Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-10-21
rhs Dead Here.

~ 4k0&~A AAGAVe
General Grant il dead. This proclama
t3on ef : prosaic fact which registers the
ordinary mortuary destination of hu
manity will to-day echo and e.scht
throuRhout the entire world. Many
people who have rightfully questioned
he civil record Of President Grant, and
n almost all quarters of the Union, will
now be called upon to render tribute
of personal admiration to the man who
led the resistless hosts of the Union at
Appomattox Court House to victory
whose greatest and most appreciated
significance Is that it applied, to all colors
and conditions of mankind, that car.
1inal note OF the declaration of Inde-
pendencc. written by Thomas Jefferson,
which said that men were of right Great
I'd free, equal and independent. A phrase
has crept into contemporary literature
which runs that men may build wiser
than they know. The outcome of the
war between the North and the South, il
which the North had the overwhelming
presminence of numbers and of advant
ages of all kinds, for the thousandth tint
i1i1slrated this truism. Its obvious i'm
plication is that the leaders of the South
While aiming at disintegrated union
have really cementsd the national asso
eiatisn of the States.
Waving all phases of the controversy
between the north and the south, as rep
resented in embattled hosts, Gen. Gran,
WAS, par ercellence, the leader of the
Union forces. Fortunately for his fame
he was : lion in war and lamb in peace.
The most msgnanimous episode ever
known in military annals was that in
which he protected Joe Johnston's army
rad at the same time secured the mill
tary reputation of General William TIE.
eumseh Sherman from the malignant at.
tacks Of Secretary Stanton.
The truth is that the dead General.
bsimo Of the Union forces was essentially
: most generous man. By the slightest
detection of the line of loyalty to friend
he could have connived at the extinction
of military hero who was worth twenty
Siantons, though vastly inferior to Grant
himself. Grant here showed the native
magnanimity of his soul. Conspicuously
the hero of the war of the States, be
posturized as man of fine sensibilities
who desired that a ravaged section should
not figure in the rehabilitation of the
States.
Grant, in certain aspects of his career,
has been simply superb. Even his enc.
mics are obliged to admit his extreme
nodesfy. When General William TIE.
samseh Sherman's military "Memoirs !"
became the staple of thehour, and in
which he found his own achievements
ninified and those of the loquacious
author General magnified, he laid down
the book with the charming and witty
remark, "Until read these pages had
supposed that l had had something to
DO with the late war;.
Consecrated by suffering, which was
ended by death absolutely heroic and
accomplishing. the HERALD proposes to
be gracious to and appreciative of the
genuine hero of an epic war, whose pulse
was never known to throb to the incita.
ti0ns of vanity, and who was magnani-
nous without precedent to the conquered
sections. at critical moment when mag.
nAnimity to the vanquishe1 meant to
them something so unutterabiy accepta-
BILE and precious. As military man, in
1ie self-abnegation, Grant was really
sublime. The HERALD, in view of his
melancholy death, accumulated by cir
snmstances of poignant grief, declines
70 entertain any thing derogatory to the
character OF q hero whose lineaments |
will shortly engage the pencil of the
painter and the plastic molds of the
sculptor.
A. to the man Grant the HERALD feels
Ike falling into the majestic cadences of
Shakespeare. who, in one of his immortal
creations. makes Henry the Fifth pick
mp the crown of his father. Overwhelmed
With the follies of his earlier career,
Henry v. says in soliloquy, while he |
thinks his father dead,
my reformation. glittering o'er my fault,
1nsn seem more goodly aud attract more |
Than thai which hath no foil to set it forth. y
Grant being no rhetorician or poet,
has not figured in cadences musical or
other which have been invoked to com.
mand the sympathies of the world,
though he has been the foil of the Re.
pnblican party. But, as a matter Of fact,
his death creates new episodes upon both
the American and the European conti-
nents. Of all the great conquerors of an.
clent and modern times he is ip truth
the most overshadowing and good ma
enred. His death accentuates an epoch
u the governments of the world, which,
~ the way, are rapidly becoming Re-
pnDlican.
Having cursorily glanced at the lead.
ing military and political aspects of Gen.
Grants career. it would be objectionable
sct to note other sa,iv.. s,i.;. and interesting
~ - 4
phases Of bis daily "s.L nell, amongst men.
. 20 truth is that. amongst all his politi.
~ mistakes, he endeared himself to his
lssociates in his military and civil career
y determined and even fanaticsl de-
FOtion to his friends. This loyalty to
men who stood by him has been often l
grossly misinterpreted, and we confess
hat the HERALD has sinned in this line. I
3y Z strained Interpretation we distorted l
1is desire for third term, which he 9
sally, in the light of recent events, de. 9
ired As vindication, into q thirst for I
lmpire. We are shocked at this mislead. c
IS estimate of the last years of political t
i8nificance Of the old hero. After life's /
|ffui fever he sleeps well. All lovers of s
hair country should join in the gentle {
efrain Of Queen Catharine as to Car.
1nal Wolsey:
Nay his virtues be written in brass,
His frailties traced in water Ia
HIS STORY.
Ulysses s. Grant, the eighteenth Presi.
eut of the United States and General of
be American Army, was born on the 9th
{ April, 1922, at Point Pleasant, Cler. ,
aont county, Ohio. His parents were of
cotch and Irish descent and brought up