The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-27
ONE OF GRANTS QUALITIES.

General Grant possessed many high quail
tiles as a man which all can study and
endeavor to emulate with advantage. One
of these the orators seem to lose sight of
or fail to emphasize as it should be en-
phasizec. That quality was the absolute
self-control of the man. He probably had
emotions as have other men. Indeed, in
stances are related showing that he was
man of the strongest affections and the
deepest feeling Certain it is that his heart
was touched by human suffering and his
nature aroused by acts of cruelty. His alb
soIute self-controI appeared in the hour of
apparent disaster However much he might
have been moved by what to other men
would have been disaster in a great cam
meanor or paralyze his purpose. The first
attempt to capture Vicksburg was a failure
so absolute that most any other man would
not have made a second effort. General
Grant did not admit that the first effort
was failure, but resolutely undertook
second campaign which was brilliant sue
cess. The North was discouraged at the
losses Of the wilderness, and it is probable
that other generals would have retired from
the struggle, but General Grants notable
declaration, I'VE will fight it out this
line if it takes all summer" restored conf
dence In the fall of 1864 the feeling was
quite general that the bloody campaign Of
the year had failed, but he wrote that
famous letter to President Lincoln calmly
presenting the situation. In showing the
condition Of the Confederate army he used
the phrase, 1.-The enemy is robbing the
cradle and the grave to fill his ranks" The
cool confidence of General Grant, due
largely to his self-control shone in that
letter. and the victory in the Shenandoah
valley reelected Abraham Lincoln and
saved the Union. In defeat and in victory
he was the same cool and self-contained
man. His words, his manner and his face,
which expressed more than words in what
may be called the supreme hours, did not
betray what was passing in his mind. In
that impassve face those about him could
not read the encouragement and disgust
he must have felt at the failure of the mine
nor could they have read any word of
citation in that same face as he rode for
ward to receive the surrender of the Army
Of Northern Virginia at Appomattox.
The point which it is desirable to make is
that General Grants success depended in
which enabled him not only to act calmly,
but TO impress those about him with that
same high quality. He was never the vic
| tim of his emotions nor of that uncertain
| quality extoIled as enthusiasm He was
never swept off his feet by any transient
| impulse such as at times seems to de-
prive large part of the American people
of the faculty to reason and to investigate.
| He was never the victim of sensationism,
and he hated the characteristic in men.
The subject of abuse by sensational news
papers while he lived, he would have been
still more so in these days because of it's
reckless development. If there is one quail
ity more than another which the American
people need it is that of self-control to the
extent that they will not be carried away
with the sensation of the day. Many peo-
pie read the sensational newspapers and
too many accept their fictions as truth
without stopping to question them. There
is evidence. also. that many Americans de-
| light i'm sensations for the sake Of the ex-
element. If General Grant had been a
man of impulse and had lacked self-control
he would not have been the great character
| i'm history that he is