The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-06-06
THE PICTURES OF
TWO GREAT GENERALS,
CBy John J. Iura.isl

mas OF history.
No man ever did 50 much OF whom
so little could have been predicted.
A. the outbreak OF the Civil War he
had come nearly 20 middle life. having
failed in every undertaking. and was
sunk in hopeless poverty and obscur!ty
He was destitute OF those personal
traits and qualities which a;rtac. and
charm and make their possessor popu-
lar and beloved. Taciturn. dimden
and out OF countenance with the world.
he had few acquain ;ances. fewer
friends and no influential associates
among the civil and military leaders
of his time.
There was not a county in the Safe
of Illinois that did not contain in 1861
some inhabitant who might have been
more reasonably expected to have been
commander-in-chief OF the armies of
the United States and twice its Presi-
dent than this humble. indigent en-
ployee in the village store ut Galeua-
Ulysses Simpson Grant.
| But in four years that detected sub
ordinate. upon whom fortune seemed
to have placed its resentment. had COM
manded more armies than Caesar. had
fought more battles than Napoleon and
inscribed his name among the foremost
warriors OF the world.
He is popularity supposed to- have
been vacant and dull in conversation.
but. while at times irresponsible. again
he was alert, vivacious and almost in
spired.
Toward the end of his second term
as President there was n dinner al the
White House. The Electoral Commits
sion was sitting to- decide the disputed
succession between Tilden and Hayes.
1t was a dark and ominous time. the
| most threatening since AppomattoS.
Revolution was imminent. Henry
Watterson had just issued his pTocla-
nation calling for 100000 unarmed
Kentuckians to assemble ut Washing
ton on January Sth to watch the count.
The subsiding passions OF the war. the
frenZieS of reconstruction were in
famed TO evaporation. The air was
heavy with portents.
After dinner the guests strolled into
the library for coffee and cigars. Con-
versation turned to the situation and
it's perils. Its tone was depressed.
The President said nothing. exhibited
but smoked with deliberate s.oiidity.
In pause Burnside turned TO him and
said: We'll, General. what do you
thinks there going to be any
trou5le""
After a perceptible interval Grant
appeared to emerge from a reverie.
His features were transformed. and
with voice and manner as II he were
at the head of million men. and in a
suppressed tone Of indescriblbie inten-
sity, he said:
NO. there will be no trouble. But Il
has been one rule OF my life 10 be
always ready"
AS uttered it was the most immense.
impressive and pregnant sentence toI
which ever listened.
The talk instantly turned 10 other
themes, and the President became chat
ty, voluble and reminiscent. He refer
red to the agoniZing sick headache
from which he suffered the night be-
fore the surrender and how II left him
on the receipt of Lees note as sudden
~ as the shutting OF a jackknife."
II
after the close OF the war. He called
at the Executive Mansion as he was
passing through on his way to New
York on some railroad transaction for
the State of Virginia. In the course
OF the conversation Lee said he could
hardly understand why he was sent on
the mission because he knew absolute
~ nothing about railroads. Grant stat
ed he replied, iocularly. that the Cen
eral had considerable to do with rail-
roads in Virginia for a number OF
years. but Lee never smiled. which the
President thought eyinced great lack
of the saving sense OF humor.'
These vague recollectioas hla;ei
dimly from times dark backward
abyss. as I stood by the uncomp,eted
pedestal on which the heroic equestrian
statue OF Logan is TO stand in Iowa
Circle. Two bronze panels in the gran
lite base perpe,ua.e incidents in the
career OF the Great Volunteer. whom
Grant described - the most trouble
some man in camp and the brJyest
and most daring soldier in battle tina;
had ever been under his command He
was the incarnation OF force. He was
intrepid energy personifed. His pug
nacity was automatic. and his COM
bativeness immense. All his adjec-ives
| v-ar, S,,Da-ra-fva trgs rgF. go .f,.r-