The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-04-28
THE PART GRANT TOOK IN IT
he Was Always a Worthy Enemy and
Generous Friend.
MASON AVID Dlx0N'S LINE WIPED OUT
The Peace Of a Prosperous People Premeate.
the Land and Lights All Sections Of
Reunited Nation in its Holy
(By the Associated Press.)

New York, April 27.-At the annual
banquet of the Great Monumental As
ISOLATION, held at the Waldorf Astoria
Hotel tonight, Hon. Clark Howell, e1i
tor of the Atlanta Constitution. re.
sponded to the toast: Grant AS Peace
Factor Mr.. Howell said:
MR. HOWELL'S SPEECH.
am not unmindful, Mr.. Chairman, that
in paying tribute to the man in honor
of whose memory we are assembled here
tonight. am environed by circumstances
that, under some conditions, would en-
barrass the frank utterances of my own
sentiments and clothe my words with
import not their own.
come to speak with you of the lessons
learned from the life of leader-and l
am of the people aanst whom his legions
we're led to victory and around whom the
whitening embrace of his iron arm was
closed in the grip of war. There is scarce
a valley in the Southern States that
does not shelter in it's bruised bosom re-
luctant monuments to the triumph of that
great soldier-GeneraI Grant
But / have not come to speak of the
accomplishments of war, which have
rightly placed his name among those of
tn great warriors of the world. / am not
here to paint picture of the mighty
tide that swept on and on under his
masterful direction until all who opposed
were overwhelmed in the eliminating
flood at Appomattox. 1t would i'll become
me to exult in the memory of his trium-
nf viz
they returned to joyous homes under the
streaming banners of victory.
1t is natural and proper, Mr.. Chairman
that those who shared his sympathies
and dangers, that those and the sons OF
those who followed his famous lead in
well-fought battles. should keep forever
the luster of his military fame, and should
keep forever living the memories and in
cidents of his war renoWn.
GRANTS GENIUS AND COURAGE.
Those who offered their bulet-riddled
bodies as bulwarks in the vain effort to
stem the conquerirg tide of his cohorts
bore testimony to his genius and his
courage. There is not today in the frag-
mentary ranks of the beaten heroes who
once wore the gray single soldier who
would raise his arm to still the cheers
those victories have won. But above the
din of successful arms, beneoth the gar
lands of glorious victories, beyond the
glad huzzas of a preserved nation welcom-
ing it's martial heroes home, the dirge of
those homeless heroes who after sur
render, buried their abandoned hopes
with cause forever lost, bids me turn
from this phase of that momentous life
to another that is not trumpeted by the
raucous blast of war, but which is sound
ed in the sweet and soothing songs of
peace. There is no one familiar with the
history 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
exerted in the epoch of peace. 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 its
peaceful restoration.
No service this great chieftain ever rem
dered our common country in his most
military achievements can equal the
great good accomplished by him in his
consistent campaigns for practical peace.
If there was genius in the pen that wrote
the terms of unconditional surrender to
the falling garrison at Fort Donelson,
there was greater genius still exempli-
fled in the letter that made possible the
peace conference at Hampton Roads. If
there was grandeur in the scorching
sword that swept Virginia as a sea of
fame, yet grander still the hand too
generous 20 take the stricken sword of
Il great but canquished foe! If there was
glory in the thunder of the voice that
threw the columns of mighty army into
the shock of war, far greater was the
glory Of the tongue that framed the mes