* * * * *
The republic at last bows its head in sorrow at the death of its
greatest citizen. In awe and admiration it honors the character which,
heroic to the last, has never been more conspicuously shown than during
the months of that depressing illness, the end of which must have been
to him a welcome entering into rest.
The same unquailing courage, and the same calm, grim fortitude which
shed their fadeless lustre upon his whole extraordinary career were
evinced by General Grant at the last moments of his life. For months the
nation has hung over his bedside, awaiting the silent foot-fall of the
unseen conqueror of all that is mortal.
The nation's loss is not measured by the vacant place. For nearly a
decade General Grant had been only a private citizen, wielding no
sceptre of authority, and exercising no sway in the public councils. And
yet his going is a loss; for he was everywhere felt, not merely by what
he had done, but by what he was,--one of the great reserve forces of our
national commonwealth.
"Great men," said Burke, "are the guideposts and landmarks of the
State." General Grant was the guidepost of a victorious war, and a
landmark of a magnanimous peace. A pillar of strength has fallen; and
yet a broken shaft is not the fit emblem of his life.
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