The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1889-01-03
General Grant.

EpeciaI correspondence IF tie Gold Leaf.
There are men who seem to have
come to the surface by chance, float
ing, like drift wood on the surface of
the waters, down the stream Of time
applauded by their fellow men, and
pass away leaving no evidence behind
them that the world is any better by
their having lived in it. Such man
was u. S. Grant. He had no intui-
tive greatness Of soul, but seems to
have arisen like sky rocket to blaze,
explode, and make a noise and go
out in darkness. Northern fanatics
thought he had military genius and
placed him at the head of the army as
commander Of the Northern forces.
Instead of pushing forward, as an able
General would have done, with his
overwhelming forces and terminating
the war, he squatted down on the
banks Of the river below Petersburg
waiting for the exhaustion Of the Con-
federate forces to give them the victory.
Had half the men been under Lee
that were under Grant he would have
driven him from his breast works with
much greater speed than Wellington
made Napoleon leave the plains of
Waterloo. He happened to be in
command when the exhausted and ina
poverished Confederates laid down
their arms, and the people of the South
(too prone to extremes) lauded him to
the skies for letting General Lee re-
tain his sword. He was no more in
comparison with Lee as a General,
than tomtit is in comparison with
the majestic eagle that floats serenely
in the outshining light of the sun high
above the storm-cloud beneath. Want
ing in true greatness of soul and fixed
ness of character, he would have &C
cepted the Presidency at the hands of
the Democratic party had they nomi-
mated and elected him. The Repub
licans saw the opportunity and ele-
waited him to the Presidential chair, to
sit as figure head under whose con-
nivanCe they could exercise their
thievlng propensities in plundering
the government. Like devouring
birds of prey they hocked around the
treasury of the country, laying unjust
and ubiquitous taxes on the people to
be gobbled up by the soulless vultures
of the land. The South reaped the
bitter fruits of unjust legislation. The
internal revenue law, sanctioned by
Grant, threw thousands of unprinci-
pied revenue collectors over the South,
roaming like devouring wolves, re-
gardless of the feelings, welfare or
prosperity of the people they insulted,
robbed and slandered. The South
saw their hard earnings snatched away
by unjust taxation, by merciless foes
that took delight in traducing the
character, and heaping reproach upon
the noblest people in this great repub
lie. The South, unable to extricate
herself from her unpleasant situation,
struggled on hoping for brighter
future. And, strange to tell, when
Grant died the Southern people were
ready, like the followers of Diana of
the Ephesians, to cry out "great was
u. S. Grant of America!" That great
and noble man that let Lee, man,
"the latchets of whose shoes he was
not worthy to unloose," keep his
sword. Others may talk about the
magnanimity and greatness Of
Grant, but l never felt like lifting my
voice IN praise of one who has done SO
much against the South-the most
magnanimous people the sun ever
shone on. r. w. H.
Henderson, N. c.