The age-herald., 1901-04-28

CLARKE HOWELL, 1 Who Responded to the Toast, Grant l as Peace Factor" at Banquet Last l Night.
 
 and should keep forever living the mem- 1 ories and incidents of bis war renown. There is no one familiar with the his | tory of our country who is not aware of the mighty part played by General Grant in the epoch of the civil war: but there are few even among his own people who realize the intense influence his life eX- erted in the epoch of pace. There is not school boy in knee-breeches but who can tell you what General Grant did to prevent the successful dissolution of the union; there are few statesmen who can | tell you how much he did to procure it's l peaceful restoration A Great Service. .e | No service this great chieftain ever I rendered our common country in his | most brilliant military achievements can | equal the great good accomplished by 1 him in his consistent campaigns for prac- | tical peace. If there was genius in the I pen that wrote the terms of uncondi- tional surrenger to the failing garrison | at Fort Donelson, there was greater genius still exempifed in the letter that made possible the peace conference at | Hampton Roads. If there was grandeur | in the scorching sword that swept Vir- ginia as a sea of flame. yet grander still | the hand too generous to take the strick- en sword of great but vanquished foe. | If there was glory In the thunder of the 1 voice that threw the columns of aA mighty army into the shock. of war. far greater was the glory of the tongue that framed the message, born of love, crying to a <1te l.. ; To tkose wkugare familiar with the people of the Soutfcand with the condi- 1 tions leading to theAfuur years war 1t is unnecessary to protest that the van | qiiished South could never have played | Carthage to conquering Rome. Her l people had breathed the inspiration of independence from the hills that cradled Washington and Jefferson and Patrick | Henry. Jealous in the preservation of what they believed constitutional and hereditary rights. they were prodigal in all that was required to maintain those rights. f
 It was the spirit of fraternity, em- l bodied in the immortal message of Grant that consecrated that covenant and es- l tablished it's sacred arbitroment beyond | appeal. 1t was this spirit that conquered forever the doctrine of absolute state rights;' this spirit that conquered forever 1.-the restless whost of secession; th's spirit that converted the invincible fol- lowers of Lee and Stonewall Jackson into l loyal citizens of reunited republic. Re | sponsive to the spirit. of that message and stirred by it's generous impulse they sought the broad shelter of the flag they 1 once assailed, and its sacred folds have | healed the bitter wounds of war. Some Comparisons. l At Versailles after Sedan. Germany stood in the glittering paraphernalia tf ~..s4l- I.~. ( t.n | throat of Paris and the other pointing | to the hungry document demanding the most prodigious indemnity exultan. vic tor ever exacted of prostrate victim.
 Not so at Appomattoxl Instead of ex- action-liberalityl Instead of Siberia again the tranquil fields of home; again the music of familiar waters: again the chirp of cricket on the hearthstone and the melody of schildrens' prattle around the mothers kneei Instead of St. 1 Helena-Washington Not Washington as the stronghold of an armed foe, but as the common capital of reunited country, where victor and vauduished met on equal terms of fellowship. Wash ington. the capital frcm which. a few years later.i federal major as President of the United States, wrote one day the order making brigadier generals of the nephew of Robert E, Lee and the son of Ulysses s. Grant!
 
 had come sooner, since it had to come; but better for the greatness of our coun- try that coming late it's bloody field of battle was consecrated by the covenant of the republics peace.
 | The oficial, records of the war have but recently established the important part played by General Grant in prevent ing an untimely abandonment of negotia- tions and in paving the way for the ac- complishment of an official conference. Seward had been sent to Fortress Mon- roe early in February, 1865, to meet Stephens and Hunter and Campbell, the Confederate commissioners under welt defined limitations from President Lin- coin to confne negotiations to what he termed the three indispensables." Ma jor Thomas F. Echert had preceded Se- ward on the same mission and under similar restrictions
 | The Conference.
 At the preliminary conference the Con federate commissioners requested a con ference with President Lincoln at Wash ington and Major Eckert replied that the conference could not proceed except un- der the terms outlined in his instructions. The Confederate commissioners. unwill- ing to negotiate for peace under prescrib- ed limitations. declined to proceed with the conference.
 President Lincoln in submitting the correspondence to Congress said that at this stage:
 T was about to recall Seward and Eckert when the following telegram from General Grant to the Secretary of War was shown me"
 The telegram read
 T am convinced upon conversation with Messrs Stephens and Hunter that their intentions are good and their de- sire sincere to restore peace and union. I have not felt myself at liberty to express even views of my own or to account for my reticence. This has placed me in an awkward position which would have avoided by not seeing them in the first instance. fear now their going back without any expression from any one in l authority will have bad influence I