Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 April 1869 — Grant’s Felicity of Language. [ARTICLE]

Grant’s Felicity of Language.

He exhibits at times a rare felicity of language. His woroa generally come slowly, but they are always to the point, and when analysed his speech often proves eloquent. His dispatches abound in terse, significant expressions, like the response to Buckner: “No terms other than an unconditional and immediate aoirender can be acoepted. I propose to move immediately upon yonr works” “ I propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer,” fi historical “Let ns have peace," uttered by the head of the army, became the watchword of a party. His famous letter to Andrew Johnson on the removal of Sheridan is Rive with earnestness: and his remarks to President Linooln, upon receiving command of the armies, are a model of chaste and manly eloquence. “Mr. President, I accept the commission with gratitude for the high honor conferred. WRIT the aid of the noble armies that have fought on so many fields for our common country, It will be my earnest endeavor’ not to disappoint yonr expectations. I feel the. frill weight of the responsibilities now devolving on me; and I know ff they are met. it will be dus to those armies, and above all, to the fevor of that Providenc which leads both nations and men.” Take, again, the short speech he made when he received the nomination for the Presidency: “I shall have no policy of my own to enforce against the will of the people:”—a sentiment full of wisdom and patriotism, and at the same time the severest rebuke of the President who strove so hard to force his policy upon an unwilling people. At Galena, when his election was announced,he proclaimed: “ The responsibilities of the position I feel, bat accept them without fear;” while in hi* inaugural are opinions worthy to become maxims of public and international law. The truth V that few men who call themselves orators have made better or more effective speeches than he who has made so few, who never speaks till he has something to say, bnt upon due occasions always has something to say that is pertinent and forcible.— Atlantic Monthly for May.