Year: 1868

From The World, Lay q, 1868.


- It was possible FOR Grant, after


his failure 'to fight it out on one hne'


in his advance of 1864, upon Richmond


TO lavish the lives Of thousands Of Amer.


lean soldiers and 70 expend hundreds Of


thousands Of dollars of the nations trea.
sure upon a new campaign, and so finally


wear and worry down the strength oi


the rebellion which had already beer
mortally wounded by Meade at Gatlys-
burg.


From The World, april II, 1866.


Gen. Grants history should teach us
to discriminate better than we Amer
leans are apt to do between glitter and
solid work. Our proneness TO run after
demagogues and spouters may fud a
wholesome corrective in the study Of such
a character as his. The qualiues by
which great things are accomplished are
here seen to have no necessary connection
with snowy and superficial accomplish
ments. When the mass Of men look
upon such a character, they may learn a
truer respect for themselves and each
other; they are taught by it that high
qualities and great abilities are cODsis-
tent with the simplicity Of taste contempt
for parade, and plainness of manners
with which direct and earnest men have
strong natural sympathy. Ulysses
Grant, the tanner, Ulysses Grant, the
unsuccessful applicant for the post of
City Surveyor of ST. Louis, Ulysses
Grant, the driver into that city of his
two-horse team with a load nf wood to
sell, had within him every manly quality
which will cause the name of Lieutenant
General Grant to live forever in history.
His career is a lesson in practical demo-
CraCy it is a quiet satire on daniyism,
the puppyism, and the shallow afecta-
ton of our fashionable exquisites as well
as upon the swagger Of our plausible,
glib lOngued demagOgues. Not by any
means that great qualities are incOnsis-
tent with cultivated manners and a fluent
elocution; but that such superficial ac-
compliShments are no measure of worth
or ability.


Gen. Grants last brilliant campaign
sets the final seal upon his reputation.
1t stamps him as the superior of his able
antagonist as we'll as of all the comman
ders who have served with or under
him in the great campaign of the last
year. It is this sureness Of Judgment
which sees precisely where lies the turn
ing point; which sees precisely what
are the objects that Justify the utmost
streach of persistence it IS this ability
to take in the whole field of view in Just
prospective and due subordination OF
parts, that is the mark of a superior
mind. Gen. Grant has taken out of the
hands of all critics the question whether
it belongs to him. He has won his
greatest triumph over the most skiIlful
and accomplished General on the other
side; over General who foiled him
long enough to prove his great mastery
Of the arr of war; and the completeness
of whose defeat is a testimony to Grants
genius such as victory over any other
General of the Confederacy, or even an
earlier victory over Lee himself, could
not have given. Apply to Gen. Grant
what test you will; measure him by the
of the obstacle he has sur
mounted, by the value of the positions
be has gained, by the fame Of the an
tagonist over whom be has triumphed,
by the achievements of his most illustri
Gus co-workers, by the sureness with
which he directs bis lndomitable energy
to the vital point which is the key Of
vast field Of operations, or by that su-
preme test Of consummate ability, the
absolute completeness Of his results, and
be vindicates his claim to stand next
after Napoleon and Wellington. amoag
he great soldiers Of this century, if mol
on a level with the latter.