The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1891-06-25

" llOiuC, d iC" udys
( Il H., ago there was un.
W NJ veiled a statue oi
heroic size, in the
. presence of mul.
titude of people. Hon. Chauncey NJ,
Depew, of New York, who has been
styled "Our National Orator." deliv-
cred the address of the occasion.
Among other things he said:
Grants career will be the paradox
of history. Parallels cannot be drawn
for him with the great captains Of the
world. Historians, by common con-
sent, place Alexander the Great, Han
nibal, Julius Caesar and Napoleon b.
noparte in the front rank. But each
of them had learned the art of war by
continuous service and unequalled op-
portunities, land displayed the most bril-
liant qualities at every period of their
achievements. Hannibal and Caesar
had won universal fame in the thirties
Alexander died at thirty three, grieving
because he had no more worlds to
conquer, and Napoleon, at thirty
seven, was master of Europe. But
Grant, at forty, was an obscure leather
merchant in Galena. AS a cadet at
West Point he had risen only Just
above the middle of his class. AS a
subaltern on the frontier and in Mex
ico, he had done no more than per-
form his duty with the courage and
capacity of the usual West Pointer. He
had pursued agriculture with his usual
care and industry. He was not afraid
to do the work of the farm himself,
nor ashamed to ride into St. Louis
upon the load of wood which he was
to sell, or to pile up for his customer,
and yet almost any farmer in Missis-
sippi was more successful. Clients
faifed to retain him as surveyor, his
real estate office had to be closed, and
he was not a factor in the tanners
firm.
But the moment that the greatest
responsibilities were thrust upon him,
and the fate of his country rested
upon his shoulders, this Indifferent
farmer, business man, merchant, be-
came the foremost figure of the CEN
tury. The reserved powers of a dom
inant intellect, which ordinary affairs
could not move, came into action. A
mighty mind which God had kept for
the hour of supreme danger to the
Republic grasped the scattered ele-
ments of strength, solidifed them into
a restless force of organizad victory.
He OWNED the purposes of the enemy
as we'll as he knew his own plans. His
brain became clearer, his strategy
more perfect, and his confidence in
himself more serene as his power in
creased. He could lead the assault
at Donelson, or the forlorn hope at
Shiloh, or vancouver his forces with
exquisite skill and rare originality of
resources at Vicksburg, as the best
brigade or corps commanders, or be-
fore Richmond calmly conduct cam
paign covering continent, and many
armies with consummate generalship.
Lincoln's faith and power protected
Grant from the cabals of the camp,
from the hostility of the Secretary of
War, from the politician in Congress,
and from his constant and extreme
peril, the horror of the country at a
method of warfare which sacrificed
thousands of lives in battle and assault
for immediate results. But time has
demonstrated that this course was
wiser in tactics and more merciful to
the men than a Favian policy and
larger losses from diseases and ex-
posure. Without this impregnable
friend Grants career would on many
occasions have abruptly closed. With
out the general in supreme command,
upon whose genius he staked his ad
ministration and to whose skill he en-
trusted the fate of the republic, there
might have been added to the list of
illustrious patriots who have fallen vic
tins to the unreasoning rage of de-
feated and a demoralized people, the
name of Abraham Lincoln.
The most signal services rendered
by Grant to his country were at Apo
mattox, and in his contest with Presi-
dent Johnson. The passions aroused
by the civil war were most inaamed
when the Confederacy collapsed. Grief
and vengeance are bad counsellors.
One serene intellect was possessed of
an intuition which was second to
prophecy, and was clothed with power.
He saw through the vindictive sugges-
tions of the hour, that the seeded
States must be admitted to the Union,
and their people vested with all the
rights of American citizenship, and all
the privileges of State government, or
the war had been fought in vain. He
sternly repressed the expressions of
joy by his troops as the vanquished
enemy marched by, with his famous
order, "The war is over, the Rebels
are our countrymen again, and the
best sign OF rejoicing after the victory
will be to abstain from all demonstra-