It is a finished
and splendid column, crowned with its full glory.
The chieftain is dead. The American people themselves will now judge
him, after the calm evening and the serene repose of retirement, more
justly than in the stress and storm of struggle. The asperities of angry
contentions have passed; the flaws have faded, and the blemishes are
dimmed, while the splendor of General Grant's achievements and the
simple grandeur of his character have gained a brighter halo as the
years have rolled by. The clouds and the smoke of battle have long since
lifted; the fragments and the scenes are swallowed in the majestic
drama; and to-day we see the hero elevated on his true pedestal of fame
through the just perspective of history.
It is given to few men to bear suffering with the fortitude displayed by
the departed hero; it is given to fewer still to await in patience and
without complaint the certain issue of suffering in death. But it is
neither his fortitude, nor his patience, nor his touching solicitude,
nor his unselfish industry which distinguished him in an almost unique
degree. It was rather, in one word, his simplicity, his strong but
unpretentious character, and his firm but magnanimous nature.
Of such, plainly, is the kingdom of Heaven, and it is a national glory
that of such, too, in the instance of General Grant, the American people
was never neglectful.
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