Year: 1872

| ing for the liberties Of mankind. You remem-
beT, father, the line that is recorded Of him:
"And Freedom shrieked when Kosciusco fell" !"


lam rendered serious by the impressions
that crowd upon me here from West Point.
Ny thoughts are frequently occupied with the
hatred l am made to feel towards traitors to
my country, as look around me on the memo
rials that remain Of the black-hearted treason
of Arnold. am full of conviction of scorn
and contempt, which my young and inexperi-
enced pen is unable to write in this letter, to-
ward the conduct Of any man who, at any
time could strike at the liberties of such q
country as ours. If every man should be
found III our Union base enough to make the
attempt to do this; if, like Arnold, they should
secretly seek to sell our national inheritance
for the mess of pottage of wealth, or power, or
sec1on-West Point sternly reminds me what
you, my father, would have your son do. AS
stand here in this national fort, q student at
arms under our country flag, know full well
emergency. l trust my future conduct in such
an hour, would prove worthy the patriotic
instructions you have given.


Yours obsdiently,


ULYSSES SIDNEY GRANT.
What do you, fellow citizens, think
Iof the boy who wrote this letter.
When dld he lose the moral sense so
conspicuous at the age of twenty
years?


He acted his part bravely and well.
The Mexican war being over, the
pay of an officer of his rank was
such as to enable him to live, but be
ing unwilling to play the part of
drone, he resigned his commission
and sought livelihood as tanner
the occupation he had learned with
his father before he went to West
Point.


The great Sumner taunts him by
reminding the country that "he
tanned hides inGalena for few hun
dred dollars a year" But he did
not inform the country through a
great newspaper of "what he knew
about anything" he did not herald
to the world that he was a wood chop
per, but he quietly and modestly
minded his own business and let
other peoples business alone. Yet,
he worked with his hands as newer
ofwood, and sold it in tie markets and
by honest toll wrought out living
for himself and family.


GRANT, THE SOLDIER.


From the time the rebellion broke
out, the whole world knows his his
tory. When Sumpter was assailed
and the old flag of beauty, and now
of glory, fell, he did not wait to be
called. Without commission, COM
mand, uniform, or shoulder-straps,
Igrasping the stars and stripes, he
carried them through a series of
victories, such as no mortal before
him had won.


While senators who now revile
and traduce him sat on easy cush-
ions, this tanner of Galena swept re-
bellion from the Mississippi and the
great river went unobstructed to the
sea. Lincoln and Stanton (God
bless them called him from the VIC
Itorious field of the West to take
charge of the department of the East,
where army after army, the very
flower Of the nation, had time and
again melted away before the victor
ious Lee.


He went to the wilderness of Vir-
ginia at time when that traitorous
old mother of statesmen had become
the rendezvous for the armies of the
rebellion, all under the command of
its capable and tried commanders,
and when all rebeldom was boasting
in the fastness Of the Wilderness and
Blue Ridge, they could defy the
world in arms. At the same time the
New York Tribune was bowling for
peace, and the Chappaqua farmer
was on his famous peace mission,
and met Sanders and Jake Thomp-
son, the rebel incendiaries, at Mag
ara Falls for the purpose of patching
up a humiliating compromise.


When he gtarted for Richmond,
Gen. Grant took no step backward,
and when we were trembling, and
fearful of another disaster, right well
do we remember that electrifying
dispatch: 81 will fight it out on
this line if it takes all summer"
From that moment every lover of
his country breathed free, and felt
sure that the tanner of Gelena would
sooner or later finish what there was
left of the rebellion. His was for
ward march, until he had set his foot
on the shattered fragments of the
greatest power and invading army
ever overthroWn.


He solved the problem that had
baffled all others, and preserved the
Republic after the world and Horace
Greeley thought it had gone down.


How did he stand then? The ma
ton reposed upon him and blessed
him. The world gazed at him as
the military wonder of the age.


GRANT THE PRESIDENT.


The Democrats sought his consent
to nominate him for the Presidency,
with such a platform as he might
choose to dictate. He declined.
The same integrity and moral sense
that we see in his West Point letter
to his father forbid. He knew that
in bargain of that kind somebody
would be cheated, and he had made
it a principle of his life, that by his
consent no one should be cheated,


At this time these people who are
now covering him with contumely, |
saw him only resplendent with great |
ness and with virtues.


He did not become unfit for the
Presidency until three years had
had ripened and enlarged his knowl- |
edge, until he had given the country, !
l AFFIRM one of The best administra-
tions we had ever experienced. He
did not become unfit while the pat
ronage held out, and while unclean
fingers we're allowed to handle it


In his recent letter of acceptance
he says: Experience may guide in
avoiding mistakes inevitable with
novices in all professions and in all
occupations"


He was q novice when the New
York World the ablest Democratic
newspapers in the country, said:


Apply to Gen. Grant what test you will;
measure him by the magnitude of the obstac-
les he has surmonnted, by the value of the po-
sitions he has gained, by the fame of the an
tagonist over whom he has triumphed, by the
achievements of his most ilustrious co-work-
ers. by the sureness with which he directs his


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