indebted the whole country, to give freedom to four millions of slaves.

Then, it may be replied, that the south would never have given up its slaves in any other way. Possibly not.

Yet it was the south to get rid of an evil But it is past now, slavery, war and all the enmity and moral and social We are one country, one people, have If we did have a war among

the dearest possible way for
which was its worst enemy.
and all. Let it be past,
evil that came with it.

one history and one future now. ourselves, it was the greatest one ever had among men, and produced the greatest generalship and soldiership, on both sides, yet known among men on so large a scale.

But what did the war do for Ulysses S. Grant? It made him. It took him from a low place, from a weak self-respect and self-control, from obscurity, from a possible, and perhaps probable, life-struggle with poverty and bad habits, and put him upon the pinnacle of a world-wide fame-gave him friends, confidence, even adulation, wealth, and the highest honor of the republic. But even this is not the best it did for him. It developed through all the years of the war a better and better manhood, an improving excellence of character. It is difficult for one to study the life of Grant and not see that from the time he entered the army of the Union at Springfield, he began to be a better man-more self-respecting, self-sacrificing-that he had more of the feeling that he was in the world for a purpose, which was to serve his country and his kind, to be a man genuine, large and useful.

Six days after General Lee surrendered, President Lincoln was assassinated. Grant had no better friend than the president. Through all the fault found with Grant, he always believed in him, and defended him.

Now came Andrew Johnson, as president, who objected to, and sought to hinder, the reconstruction measures of Congress, which proposed to give the ballot to the freedmen. A long contest between Congress and the executive followed, in which General Grant sought to stand on neutral ground. The president removed Mr. Stanton, secretary of war, and appointed

General Grant; but Congress objected to the removal, and so General Grant's cabinet position was short-lived. Slowly dragged along the weary length of President Johnson's time, which made the general's neutral position an uncomfortable one.

PRESIDENT GRANT.

On the twentieth of May, 1868, the national republican convention of six hundred and fifty delegates, met in Chicago and voted for a candidate for the next president. Every vote was for General Grant. Every state was represented. The enthusiasm on the occasion was intense and tumultuously expressive. It told of a united country; of reconstructed states; of slavery abolished; of harmony between the coming president and Congress; of a new south in the years to come, and of a country to be, with all the sections prosperous, and at peace with each other. It was one of the greatest occasions in the history of this country, full of great epochs. The great leaders in thought, like Horace Greeley, Charles Sumner, Abraham Lincoln, had done their work in the minds and hearts of the nation. Discussion had been deep and strong for years, all the time winning men more and more to the doctrines of the declaration of independence. Now the time had come when these doctrines could be put into practice, when they were no longer an idle declaration, but a practical reality; and the man who had been one of the most practical and powerful instruments in bringing about this state of things, was nominated for the presidency. It was inevitable that General Grant should be president. The people would have it so. His great work in the war, growing greater with each succeeding year, culminating at last in the destruction of the slave-holder's rebellion; his simplicity of life, modesty, and plain honesty and common sense, had made him the one man whom the people would promote to the highest place of honor and trust. No matter if he had not been a civilian; no matter if he had not voted but once, and then for Buchanan; no matter if he had been a slave-holder, and failed in self-government over his appetite, before the war; nobody else could be thought of for president. It was cruelty to him, but the people

did not mean it so. It was robbing him of his just dues, an unsullied and immortal reputation, to grow brighter through the ages, as one of the world's greatest captains; but this was not the intention. It was a moral impossibility that he should do in the presidency which he knew nothing of, as he had done in the army for which he had been trained, and in which he had seen much service under those great generals, Taylor and Scott. The country was never fuller of great civilians than at that time. The country never needed great civil talent, knowledge and experience, more than then. It was putting a landsman on board of a ship in a storm, to command it. Yes, it was cruelty to the general, who would have lived forever in the hearts of the people as the Wellington of America. So unwise is the love of a good people under such circumstances.

The election went forward as did the convention, to the inevitable result, which made our great and lovable general a commonplace president.

Commonplace he was obliged to be in a place as new to him as a new world.

The place was as difficult as it was new. The conquered but sullen south; the humiliated but not conquered democrats of the north, would both make him all the trouble they could. The republicans anxious to punish the south, and the republicans greedy for places in the north, were neither of them helpful to him. He, like the martyred Lincoln, had only kindness for the south, and kindness for everybody; but he could not have his way in such turbulent times.

He sought at the start to reform the civil service by appointing politically unambitious men to important posts of duty, but in these attempts the political managers soon worsted him and got their own way, so that before his administration was through, he was quite in their hands. By his good nature he was led to accept many presents from men who had personal interests to serve, listen to many counselors who were ambitious of their own promotion, appoint many relatives and intimates to places of trust and profit, to his own discredit, and give credence to schemes of plausible theorists, which did not gain wise confidence for him.

In the army he easily and naturally controlled all opposing wills; in the government he was as easily controlled by adroit politicians; so that beginning his administration as a reformer, he ended in close affiliation with the old line managers, or "machine" men as they were called. Seldom have more men in high places fallen into evil and brought disgrace to the government, than during the second term of his administration. He meant well, but was too closely invested by men and things which he could not manage, to gain much credit for his well meaning. Since the days of Washington, no military man has given the country a wise civil administration. And it must always be remembered that he was more a civilian than a soldier. The nation loved General Grant; the nation bore with President Grant; and yet by and by the great general will overgrow the less president, and he will live in the military honor he justly deserves.

PRESIDENT GRANT THE TRAVELER.

President Grant closed his public service on the fourth day of March, 1877. He had had sixteen years of continuous public duty, for the most part, in heavily responsible places. He had long desired to see the world. Now was his time. He had good health, as he always had, good eyes, and a placid spirit, which could sleep always, when it was time to sleep, and now he was in mood to go. On the seventeenth of May, 1877, he and his wife, son, and a party of friends, left Philadelphia, and went down the Delaware thirty-five miles, and boarded the "Indiana," which was ready for the voyage. They sailed directly for England, where he was received, as Lord Beaconsfield had determined he should be, "as a sovereign." Perhaps no public man was ever more feted and feasted, and publicly honored, in England, from the humblest citizen to the queen, than was he. England loves great generals, and knows when she finds one. It may be that she was making up for her bad treatment of us, during the war, but yet she was magnaminous enough to treat our great general as he deserved.

From England, President Grant and party went to Belgium,

to be received in a similar way; and then to Germany and Switzerland, to be regaled by the mountain air and views; and then across the channel to Scotland. Having taken a hasty run through Scotland and England, he crossed to France.

After seeing the principal sights of this country, the "Indiana" took its way, through the straits of Gibraltar, into the Mediterranean sea to Italy and Greece, and their wonders; and then southward to Egypt, where carpets were spread on the ground to receive him, and old army comrades, then in the service of the king of Egypt, greeted him. Here, as elsewhere, king and people gave him a welcome. The Pyramids, the Nile and Upper Egypt, were in turn visited. The ruins of the ancient city of Abydos, claimed to be the cradle of civilization, greatly interested the party. Then up the river to the ruins of Thebes, once a city of three hundred thousand inhabitants, stretched for eight miles along either side of the river, the party went. Ruins on ruins everywhere! The statue of Memnon, the temple of Medinet Haboo, the avenue of the Sphinxes, and Karnac with its wilderness of ruins, were visited.

From Egypt to the Holy Land they go, and instead of our general being allowed to enter Jerusalem thoughtfully and in quiet, he was met with an army with banners giving him a great welcome. From Palestine to Damascus, still ancient and beautiful, on to Constantinople, Greece and Italy, and then to the Paris exhibition, the party went.

Two weeks in Holland, then to Germany, King William and Bismarck, to Norway and Sweden, and Russia, to be cordially received by the Czar, and then hurried to Spain, makes travel a campaign indeed.

A French ship carried the general and party to Egypt again, and a Red Sea steamer took them to India, that wonder-world of the east. Hindustan, Siam, and then China and Japan were taken in the trip, and the strange, ancient, curious things they hold. But Japan was delightful, fraternal, profoundly respectful, and held our party long in a charmed life. Then the "City of Tokio" took them across the Pacific to San Francisco.

Soon followed a presidential election, and a strong movement

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