Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-04-26

New York, April 25.-Lieutenani
General John NJ. Schofield, U. S. A.
Cretired), has accepted the invitation
OF Mayor Strong on behalf of the city o.
New York, to be one of the citys guests
at the ceremony attendant upon the
dedication Of the Grant monument.
In accepting the city's invitation the
General has written letter concerning
General Grant. As will be remembered
General SchOfeld was not under
Grants immediate command in the
field, but was intimately associated
with him both during and since the
war. AT one time, during the closing
months Of Johnson's administration, ht
was Secretary of War, and therefore,
for the time being was
GRANTS OFFICIAL SUPERIOR.
Their relations were always of the most
intimate and confidential nature and
General Schofeld's views of Grant
should be most interesting at the pres
ent time. 1t his letter the General says
in part:
THE greatest Of al the traits OF
Grants character was that which lay on
the surface, visible to all who had eyes
to see it. That was his moral and in
tellectual honesty. integrity, sincerity,
veracity and justice. He was incapable
Of any attempt to deceive anybody, eX-
cept for legitimate purposes, as in mill
tary strategy; and above all. he was
incapable Of deceiving himself. He
possessed the rarest of all human facul-
ties, the power Of a perfectly accurate
estimate Of himself uninfluenced by
vanity. pride, ambition, fattery or self
intereste. Grant was very far from
being a modest man. as that word is
generally understood. His
JUST SELF-ESTEEM
was as far above it as it was above
flattery.
when Grants attention was called
to any mistake he had committed, he
would see and admit it as quickly and
unreservedly as if it had been made by
ANYBODY else. and with a smile which
expressed the exact opposite Of that
feeling which most men are apt to show
under like circumstances. His love OF
truth and justice were so far above
all personal considerations that he
showed unmistakeable evidences or
qualification when any error into which
he might have fallen was corrected.
His pride in his own mature opinion
was very great, in that he was as far
as possible from being a modest man.
This
ABSOLUTE CONFIDENCE
in his own Judgment upon any subject
he had mastered, and the moral cour-
age TO take upon himself alone the
highest responsibility and to demand
full authority and freedom to act ac-
cordng to his own judgment, without
interference from anybody, added to his
accurate estimate of his own ability
and his clear perception of the necessity
for undivided authority and responsible
ity in the conduct Of military opera
tions and in all that concerns the eff
cheney of armies in time of war con-
stituted the foundation Of that very
great character.
1T has been said that Grant, like
Lincoln, was a typical American, and
for that reason was most beloved and
respected by the people That is true
Of the statesman and the soldier, as wel'
as Of the people. if it is meant that
THE HIGHEST TYPE,
is that ideal which commands respect
and admiration Of the highest and best
in a mans nature. however, far above
himself Soldiers and the people saw in
Grant. or in Lincoln. not one Of them
selves. not a plain man Of the people,
nor yet a superior being whom they
could not understand. but the persona
fication of their highest ideal Of a citi-
zen. soldier or statesman; a man
whose greatness they could see and
understand as plainly as they could see
ANYTHING else under the sun. And
.here was no more mystery about it
than there was in the popular mind"