The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1891-10-15

tory is read, in whatever nook and
corner of the habitable globe, there
exists an intelligent interest in the
strength and perpetuity of our insti-
buttons, the name and fame of the il
lustrious soldier, who was at once
their product and their preserver,
have preceded aught that may now
be said of him. In this audienc e, at
the metropolis of the state in W hose
borders the war found him
poor and obscure, and gave him
an opportunity for a career, are
many who knew him intimately, and
there are few incidents Of his public
or private life that are unknown to
them. But without dwelling indis-
crlminately on the mass of biographical
details, there are some of them which
are entitled to our special attention
and will bear frequent repetition.
Many of these traits of character are
strictly individual, and are interest
ing only because they belong to Il
striking and distinguished person.
allty, while there are others that
have special qualities, which ought to
be regarded with favor by his country
men, for they are such as are essential
to the maintenance of popular insti-
buttons.
Even critic so captious and exact
ing as the late Matthew Arnold dis
covered much in Grants modest sup
preston of his own participancy in
the historical events of which he
gives an account in his official reports
of them, and in his autobiography.
He was remarkably free from that
vanity and conceit which have been
the weakness of many great minds,
and which seem to have been the pc
culiar vice of men who have risen,
like him, from humble antecednnts to
a lofty eminence.
In the flush and heat of victory.
after long and desperate struggle for
it, when the blood is up and the
nerves are tense, the equilibrium Of
the 0almest and steadiest men is apt
to be disturbed, and ebullitions of
their extreme satisfaction with them
selves are not very censurable. But
the triumphs of Grant from Belmont
to AppomattoX never destroyed his
balance or affected the habitual mod
GRAFTON Of his utterance or demeanor.
There is nothing of the braggart in
any of his official reports or dis
patches, there is no arrogance, no re-
gard for dramatic effect, no parade of
himself. They are plain and simple
statements of facts without any
waste Of words or rhetorical display
and might have been prepared by
any competent and unimpassioned
onlooker. The obvious and uniform
purpose of all of them is to give the
authorities at Washington faithful
and accurate account of the situation
at the front and nothing more. Even
with the Confederacy at his feet as a
final testimony of his skill and prow-
ess as a military chieftain he was not
betrayed into anything like eXulta
ton, and
STOPPHD THE JUBILANT FIRING
of a salute in his command as soon as
the sound of the cannon reached his
ears. And it was not the result of
surrender of the Confederate armies
and final cessation of hostilities upon
the North or upon partisan politics
that occupied his mind. In that
supreme moment he ceased to be the
leader of the Union army only, and,
thought and acted with broad and
enlightened craftsmanship and patri-
otism for the whole reunited country.
He thought of the feelings and sensi-
bilities of the vanqushed, and OF
making the road towards patriotic
citizenship easy for them. He thought
of the waste lands and impoverished
communities of the South, which
were again under the old flag, and
quickened a returning sense of obliga-
ton to it, by returning to every
Confederate soldier the horse or
mule which had belonged to him, and
might be used again in making and
%arnering the crops on which he and
his family would depend for their sus-
tenance. He thought more Of giving
All impulse to the pursuits of peace
and industry amongst disorganized !
people Of aiding them in the main
tenance of themselves, of bringing
them back into social as we'll as poll
tical relations with the rest of the |
country, than upon his own part and
lot in the accomplishment of these
salutary ends.
THE GREAT CONFEDERATE GENERAL
was shown the respect that generous
natures always accord to misfortune
bravely borne, and proved by his con-
duct and hearing the truth of the re-
mark, that the greatest reyerses are
most easily sustained by a dignity |
that belongs to them. He and
those who fought under
him with unsurpasslng courage,
were touched by the victor's delicate
consideration for their feelings and
welfare. Grants magnanimous ma
tllre was incapable of anything else.
In the struggle that ended in final
capitulation he was never actuated by
the spirit of revenge or hate, or by
aught else than a higl sense of patri-
otto duty. Grant had extraordinary
abilities, and while he never dwelt
upon or thought about their great
ness, or measured or compared them
with the abilities Of others, he knew
just what they were, their extent and
limitations, what might be accom-
plished by them, and what was be-
yond their reach.
AS he became conscious of his pow
ers he relied with mistaken confidence