heavens that, beginning its flight from
Belmont, took within its orbit Fort Henry
and Fort Donelson, Pittsburg Landing, Cor
inth, Port Gibson, Raymond, jackson, Cham
Dion Hills, Black River and Vicksburg,
where for a short time it paused. Renewing
its rapid course, it winged its way to Look
out Mountain and to Mission Ridge, when it
came to rest directly over the head of the
man whose name had been written in the
Book Of Fate as the instrument to snatch
from destruction the offspring of all the pre-
ceding ages.
From the moment that Grant was invested
with the supreme command, the triumph OF
the Union arms became simple question of
time. An unlooked-for chance might post
pone it; but as well might it be attempted to
tnrn the avalanche in its overwhelming
crash as to avert the force of those irreSisti-
BILE hosts that, under the direction of an ap-
pointed genius, were fatally enveloping the
armies of resistance From Chattanooga to
Atlanta, and from the Wilderness to Rich
mond, some Of the most brilliant military
-, 49, hn not n MT
battles ever fought, adorned the Union gem
eralship and arms.
That lamentable weakness of human ma
ture, jealousy, prompted detractlon and mis-
representation; but the enemy IN the tolls,
and the brave Union soldier executing those
rapid and remarkable movements, felt alike
that master hand was at the helm of bat
tie, and that whirlwind of power was upon
the field. The silent commander was
sphinx but he was likewise an oracle; he
soldier, with a skill Of profession, a rare
courage, cool head, quickness of judg-
ment, celebrity of decision, and a rapidity
of movement that made him wholly inyIncl-
ble
When Caesar, after conquering the Syrian
king, Pharmacies, penned the shortest militia
ry dispatch in the annals of war, Il came,
saw, | conquered" his words were not
fraught with tithe of the Importance at
tached to the laconicism of the American
general. announcing a determination 'to
tight it out on this line if it takes all sum
mer" And when the cOwled priest OF the
middle ages chanted his church ritual and in
voked the blessing, pdr coliseum, upon. his
half military, half religious congregations,
no such fire was kindled, no such electrical
denouement was witnessed, as when the
leader of enormous armies and the subJuga-
tor of splendid military force exclaimed to
his countrymen: Let us have peace
When Shakespeare wrote OF julius Caesar;
'.He was the foremost man of all this world,
Grant had not then lived. Envy has sought
to take away from this grand hero many OF
the qualities upon which his brilliant success
depended. As a mere military leader and
wonderful tactician, there is no figure in his
tory that surpasses him, not even the imperi-
Gus Cessr; while viewed from standpoint,
tt at considers the Importance to mankind,
of the work he performed, his name must be
written with the immortal Washington upon
a scroll that will remain bright after the mil
tary marvels of the past ages are forgotten
of the race.
Cyrus. the Persian, during his brief career
extended the Persian empire from the Indus
to the Hellespont, and from the Jaxartes to
the Syrian coast. Beyond the circumstances
of an Incidental agency in delivering the
Jews from Babylonish captivity, what con-
tributionS did Gyms make to the progress of
the world by his feats of arms and conquestsp
He established a military power that under
his successor, Darius, sought to crush the
Greek civilization beneath the fetish super
stitions of the East; and when the monster
empire fell to pieces the world was the gain
er by its destruction.
Alexander was no ADLER soldier than
Grant. His successes were achieved through
the superior training of the Greek soldier, in
ured to hardship and taught to conquer or to
die. The overwhelming phalanx was not
the invention of Alexander, whose success
full achievements were largely dependent up
on the fact that his troops represented the
strongest and most advanced military power
at that time in existence. Judged by the test
that we would apply to Grant, what was Al
exander's worth to the world? He estab-
lished valuable library, afterward burned
through the campaigns of Caesar; while in
cidentally he carried the advanced knowledge
of the Greeks to the nations that he con-
quered, But his whole career was selfish
and his ends personal. He had no high pur-
pose to establish better governments, nor to
create happier peoples. His life's dream was
conquest for the mere love of conquest AT
the age of twenty-five he was the supreme
ruler of Western Asia; and at thirty-three
he died with a sigh upon his lips that there
were no other worlds that he might have
conquered.
When Rome was mistress of the world, Ju-
Illus Caesar was master of Rome. He was a
soldier, general a statesman, an orator, an
historian, mathematician, and an architect.
And yet, in all that so to make up man
whose services are worthy Of the commemo-
ration of the human race, what benefltS re-
suited from his success?
During Caesars military life over one mil