THE LATE GENERAL GRANT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2050, 27 August 1885, Page 4

THE LATE GENERAL GRANT.

(Sin Francisco News Letter ) (ih\HK\L Gitv\r died at lii s temporary liuinu at Mount MoGiegoi, in New York, .vt eight minutes past eight on last Tlnmil.iy mo'ning, iftcr a ling Ming illness e\ tending ov< i apeitod of <<i'\ ei.il months Jnd 'td. it ma> In- said that hu has been an irvalid suko thy accident ho met with about twelve months ago. His death is an event of inach more than oidinary 1111 portancc. To a certain extent it ni»y bu regaided as closing i tianio el'.iptet in Ameiican histoiy. The Civil War, as a nnlitaiy affair, closed twenty years ago As a political affair it is just closing now. It has been breaking out— that is, its spirit has been bicakine out— in the press, in the national council halls and on the stump, fiom time to time, ever since the sin render of Appoinattox up to the present day Within the past year or two, however, these outbreaks ha\e been growing weaker and weaker, and theic is vow room to hope that the fiatiicidal conflict Ins at last passed into history. The two great lenders it produced are dead, and one by one the less prominent participants are passing on to join their comrades, fiom whom they parted on the bloody field of battle, on that further shore where all is peace and rest. Fifteen years ago. on a beautiful afternoon in the Indian Sumnitr, just as the blue mists were beginning to cieep up those mountain sides that had m> otten icverbeiated with the sound of Ins c union, and along the valUjs that had '•o often resounded with the "tramp of his annul men, m the midst of the laud he lo\ed so well and for which lip hul fought so bravely, Geneial Robert X Lee fell into his last lung sleep. The .youth. y outh throbbed with pain, but the North give no sign of being conscious that a gieit Ameiican was dead Though milituy movements had terminated, the war was not o\er. And now, in the full bloom of the matin rd Summer, while the joyous catol of the song bird fills the air, and the mist of the eaily morn i& disap peanng before the bright rays of the sun, in the midst of the laud and people he lortd so well and foi whom he had fought so bravely and successfully. Genual Ulysses S. Grai.t has passed away to the giear hereafter. The An eiican Union —not one bection of it, but all — throbs with pain. Fiom e\eiy pmtion of the South comes indications of sorrow It is realised that a great Ameiican has passed away, and that the war is over The heat t burnings of defeat have died away, ami there aie but few Southern men oi womin who did not feel the sid solemnity of the occasion when the electi ie "viic, on last Tliursd «y morning, (lashed acioss the continent the news that the silent Geneial was but clay, ami that his spnit had just joined the boys in blue and the boy 5 in gray in their eternal bivouac. There will be some confus on at first in accurately fixing Generil Giant's position in histoiy For some da}*, if not weeks, a great deal of lecklcsd lot and gush is liable to be written and spoken about him He will piobably be made out an angel, aa well as a tinixcendentul genius He was neithei. He was a man in whom many of the weaker tt aits of hum m n.itiuo weie prominently developed. His standing as a militaiy leadei will, pei h ips, always remain a matter about which militaiy ciitits will diffei. It will be Mid of him that he saeiificed larger numbcis of men than the occasion called for. Nevertheless, the fact will lemain that he was a gicat geneial. In the his toi vof the woiM Ins name will 1 an k with Htnmbal, Napoleon, Wellington, Mailhoiough, Yon Moltke and the rest of those who have, at one or another period of the woild's history, dis tingui&hed themselves as great leaders of men in armed conflict. In Ameiican history he will be placed along with Washington and Lincoln. It may be said with truth of G -iner.il Grant that he did not cieate his oppoitunities, either iv war or in life, but neveitheless, the obstinate detei initiation with which he sei/wl the oppoi tv 111 ty ulien it came to him, and pushed it to a successful issue, was greatness iv itself. On the pige3 of Amencin histoiy h's name will stand out for all tinip. Aionnd it is gatheied ttio reeoid of the daikest period in the joung life of the Repub lie. lint coining generations will read with pride, r.ithei than with pain, of the desperate deeds aiound Foi t DonelsO'i and Petersburg, and learn a u-eful lesson from contempl iting the magnanimity which waved hick the proffered swoid of Lee at Appomattox Gomt House, and told the surrendered soldieis to take their hor>es with them, "because they will need them to put in their crops " Theeaiecr of Geneial Giant, too, constitutes another illustration of the true spiiit of Anieiiean institutions, and the possibilities in life they place before each citi/en. B'lin in a plain and unassuming station of life, he has risen up to the highest dignities and hoiioms the Republic had to offei, and written his name in bold, strong letteis upon the woild's Temp'e of Fame Viewed fiom this standpoint it constitutes an intensely interesting study, as one follows it from the frontier to West Point, through the Mexican War, amid the dull loutine of garrison life, in the tan yaid at Galena, and from thence to the leadership of a million of aimed men in the hour of his countiy's ponl. It is a fascinating pictuie, ipart altogether from the oft1 epe 1 ted talc of the fluctuating incidents of his militaiy movements, of his sue cesses and reverses on the battle field. General Grant's political eireer is the least satisfactory poi tion of his life. It was a conspicuous failuie, if not worse, and it would have been much better for his reputation hid he remained in his natural place at the head of the army, instead of allowing himself to be placed in the Presidential chair. His habits o.f thought and action were utteily unsuited to the task of dealing with the sinuous movements of political life. Like Wellington, he could command but was tumble to govern. The ciafty men who (unrounded him continually led him into error, for w Inch he had to fchouldei the icsponsibility. His unwavering firmness and faithfulness in Ins fiiendships, even aftei those he trusted had proved them selves unworthy, frequently placed him in a false position before Ins country and the woild. Hh instinctive aversion to deset ting a friend while under fire was admirable a8 a titiit of private character, but when hi ought into theadininistiation of public afl.nrs it was not merely foolish, but dangerous Metaphoncally speaking, it placed General < • rant alongside of Mae Donald at the Bar of Justice, and made him a partner in guilt with I'cikiiaii. (want's eftoits to obtain a thud teim, too, were little less than tieason, and yet, if the tiuth weie told, it would piobably be found that Colliding, Cameron and Logan weie the responsible paities. Now, however, that wo stand beside his open grave, a geneious people can and will put these little mistakes fiom sight, and will see before them only a soldierly hero 111 the calm embrace of death. They will forpet Grant, the politician, and Rave with sorrow on the emaciated remains of the distinguished General, who his for months past looked death calmly i 1 the fice and borne his great suffering with such unassuming fortitude.

W'iiiiiv k\\ month-, say-< an exc'nnse, Australnsian newspapers havn fjive 1 the Hnlisli (!i)veinni(Mit advico Oiiough t nun it ii inun'jci of ycurs.