The Republican journal., 1897-05-06
In War and Peace.
General Grant was a Man OF Tremendous Ability
Gen. Horace P0rters Tribute,

Gen. Horace Porter's Tribute.
In his Grafton April 9th at the dedica-
ton of the Grant monument General
| Porter said:
1t is all like a dream. One can scarcely
realize the lapse Of time and the memoir
| able events which have occurred since our
| hero President was first proclaimed one
of the great of earth. The dial hands
upon the celestial clock record the flight
of more than generation since the legions
| of American manhood poured down from
the hilltops, surged up from the valleys,
/ knelt upon their native soil to swear
eternal allegiance to the Union, and went
forth to seal the oath with their blood in
| marching under the victorious banners of
| Ulysses s. Grant. To-day countless num-
bers OF his contemporaries, their children
and their children's children, gather about
| his tomb to give permanent sepulture of
his ashes and to recall the record of his
| imperishable deeds.
1t is peculiarly fitting that this memorial
| should be dedicated in the presence of the
| distinguished soldier who marched in the
victorious columns of his illustrious chief,
and who now SO worthily occupies the chair
of state in which he sat. There is a
| source of extreme qualification and pro-
| are in attendance here not only the SOL
| diers who fought under the renowned de-
| fender OF the Union cause, but the leaders
OF armies who fought against him, all
uniting in testifying to the esteem and re-
| spect which he commanded from friend
and foe alike.
This grateful duty which we discharge
this day is not unmixed with sadness. for
the occasion brings wildly to mind the
fatal day on which his generous heart
| ceased to beat, and recalls the grief which
fell upon the American people with a
sense Of pain which was akin to the sor-
row of personal bereavement, and vet it
is not an occasion for tears; not time to
chant requiems OF display the sable dra-
peries of public mourning. He who lies
within the portals of yonder tomb is not
dead memory; he is a living reality. He
has been consigned to the chamber of
death, but not to the realms of forgetful-
ness. Our grief is Gained by the recollec-
ton of the blessings his life conferred
and the fame he has left to the custody of
his fellow citizens. We consecrate this
day to tribute to the memory of de-
parted worth. The story of his life is
the history of the most eventful epoch in
his country's annals. Upon an occasion
such as this, it would seem more fitting to
stand silent by the tomb and let history
alone speak, but it has been deemed
proper that living witnesses to his virtues
should pay the grateful tribute of their
testimony. The allotment of time per
mlts only brief allusion to the achieve
ments of his marvellous career
General Porter then went on to review
General Grants military life, supplement-
ing it with an able tribute to his services
to the country as President. Among other
things in this connection General Porter
said:
One of his most conspicuous attributes
was his foresight His mental power in
this respect has scarcely parallel and to
this gift he largely owed his matchless
success. He never wasted time in dwell
ing upon the events of the past, but clos
ed them out from his thoughts and con-
centrated his mind upon plans for the
future His farsightedness manifested it.
self in all his preparations, both in his
military and civil career, and his predc-
lions of events at times amounted almost
to prophecies. At the breaking out of
hostilities, while many eminent and ex-
perienced men were declaring that the war
would last but few months and orators
were waving their white handkerchiefs
and proclaiming that they were large
enough to wipe up all the blood which
would be shed in the coming struggle,
Grant announced his belief that the war
would continue for years and that prepa-
rations should be commensurate with it's
formidable proportions.
He early foresaw that to overcome the
rebellion it was not only necessary to
maintain large armies in the field, but o
have vigorous support of the war in the
Northern States. Over a million loyal
voters were absent at the front. and thus de-
prived of the right of suffrage and prevent
ed from otfsetting by their votes the votes
of the disloyal element in the north, and
he wrote remarkable letter TO the oecre-
tary of War, setting forth plan in great
detail, providing a method which would |
enable the soldiers to vote in the field. |
The plan, accompanied as it was by such |
checks and safeguards that the vote would |
lie entirely free and untrammelled, SO
strongly commended itself to the authori-
ties that it was carried out and proved a
complete success.
In conclusion General Porter said:
General Grant was a man who seemed |
to be created especially to meet great
1t was the very magnitude
of the task which called forth the powers
that manifested it. Whether leading an
attack in Mexico, debating the terms of
surrender to countless thousands, in the |
war of rebellion, suddenly assuming vast
responsibility in great crises, both in
peace and war, writing State papers as
President which were to have lasting
bearing upon the policy of the govern
ment, travelling through all the lands
and mingling with the descendants of
line of kings, who rose and stood uncov-
cred in his presence-he was always equal
to the occasion ard acquitted himself with
the success that challenges the admira-
ton of the world. In trivial matters he
was an ordinary man; in momentous af-
fairs he lowered as a giant. As John
son said of Milton; ''He could hew
Colossus from the rock; he could not
carve faces on cherry stones.''
Even his valor on the field of carnage
was not superior to the heroism he dis
Nov xurl,o l. fn% l.