St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-06-04

and Napoleon, at thirty-seven. was
master of Europe. Grant, at forty, was
an obscure leather merchant i'll Galena.
But the moment that great RESPONSE
bilities were thrust upon him, and the
fate of his country rested upon his
shoulders, the reserve powers of
dominant intellect, which ordinary af-
fairs could not move, came into action.
A mighty mind, which God had kept for
the hour of supreme danger to the re-
public, grasped the scattered elements
siStleSS force, and organized victory.
The mantle of prophecy no longer de-
Scends upon successor, and the divine
purpose is not revealed to mOrtalS.
There exists. however, in every age
masterful men. who are maSterful be-
cause they see with clear vision the
course of events. and fearlesSly act
upon the forecast. This faculty was
pre-eminently Grants gift. While
statesmen of all parties were temporiZ-
ing and compromising with the slave
power, this silent thinker, in the rear
ranks of the people, pierced with I'M
dimmed eyes the veil which had clouded
the vision of the nation for a hundred
years. The number of men who have
led their generation, and whose fame
will grow with time, is very few in any
nation. The United States are SurpriS-
ingingly rich in having possessed three
such exalted intelligenceS i'll their first
century Washington, Lincoln and
Grant.
There have been many presidents of
the United States and the roll will be
indefinitely extended. We have had
number Of brilliant soldiers, but only
one great general. The honOrs of civil
Ii a n 70 In Co. gNf
Gen. Grant. The spOilS system, from
which he could not escape, nearly
wrecked his first administration. His
mistakes were due 20 a quality which is
the nOblest of human virtues, loyalty to
friends. The admission of the last of
the rebel states into the Union and uni
verSal amnesty for political OtfenseS
quickened the latent loyalty of the
South and turned its unfettered and
fiery energies to that development of
its unequaled natural wealth which
has added intellectually to the prospect
ty and power of the commonwealth.
These wise measures will ever form a
brilliant page i'll American history, but
the administration of Gen. Grant will
have place in the annals of the world
for inaugurating and successfully car
rying out the policy of the submission
of international disputes to arbitration.
AS the nations of the earth diSOand
their aramentS and are governed by the
laws of reason and humanity. they will
recur to Gen. Grants memorable words
upon receiving the freedom of the city
OF London: although soldier by ed
ucatlon and profession, have never
felt any sort of fondness for war, and [
have never advocated it, except as a
means of peace" and they will hail
q c of m N
kind.
Through the verses of great poets
runs familiar strain, through the
works of great composers an Of-tre-
peated tune. and through the speeches
of great orators a recurring and char
acteristic thought. These are the
germs which exhibit the moving forces
of their minds. During the war IL pro-
pose to move Immediately upon your
works." unconditional surrender"
81 shall take no backward STEP" II
propose to fight it out OH this line if it
| takes all summer" are the beacon
Grant the soldier. At AppomattOX,
1.-The war is over" "The rebels are our
countrymen again." at the threshold
| of the presidency, Let US have peace;'
on his bed of agony and death at Mount
| McGregOr. when his power of speech
was gone, writing to Confederate gen
eral by his bedside, "Mucb as | suffer,
do it with pleaSure,i by that suffering
can be accomplished the union of my
country" are the induces of the labors,
the aspirations and the prayer of Grant
the statesman and the patriot.
Gov. Fifer and Judge Crabtree also
delivered addresses. In closing, the
governor said: ''He came from the
people, and his cause was theirs. he
was too much an American to be par
tisan. Generous in war, forgiving in
peace, the blue and the gray finally met
as friends at his bier. We have passed
beyond the worship of force and muir
der. To-day, thank God. the soldier
must be judged by his cause no less
than by his battles; and Grant was
great in both. He surpasses the con
querors of history precisely to the ex
tent that fraternity and liberty are
nobler AFFECTS than spoliation and con-
quest"