-I s 4 1l\!/ fifS % MEMORIAL ADDRESS Rev, Bishop G, H. Fowler, D.D„ LL.D, [Delivered at the Grant mtmorial services held in the Mechanics' Pavilion, San Francisco, (.'nl., August 3, 1885, by special direction of the Mayor and city authorities.] As Orioinai.c.y PriiLisuKD IN California Christian AnvocATE, August 12, 1885. I) SAN lUAXt I>Cl). CAL. : 'jiF Ml IHODIsr HOOK. DKPOSnORV 4l {iiNeim mwiT. MEMORIAL ADDRESS Rev. Bishop C, H, Fowler, D,D„ LL.D, I DclivereJ at the Grant memorial services htki in the Mechanics' Pavilion, San Franci^co, Cal., August 8, 1885, by special direction of the Mayor and city authorities.] As ORIUIN.AI.I.V riBLlSHKI) IN CALIFORNIA CHRISTIAN ADVOCA IT August 12, 1885. "^'X^^^X-J- SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.: M K r H O D I S T BOOK D E P O S 11' O R \" . 1885. ■'■ '-'i^JM'g'-- 06ro 7-/- 9^ -^^^^^-^^^.'^f t QKNERAL GRANT. MEMORIAL ADDRESS. mill. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, FELLOW-CITI- ^k ZENS, COUNTRYMEN: Six years ago in September, California, the golden-haired maiden of the setting sun, on behalf of her sister commonwealths, welcomed through the Golden Gate, from his triumiDhal march round the world, the greatest living son of the great Eepublic. Yon- der bay swarmed with a fleet flowering with flags and freighted with free- men; j'onder shores pufted and thundered with rejoicing cannon; yonder hillsides and housetops quivered with human faces. Through these streets, covered with flags and shields, a quarter of a million of people crowded, and shouted their welcome to the hero from Appomattox. From bej-ond the desert and from beyond the mountains, from all the hills and valleys beneath the stars and stripes, fifty millions of free citizens answered back our shout. California will never forget that Saturday. Fellow-citizens, how changed are our surroundings on this Saturday! Yonder bay is quiet as a midnight in the mountains; yonder cannon sleep, like the disciples, as if for soitow; yonder hillsides and housetops are as barren as the desert. Those streets mourn beneath their sable drapery; and the thousands of our citizens march, with mnflBed drums and trailing flags, to join the stricken nation at the grave of our hero. Federal and Confederate officers. Northern and Southern cities, republican and monarchiral governments, men of all faiths and of all trades, princes and peasants, war-worn veterans and little chil- dren, unite in the common soitow. Badges of mourning are displayed in all the capitals and cities of the world. England's army and navy float the Union jack at half-mast. Her muffled drum-beat encircles the globe. By the instinct of the people, her bands forbear their joyous notes, and join in the universal dirge; and Westminster Abbey, crowded with the renowned of the kingdom, rings with eloquent anRE.S.S. / armies, aggregating 60,000, captured one fortified capital city, destroyed the railroads and bridges, and made the investment of Vicksburg complete, and sat down to reduce the stronghold by siege. This taxed him more than anything he had yet done. The tide was running toward the Confederacy. Grant and Sherman, with their invincible Western fighters, had been checked and foiled. The Army of the Potomac was continuing its defeats and its experiments in commanders. Ohio and Pennsylvania w. re terror- stricken at the aivaace of Bragg tow,ird Louisville. The Cjnfederate armies were advancing everywhere. The peace-at-any-price party in the North were gaining victories in the elections. European writers pronounced the Union destroyed, and mankind relieved from a dangerous republic. France stretched forth a helping hand to monarchical ambition in Mexico. England was growing rich in building hostile ironclads, and in blockade- running, and in buying Confederate bonds. Ambassadors from Richmond scorned our representatives and intrigued against th< m in every court of Eu- rope. Confusion prevailed in Wash ngton. The Government was unpopular^ The North was divided. The national credit was nearly gone; gold reached almost 300. The tropical sun was marching up from the south to reinforce the Confederate armies. Surely, these were weighty reasons for the speedy capture of Vicksburg. No mortal can measure the pressure on Grant as he bent his energies to the task in hand. Pemberton, with his brave warriors inside this Gibraltar, menaced him in front. The wise and skillful Johns- ton, with an increasing host 40,000 stong, threatened his rear. Entrenched on both sides against two powerful armies, far away from his friends, in the heart of the enemy s country, he went patiently about the work. Night and day the operations of the siege were pushed. Parallels and trenches were opened at every available point, batteries were planted, heavy guns from the fleet were borrowed and mounted on land duty, roads were made, siege materials were prepared, mines were sunk, and towers for hharjishooters were built. Across the gulches, and through the ravines, and round the hillsides, and up to the very walls, day by day, and night by night, the encircling lines of burnished sleel and fire made their remorseless way. Pressed by the awful gravity of the situation, slandered and ma- ligned by open and concealed foes in the North, distrusted by nearly all in Washington save Lincoln and Stanton, this silent, unwavering man pushed his way up to the very gates of Vicksburg, and on July 4, 1803, pushed them open, never again to be closed against the stars and stripes. This campaign, exhausting all the inventions and appliances of the most perfect w;ir science, had had no equal since the campaign of Hannibal against Eome, and, standing alone, would stamp its author as a militarj- genius of the highest order. It was in acknowledgment of ''the almost inestimable service done" by Grant for 'the country" in this campaign that Lincoln wrote the famous S OEXERAL GRANT. letter, which did such justice to Grant and honor to Lincoln, in which he said: "When you turned northward, east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make a personal acknowledgment that you were right and I was wrong." Chattanooga and Mission Eidge soon followed Vicksburg, and Grant, silent, modest, simple, with a glorious record, went over the mountains to take charge of the war. He had captured 472 cannon, 90,000 prisoners and 100,000 stand of arms. When he asked Mr. Lincoln why he, instead of General Sherman, was chosen for the command of the Potomac Army, which he did not wish, Mr. Lincoln replied: "You are the only man who has fought twenty-seven great battles and gained tweuty-seven great vic- tories. The country believes in yoat, and will bear anything; and the army believes in you, and will do anything." In this age of vast commercial enterprises, we may underestimate gifts that cannot be exchanged in the mart or put up as collateral on the board. Carthage had a population of 700,000. She had rich dependencies in Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and Spain. She worked the silver mines of Spain and the tin mines of Britain. She sent vessels into the Baltic, and caravans to the Nile and the Niger. Yet she has furnished for posterity only one gi-eat man. That is Hannibal, her gi-eat soldier; and his history was written by strangers. Such a man as Grant is worth more to a nation than can be estimated in dollars and cents. Grant is essentially great in all great matters. The qxialities of his mind were such that he was moved only by the substance of things. Asa student, he won gi-eatest credit in the heavy branches — mathmetics, engineering and fort-constructing. In his gi-eat campaigns he seized as if by the instinct of an infallible genius the points of advantage. He saw what was to be done. What more important points than Paducah, controlling the mouth of the Ohio; Shiloh, practically guarding Kentucky and Tennessee; Vicksburg, the gate of the Mississippi; Chattanooga, the key to Georgia and Alabama! He saw distinctly, exactly what was to be done. He said to Bismarck: "We were fighting an enemy with whom we could not make a peace. We had to destroy him; no convention, no treaty, was possible— only destruction.' This clear statement contains the secret of his war policy, and made his brill- iant career only a question of time and opportunity. In the East he set himself to destroy Lee's army. He said: •■The problem of the war is not to take Kichmond, but to destroy the militarj' jjower of Lee's army." He said to a friend, as he went out to confront Lee: "It is a ques- tion of numbers and supplies. Lee has 100,000 men; I have 150,000. I shall kill as many of his men as he does of mine. By and by he will have oO,000 and I will have a 100,000. Then I shall capture him." And he did. He says in his i-eport as Lieutenant-General, July 22, 186"): "From an earlj' period in the rebellion, I had been impressed with the idea that . active and MEMORIAL ADKUKSS. continuous operation of all the troops that could be brought into the field, re (jardless of season and weather, were necessary to a speedy termination to the war. * * * From the first I was firm in the conviction that no jieace could be had that would be stable and conducive to the happiness of the peo- ple, both North and South, until the military power of the rebellion was en- tirely broken. I therefore determined, first, to use the greatest number of troops practicable against the armed force of the enemy. ^ « * Second, to hammer continuousli/ against the armed force of the enemy and his re- sources, until, by mere attrition, if in no other way, there should be nothing left to him but submission to the Constitution and laws of the land." These profound convictions dictated his famous statement to General Meade: "Gen- eral Lee is our objective point." General Lee was the favorite general of the South, and his army the center of the military power of the South. So, when General Grant took command i>f all the armies of the Union, he formed one plan, covering all the countiy and reaching every officer and soldier. Every soldier had his face set toward Lee"s army. Meade on the Kapidan, Sherman on the Tennessee, Butler on the James, Sigel in West Virginia, and even Banks in Louisiana, were to pash on from whatever direction, against whatever obstacles, toward Lee's army. Thus, from the day he left the Kapidan, it was a constant, persistent, desperate, resistless purpose, at all costs, to wipe out Lee's army. A repulse was nothing provided it had cost the enemy a fair amount of men to jiroduce it. The order was simple, "Fight along the whole line!" From Spottsylva. uia, after six days of awful fighting, he telegraphed Secretary Stanton: ••/ propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer." After thirty days of "continuous hammering" he had so wasted Lee's army by attrition that retreat within the defenses of Eichmond was a necessity. Then followed the gathering in of all the gieat armies, till, at Appomattox, everything gave way before the continuous hammering of Grant. It is difficult to comprehend the vast numbers which this |_man handled and met. The Confederacy had, at its best, January 1, 18G3, 750,000 available men. The Union available force was 1,000,000. The North sent into the st'rvice during the war 2, (i.'>0,.'>.')3. History certifies no such armies. Napo- leon raised in France, duiing three years, only 1,200,000. Alexander fought his great battle of Arbela with 60,000 men. Hannibal started from Carthage with 102,000, but he reached Italy with only 2G,000. Napoleon had only 72, ( 00 men at Waterloo. Grant took 75,000 prisoners in Virginia alone, and killed and wounded nearly as many more. The quality of these armies is as important as the quantity. Since Wa- terloo the modes of warfare have been revolutioriized by the invention of bet- ter weapons. Before Waterloo Frederick lost in his battles 0.1842 (percent); the Austrians, in seven battles, 0.1117; the French, in nine Napoleon battles, 0.2238: all parties at Waterloo, 0.40. Since that battle the Germans, in eight 10 GENERAL GRANT. battles, have lost 0.11; the Austriaus, in two battles. 0.08; the French, in nine battles, 0.08; the English, in four battles, 0.10. In onr civil war, in eleven battles, the Union forces lost 0.1289, and the Confederate forces lost 0.1416. Modern wars have furnished no soldiers with the courage and en- durance of these Americans. These gi-eat armies were made of the best metal. They could endiire continuoias hammering and go into a spiral scab- bard. Any just estimate of Grant's abilities must include proper notice of his endurance of assaults and misrepresentations. He is the best abused man in American history. He seems to have marched straight up to the highest po- sitions without a single faltering step; and he did. But it was in spite of the most bitter and constant and nialicioi;s detractions. He advanced as the ocean steamer does, in spit* of the tides and the storms. Every step of his ■way was gained in spite of bitter opposition from men who ought to have helped him. After Fort Donelson his chief gave the credit to an inferior officer, recommended an unknown man for promotion, removed Grant from his command, and put him, practically, under arrest. After Corinth, where he defeated Johnson and Beauregard, and drove back the Confederate advance in the west, he was neglected, criticised, maligned. Through the long cjim- paign against Vicksburg every effort was made to supersede him. This would have been done but for the hard sense of President Lincoln, who said: "I rather like the man, and I griess we'll try him a little longer.'" Throiigh all his public life he was slandered and maligned almost beyond human endur- ance. Yet, through it all he remained the same patient, silent, magnanimous, patriotic man. I olice asked him, "Why do you endure so silently? The peoj)le will be- lieve what you say.'" He rei:)lied: "Perhaps my habit of silence was con- fii-med (if it needed confirming; it is naturally strong) more by a story told me by Henry Clay than by anything else. Clay was anxious for the Whigs to cany Kentucky. A certain mountain district was needed, so Clay's friends persuaded an old planter, a high-minded, honorable man, who had nevei toiiched public life, to accept the nomination for the Legislati;re. with the promise that he should have nothing to do with the campaign. All went well till a short time before the election, when a company of Whigs called on this old planter, and told him that his opponents were saying that ^vhen you gather in your hogs in the fall you are not quite careful enough to gather in only your own.' 'What! do they accuse me of stealing hogs?' 'Well, not exactly, but that you are not careful enough.' '."t is a base lie.' 'Yes, we know that; but the voters at the other end of the district do not know it." 'Well, I Avill go down and tell them"; and that he did." Grant asked Clay how it came out. Clay said, "Oh, they earned the district liy about the usual majority. They proved it on him." Grant added: "Phis stoiy has greatly affected my political life. Suppose I deny their falsehoods; it will MKMORIAI, ADURKSS. H not take long to Hiul witnesses to swear to them. Then the case apparently goes to the public on the evidence. No; I do not fear falsehoods." Nothing has more siu-prised the nation and the world in this simple, silent, plain man than his wondrous speeches and jn-oductions. He proves to be a most delightful, instractive and fascinating conversationalist. He meets every occasion, all the world round, with exactly the right speech and the appropriate action. Smalley of the Tribune says: "I never heard a more perfect speech of its kind than his Guild Hall speech." He speaks every- where, yet seldom repeats himself. His style is terse, clear, and in the best English. His letters to his subordinate commanders are models of simplicity and clearness. There are no places for questions. No man of our time, not even President Lincoln, has coined so many ringing sentences, that must pass current as long as the English language is spoken. Who can forget his reply to General Buckuer at Donelson, "No terms other than unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works'; his telegi-am to Stanton from Spottsylvania, "I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer"? His telegram, while Presi- dent, to an officer in New Orleans who was reporting in detail every order he gave, rings like the old orders-"Put down the rebellion, and \-eport afterward." We remember his statement during one of his visits to the South, when the colored people crowded to see him, and wanted to touch him. The guards kept them back. Grant said, '-Let them come; where I am they can come." We shall not forget the benediction at the end of his inaugural, "Let us have peace." If the accurate apprehension of the entire case, a clear conception of the course to be pursued, and a wise adjustment of means for the ends to be reached; if the forming the most comprehensive and far-reaching plans, the combination of varied campaigns in one majestic system, the selection of exactly right men for each subordinate place, the accurate determination of what might be done by each army and division in a given time so as to bring them to a common point at a given moment; if the control of the largest armies the world ever saw, the fighting of the greatest number of great battles without a single defeat, the conquering of the greatest hosts of the best fighting race known to history, the taking of the greatest number of prisoners ever taken in a single w.r, marching armies through a hostile country farther than Napoleon marched going to Msscow, and farther than Hannibal marched in coming into Italy; if the patient and uncomplaining endurance of the most malicious representations, without being turned aside one moment from the great work entrusted to him. nor from the most gen- erous magnanimity even toward ma'iguers, where the requirements of °the public service would permit, walking on in sublime and silent solitude, un- mindful alike of pestering assaults and Parthian arrows; if to wnte orders 12 GENERAL IJKANT. and reports aggregating volumes, under all the disadvantages of camp life, and iia all the weariness of marches, sieges and battles, and to produce con- tributions to current literature, and volumes of standard and permanent history, and put them into the purest and best English, with the simplest and clearest construction, destined to a place among the classics of the lan- guage; if to speak to the most varied audiences of peasants, farmers, mer- chants, bankers, statesmen, cabinets, monarchs, all the world round, always showing an accurate knowledge of the subject in hand, and perfect mastery of the situation, winning golden laurels in all fields— if these unprecedented achievements, wrought with the steadiest hand and most unchanging coun- tenance ever seen in public affairs, never doubting before the greatest diffi- culties, never shrinking under the heaviest burdens, never fearing in the midst of the greatest perils, never exulting over the greatest triumphs, never being elated by the greatest glory, never flinching under the most intense suffering, remaining always the same simjDle, quiet, reposeful man; if, ac- cording to Gods standard— judged by "deeds done in the body"— these things are to be estimated in the measure of greatness, then we are com- pelled to acknowledge that we are in the presence of the greatest military genius of all time, and one of the very few greatest characters of aU ages. It is difficult to analyze the character of General Grant, because it is so simple and so complete. It is like a sphere approached ft om any side; it seems always to project farthest toward you. Try to divide, and each sec- tion is like all the rest. Cut through it, and it is all the way through alike. We can only catalogue his distinguishing characteristics. His leading characteristic in mind is practical reason; in will, firmness; in moral nature, integrity; in rehgious nature, loyalty to duty; in emotional nature, love of family, fidelity to friends, and sympathy with humanity; in faith, New Testament Christianity; in manner, simplicity; in bearing, dignity; in schol- arship, a mastery of English and of his caUiug; in achievement, a military genius; in the abiding motives for action, patriotism; in poise, absolute courage; in general make-up, preternatural endurance; and in all things, a man— "the elements so mixed in him that Nature might stand up and say to all the world, 'This is a man.'' " aye, and such a man that, taken "all in all, we shall not see his like again." One must think of integrity whenever Grant's name is mentioned. It 'is the foundation of his great nature. Even in his campaigns you search in vain for anything to start the question whether it is ever right to deceive. He went South to destroy and wipe out from the face of the earth the Southern Confederacy, and he went straight at it. He did not even like strategy. It was repugnant to his genuineness. He said to General Meiggs: "I do not believe in strategy, in the popular understanding of the term. I use it to get up just as close to the enemy as pos^sible with as little loss a.s possible. Then it is, 'Up, guards, and at them!' " When he did not wish MKMORIAI, ADDRESS. ]'.i to tell anything ho did not tell something else; he simply kept silent He said, late in life, that he never tried but once in his life to do an ex- pedient thing, for the sake of party, against his judgment. That was con- cerning the inflation bill. He wrote a message trying to satisfy himself that it was right to sign it, arid so save the Republican party in the West. All his Western friends were urgent, but he could not satisfy his convictions; so he wrote another message vetoing the bill. This absolute integrity, ab- solute honesty, absolute loyalty to the convictions of duty, cannot be over- emphasized among us. Show me a man with this loyalty to truth, and I will show you the highest type of man. He is certain to become a Chris- tian man in the substantial and only abiding sense of the word. "There is a light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." Loyalty to this light finds always that il grows brighter and blighter, even unto the perfect day. I know of no sublimer picture than that of General Grant, advanced in years, having been betrayed by friends, handing over his fortunes and his home, with the treasures and gifts of a grateful world, to a man who could not possibly need them, simply because it was honest; taking on his arm his wife, and walking with her again down into poverty, and there sitting down with a bandage about his aching head, and a horrible and mortal disease clutching his throat, patiently, uncomplainingly, with his pen, earning daily bread for his family. My heart feels a great ache when I look at him who had saved us all when we were bankrupt in treasure and in leaders, and see him thus beset by woes and wants. .But I am reconciled to the strange providence when I see the "Form of the Fourth" in the fur- nace, and see that he has added to all his other gifts to us and our children this magnificent example of honesty and his "memoirs." Historv furnishes no sublimer picture. General Grant was the truest man we ever saw. Grant embodied firmness He could not be other than firm with his clear convictions of duty, and with his stout, fighting Scotch blood, which had been marching for five hundred years under the old clan motto, ' 'Stand fdst, stand Jirm, stand .su?'e." These old Scotch chiefs asserted themselves whenever Ulysses got into the thick of the battle, and the crisis threatened to turn the wrong way. Then he was more resolute and unwavering than ever. It gave supreme quietness to his courage. He could stand in the face of the most terrible storm of death, and never show the slightest con- cern. There are onlj"^ three characters known to history who were abso- lute strangers to fear. They are Lord Nelson, and John Brown, and General Grant. This firmness, guided by hi-t intelligence, made him self -reliant. This is essential to manhood. No man ever is very strong who is not self-poised. At Belmont, when an oflicer, in alarm, ran to him, saying, " General, we are surrounded," he reassured all by saying, "Then we can cut our way out 14 GENERAL GRANT. as we cut our way in." After Belmont, though an unknown brigadier, he telegraphed to Halleek: "With permission, I will take and hold Fort Henry." After tardy permission came, he telegraphed to Halleek: "Fort Henry is ours. I shall take and destroy Fort Donelson on the 8th." After the battle of Five Forks, Grant, wrapped in his blue overcoat, sat out in front of his tent, awaiting news from Sheridan. Two or three staff officers sat with him in the wet woods. Presently a messenger from Sheri- dan said, "Five Forks is won!" Graat listened, went alone into his tent, wrote an order, sent away an orderly, and, coming out, remarked, quietly, "I have ordered an attack all along the line." His whole career is full of these displays of his greatness. After Corinth, Buell criticisf d him for fighting with the Tennessee river between him. Be said, "You could not retreat." Grant said, "We did not want to retreat." "But your plans might have failed, and you had transportation for only 10,000 of your 40,000 men." Grant replied, "By the time we would have retreated the transports would have carried all there would have been left of us." It is refreshing to study this n\an' a patriotism. He offered his services to the Government in Springfield over and over again, only to have them refused. At last he was granted a jjlace at a clerk's desk, and rejoiced that he was doing something for the defense of the country. After Shiloh he was stripped of all command, and practically put under arrest. Yet he did what he could to aid his superiors. After he was again restored to the serv- ice, he wrote General Halleek: "I will again assume command, and give every effort for the success of the carise. Under the worst circumstances, I would do the same." His soul burned with unabating zeal for the country. When starting on his journey around the world, he said: "I believe firmly that if our country ever comes into trial again young men will spring up eqiial to the occasion; and if one fails there will be another to take his place." Again he said: "If our country could be saved or ruined by the efforts of one man, we should not have a countiy. What saved the Union was the coming forward of the young men of the nation. They came from their homes and their fields as they did in the time of the Revolution, giving everything to the country." No man more clearly than General Grant saw the one supreme ligiire of the war — the common soldier. He lias dedicated his "Memoirs" to "the American soldier and sailor." As we look upon the luminous history of this struggle, the first form that comes out of the smoke of battle and rises in the chariot of fire before our weeping eyes is that supreme j^atriot — the com- mon soldier, who, at the first tap of the war drum, sprang from the coiach of his ease and the home of his comfort, armed amid the gathering darkness of impending peril, took a hastj' farewell of his wife and loved ones, and went forth to hunt for masked batteries in the darkness, and to die, if need be, a ther than survive his imperiled liberties; who actually bared his bosom to MKMORIAl, AKDKKSS. lo stoniis of iron and rows of glistening steel; who did press over the breast- works, and nish across slippery fields, and stand mute under hostile guns; who did actually stand in death's highway that the Republic might be saved. We dx) see, first of all, and, in the impartial judgment of infinite equity, above ail, the supreme patriot of the war— the common soldier. Honor to whom honor is due. Grant said: "The humblest soldier who carried a musket is entitled to as much credit for the result of the war as those who were in command." The luster of this gi-eat man is increased by his love of peace. He said in Guild Hall: "Although a soldier bj' education and jirofession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and have never advocated it except as a means of peace." He said to the Peace Society in Birmingham: "It has been my misfortune to be engaged in more battles than any other gen- eral on the other side of the Atlantic; but there never was a time during my command when I would not have gladly chosen some settlement by reason rather than by the sword." Listen to his words to Bismarck — "The tnithis, I am more of a farmer than a soldier; I take little interest in military affairs; and althoiigh I entered the army thirtj'-five years ago, and have been in two wars, I never went into the army without regi'et, and never retired without pleasure." I remember how he emphasized his satisfaction over the treaty of Washington, by which the Alabama claims were settled without a war. He said to me: "I regard that as the first of a long series to follow which will iiltimately supersede war. England and the United States are so far ad- vanced that such settlements are possible. Soon Germany will join in this policy. When two or three more nations come up to this level thej' will not allow the other nations to go to war." How simple he made the way appear for the coming of that time when wars shall be no more! There is no side of this wonderful character that does not chanu us as we study it. Throiigh all" the changes of his most eventful life he remained the same simple, modest, tender, sympathetic man. He was too great to waste his strength in ostentation. His gentle nature was drawn to little children, and they ran after him in our streets, and clung to him in our homes. He was as ma(/nani»iOits as he was gi-eat. When necessary, he or- dered Sheridan to "lay waste the valley of Virginia, " and he treated the problem of the war as a (juestion of killing so many of the enemy. Yet we see him writing to Lee, beseeching him to save the anuies from further slaughter. And we see him giving terms to the vanquished that captivated the cai)tured and amazed the world. Only the other day he directed his piiblishers to put Rosecrans' picture into his book, saying, "I will not allow .my personal feeling to enter into such a matter." To-day, as the Union and Confederate soldiers mingle their tears over his bier, and recall his great- ness, there comes up one voice from the sunny South, that vast battle-field, saying, "Thy gentleness hath made me gi-eat." 16 GENERAL GRANT. It bardly seems necessary to proclaim General Grant a Christian. It goes without saying after such a life as his, so quiet, so gentle, so just, so so full of integrity, so rich in Christian faith and in saving work. Those who knew him most intimately never heard him utter a profane or vulgar word. Sweet water does not flow from a bitter fountain. He was a regular attendant upon church. He told Senator Stanford that he never had a doubt of the immortality of the soul. He was a firm believer in Divine Providence. He said to Mr. Lincoln, in the presence of his Cabinet, when he received his appointment as Lieutenant-Geueral, speaking of the perform- ance of his duties: "And I know that if they are met, it will be due to those armies, and, above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men. " When he was Colonel of the '21st Illinois Volun- teers, he gave all the aid possible to secure the uniform observance of reli- gious services. As his mess gathered around the table, he said: "Chaplain, when I was at home and ministers were stopping at my house, I always in- vited them to ask a blessing at the table. I suppose a blessing is as much needed here as at home, and if it is agreeable with your views, I should be glad to have j'ou ask a blessing every time we sit down to eat." You all remember those simple words written on a card the other day, when he could not use his voice, and handed to a Catholic priest who called on him, expressing the strongest faith in all the denominations based upon the Scripture, of the Old and New Testaments, and gratitude for the prayers of all Christians. A tender and touching word to his son, Colonel Fred. Grant, comes to us out of his fatherly heart, showing what estimate he placed upon right living. He says: "I had rather see you suffer as I suffer now than see you abandoned to any vice." We are fully prepared to read his words to Dr. Douglas about his willingness and readiness to go hence: "If it is within God's providence that I should go now, I am ready to obey his call without a murmur. I should prefer to go now to enduring my present suffering for a single day, without hope of recovery. As I have stated, I am thankful for the providential extension of my time to enable me to continue my work. I am further thankful, and in a much gi-eater degree, because it has enabled me to see for myself the happy harmony which has so suddenly sprung up between those engaged but a few short years ago in deadly conflict. It has been an inestimable blessing to me to hear kind expressions toward me, in person, from all parts of our country, from people of all nationalities, all religions and no religions, of Confed- erate and National troops alike, of soldiers' organizations, of mechanical, scientific, religioiis and other societies, embracing almost every citizen in ■the land, They have brought joy to my heart, if they have not effected a cure. So, to you and your colleagues, I acknowledge my indebtedness for having brought me through the valley of the shadow of death to enable me to witness these things." .MKMOKIAI. ADHKESS. 17 Ju'y IGth: "" * * After all that [sigQs of impi-ovement], however, the disease is still there, aud must be fatal in the end, My life is precious, of course, to my family, and should be to me if I could recover entirely. There never was one more willing to go than I. I know most people have first one and then another little thing to fix up, aud never get quite through. This was partially my case. I first wanted so many days to work on my book, so that the authorship would be clearly mine. It was graciously granted me, after being apparently much lower than I have been since, and with a capacity to do more work than I ever did in the same time. My book had been done so hastily that much of it was left out, and I did it all over from the crossing of the James Eiver, iu 1864, to Appomattox, in 1865. Since that I have added as much as fifty pages to the book, I should think. There is nothing more to do, and, therefore, I am not likely to be more ready to go than I am at this moment." As President, in 1876, he wrote to some Sunday-school children in Philadelphia: "My advice to Sunday-schools, no matter what their denom- ination, is: Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet-anchor to your liberties; write its precepts in your hearts, and practice them in your lives. To the influence of this book are we indebted for all progress made iu our true civilization, and to this we must look as our guide iu the future. 'Right- eousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.' " A few weeks ago, April 18th, he said to his pastor. Dr. Newman: "I believe in the Holy Scriptures, and whoever believes their teachings will be benefited therebj'." Dr. Newman asked him what his supreme thought was when all thought him dying, and he said: "The comfort from the con- sciousness that I had tried to live a good and honorable life." Aud among his last utterances he said: "I pray that we may all meet in a better world." This carries us up tu the border of the unseen country. The great, calm, resolute, upright soul marches peacefully into the unknown, and stands wondering and adoring in the Eternal Presence. The light of e:Iadsome rest lights up the warworn features. Aud we, with all the civilized families of man, stand, in tearful and sobbing silence, with the bereaved family, around the deserted camp of the old warrior. Unexpectedly, as his habit was iu his great engagements, the works of the last enemy are flanked, and we have a communication to his wife, so sweet aud tender that we forget the soldier, and our sorrowing hearts cling to the husband and father, as his letter to his wife comes back to us. "Look after our dear children, and direct them in the paths of recti- tude. It would distress me far more that one of them would depart from an honorable, upright and virtuous life thau it would to know that they were jirostrated on a bed of sickness, from which thej' were never to arise alive. They have never given any cause for alarm on this account, and I earnestly pray that they never will. With these few injunctions, 18 liEXERAL GRANT. and the knowledge I have of your love and affection, and of their dutiful affection, I bid you a final farewell until we meet in another, and, I trust, a better world. You will find this on my person, after my demise." He approached death like a philosopher. Socrates, with the hemlock in his hand, was not more thoughtful. He entered into the last struggle like a warrior. Leonidas at Thermopylas was not more determined. He triumphed like a Christian. Ira3ueus, at the stake, was not more confi- dent. Sure of his rest in the skies, let us take one glance at his place in human history. I turn to the past. It is full of warriors. But among them all I see no Grant. I do see Napoleon, "grand, gloomy and pecu- liar, a sceptred hermit"; yet over his fields of glory, and over his throne, I read, "Selfish Ambition." I see great Csissar, of majestic stature, but beneath his feet is the dying Eoman Eepublic, and on his sword I read "Merciless Despotism.'" I see far back on the summit of the Alps stout old Hannibal, but the dusky warriors that obeyed his command were ma- rauders, living on spoils; and the spirit that spurred him to deeds of his- torical splendor was merciless and revengeful hatred. But here stands Grant, on the summit of his unprecedented deeds, in the solitude of his exalted character, rooted and grounded in the "arduous greatness of things achieved"— a soldier, who conquered a great people, and ennobled them by the moderation with which he used his victory; aniler who healed the wound in the breast of the nation and made its people one, by the impar- tiality of his administration; a citizen, who walked fame's most illustrious heights, with such unaffected simplicity that the humblest citizen is drawn up to nobleness by the magnetism of his example; a patriot, who wrought for freedom with such exalted devotion, that even the vanquished rejoice in his triumph. There he stands, with Washington and Lincoln, on the dome of these centuries, loved by his countrymen, honored by mankind, and to be remembered and emulated till the latest generation. Friends, countrymen, brothers, from the North and from the South, from the East and from the West, and from all lands under the stars, let us cling, let us cling to the memory of Grant till it warms us and melts us and moulds us into oneness forever. METHODIST BOOJ DEPOSITORY. ICll Marka Si. N^ 4- \ ■ ON C ff n ^^-^^^ ff n -^ s * o . O o )>■ ^j^s- A V •/>. 'o » J'" ^^'^^, O » K A^ HECKMAN BINDERY INC. 5-187-9710 R. 1 T Piei^P N. MANCHESTER. tk^unJ -To .Fie.iM i^Qi^^^ 46962 O *•*• '