| Show r A SOUTHERN TRIBUTE J tl General Robert Toombs of Georgia t pays General Grant a just tribute as to his military qualities He says Grant q was the greatest soldier produced by the war a fact which is now generally recognized recog-nized People have been wont to say that Grants success came far more from A his tenacity of purpose than from his I qualities as a military leader Tenacity t of purpose in a military leader is as essential es-sential as any other quality tenacity of g purpose is that which leads men to success suc-cess in all walks of life Can there be I I any place in which a man needs firmness so much as in war On the field of battle everything is not dependent on brilliant plans alone for there must be determination deter-mination and discipline in the ranks 1 t Perhaps no battle was eyer better planned j than that of Waterloo bit the genius of q i Napoleon with the aid of such lieutenants I of Ney and others of that wonderful corps of field marshals was not able to conquer I Wellington and because Wellington jl possessed that same tenacity purpose that was so distinguishing a characteristic characteris-tic of Grant But tenacity of purpose was not the only eminent military quality possessed by Grant j it was found in combination with others General I Gen-eral Toombs says that Lee was a very good engineer officer and a man to head an army Perhaps the war produced no I one man who planned all his campaigns and fought his battles according to strict rules of military science so much as did i 1 Robert E Lee It was military science which made him recognize that at Ap I i pomatox Court House the war was virtually I vir-tually over Lees military ability was military talent attaining its greatest perfection per-fection through study and loyalty to the art of war Talent is never safe beyond I the domain of art and fixed rules genius may go where it chooses and do as it pleases Genius shows what can he done while talent shows how it was done Genius is its own guide while talent formulates rules from the ways of genius = Talent knows how to meet every movement move-ment that conies within the rules while genius knows how to meet every movement move-ment without as well as within the rules Talent is limited genius is unlimited General Toombs is frank as to another matter He says that Teflerson Davis was the wrong man at the head of the Confederacy This has been a recognized recog-nized fact by Southern men for many years past Davis was a military man by naturo and by education Tie was a graduate of West Point and West Point turns out nothing but military men It i must be said in favor of Davis that at the outbreak of the war he desired a military command but was finally prevailed tip onto accept the Presidency of the Confederacy Con-federacy Vhat would have been the result of the war had Alexander II Stephens Steph-ens or Robert Toombs been President of the Confederacy is an interesting question ques-tion Certain it is that Davis was not a good judge of men while he possessed pos-sessed in a great degree the quality of antagonizing those whose friendship he should have cultivated lie succeeded in creating a coldness between himself i and Beauregard and J E Johnston and i that he did not antagonize the Vicel > resident res-ident of the Republic himself was owing more to the irrisistability of Stevens amiable ami-able manner than the tact of Davis Theestimate which Toombs puts upon Grant is correct and his judgment of Davis is likewise correct It is i a genuine pleasure to know that a man of such bitter k bit-ter and unbending hatred to the Union recognizes the worth of Grant and pays him the tribute he deserved but that which is the most complimentary to Grants memory in Toombs remarks is this Grant was simple minded and honest and had no more animosity toward to-ward the South than toward the North |
