Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1886-09-18
oEN. eAANr AT AppoMArrox.

Terms OF the surrendsr-Ths Command.
er's Judgment--The '.side-Arms."
he had indeed long felt that when the
war uas ended there should be no vim
ciictive policy toward the vanquished,
and he informed Lee at once when they
met that he meant 70 accept paroles: but
the important final provision, that which
gives all its peculiar character to the cap
itulation, was unstudied and its language
spontaneous. Yet the language is as
precise as words can make it, and enun-
ciates policy which has done as much
as victory itself to secure the results Of
the war: Each officer and man will be
allowed TO return to his home, NOT to be
disturbed by the United States authority
so long as they observe their paroles and
the laws in force where they reside"
The terms, however, were not in the
least the result of chance or carelessness,
or indifference. They were the leglti-
mate outgrowth of Grants Judgment
the consequence Of all that had gone be-
fOre-enlbodied then for the first time,
because then for the first time the neces-
sity for the embodiment had arrived.
Ar this way Grant always did his great
est thIng7, 1t may be strange or mex.
Hllicable, but he could not often explain
Iis methods, nor, indeed, always his rea-
sc1xs.
He had at this moment no defined
large views about separating the mill
tary from the civil power, far less any
sr1emf of encroaching on the domain or
preEagatire of politics. Heidi not even.
Hhe sherman, take into consideration
the fate or condition of other forces of
the enemy, although he was general-in-
chief; he confined himself strictly to the
business before him--the disbanding and
dispersion of Lees army. He wanted to
secure that neither that army nor any of
ats members could ever again resist or
confront the national authority; and
when this was determined he was un-
willing to inflict on one of those mem
bers single unnecessary humiliation or
Suffering. He was, am sure, uncon-
sc1ous OF any special magnanimity in this
course. He thought nothing of himself,
and little as yet OF the far-reaching ef-
feet of bis terms on the population Of the
south What his hand found to do, it
did, and no more; in peace as well as
war.
The confederation of all this is the fact
that the idea of allowing the officers to
retain their side-arms and personal eff
fleets was suggested to him as he wrote.
He wore no sword, having been sum
moned hastily from his own headquar
tiers two days before to a distant
portion of the field with no opportu-
-nify of returning afterward. Lee, how
ever, had dressed himself with
cane FOR the ceremony. His headquar-
tiers train had been burned by Sheridan
in the pursuit, and Lee and his officers,
able to save only single suit of clothes
had secured the finest. In this way Lee
was handsomely clad; he wore embroid-
cred gauntlets and the sword presented
10 him by the ladies of Virginia. The
,COnqueror, battle-stained, in common
soldiers coat, looked up at his foe, elabo-
.Tztely .arrayed, and the glitter of the
rebel weapon suggested to him to spare
the conquered the humiliation of sur
rendering it. Then he wrote the line per-
uniting officers to retain their side-arms,
horses, and personal effects. This state
Enent has been questioned, but give it
,on Gen. Grants authority. He saw and
Nnuected the account of the interview in
KIy history of his campaigns.
stood near him as Lee left the room
and thus happened to be the first to con-
graduate him upon the result. l said
something about the event being one
that would live forever in history. / am
sTyzle the idea had not occurred to him
szt1lE uttered it. The effect upon his
SzEgae, upon history, was not what he
WIS considering. He was thinking OF
the captured soldiery returning home
without their weapons, to work their lit
Tie FARMS of destitute country, ravaged
by war, but now to be restored.-Adam
Badeau's Letter.