{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-12:general-grants-birthday-dinner",
  "slug": "general-grants-birthday-dinner",
  "title": "General Grant's Birthday Dinner",
  "subtitle": "Tribute to Ulysses S. Grant.",
  "excerpt": "Ingersoll's birthday tribute to Ulysses S. Grant at a memorial dinner of the Army of the Tennessee.",
  "year": 1890,
  "volume": 12,
  "category": "After-Dinner",
  "author": {
    "name": "Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "wikidata": "Q360326",
    "viaf": "44331023"
  },
  "isPartOf": {
    "title": "The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "edition": "Dresden Edition",
    "publisher": "C. P. Farrell",
    "year": 1900
  },
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/",
  "url": "https://thegreatagnostic.com/works/general-grants-birthday-dinner/",
  "wordCount": 1269,
  "body": "General Grant's Birthday Dinner\n\nNew York, April 27, 1888.\n  • The tribute at Delmonico's last night was to the man\n    Grant as a supreme type of the confidence of the American\n    Republic in its own strength and destiny. Soldiers over\n    whose lost cause the wheels of a thousand cannons rolled,\n    and whose doctrines were ground to dust under the heels of\n    conquering legions, poured out their souls at the feet of\n    the great commander. Magnanimity, mercy, faith—these were\n    the themes of every orator. Christian and Infidel, blue and\n    gray, Republican and Democrat talked of Grant almost as men\n    have come to talk of Washington.\n    And, alas! In the midst of it all, with its soft glow of\n    lights, its sweet breath of flowers, its throb of music and\n    bewildering radiance of banners,  there was a vacant chair.\n    Upon it hung a wreath of green, tied with a knot of white\n    ribbon. Soldier and statesman and orator walked past that\n    chair and seemed to reverence it. It was the seat intended\n    for the trumpet tongued advocate of Grant in war, Grant in\n    victory, Grant in peace, Grant in adversity—the seat of\n    Roscoe Conkling. A little later and a clergyman jostled into\n    the vacant chair and brushed the green circlet to the floor.\n    Gray and grim old General Sherman presided. About the nine\n    round, flower heaped tables were grouped the long list of\n    distinguisned men from every walk or life and from every\n    section of the country.\n    Among the speakers was Ex-Minister Edwards Pierrepont who\n    was one of Grant's cabinet and who made a long speech, part\n    of which was devoted to explaining the court etiquette of\n    dukes and earls and ministers in England, and how an ex-\n    President of the United States ranks in Europe when an\n    American Minister helps him out. The rest of the speech\n    seemed to be an attempt to get up a presidential boom for\n    the Prince of Wales.\n    When Mr. Pierrepont sat down, General Sherman explained that\n    Col. Robert Ingersoll did not want to speak, but a group of\n    gentlemen lifted the orator up and carried him forward by\n    main force.—New York Herald, April 28,1888.\n\nTOAST: GENERAL GRANT\n\nGEN. SHERMAN and Gentlemen: I firmly believe that any nation great\nenough to produce and appreciate a great and splendid man is great\nenough to keep his memory green. No man admires more than I do men who\nhave struggled and fought for what they believed to be right. I admire\nGeneral Grant, as well as every soldier who fought in the ranks of the\nUnion,—not simply because they were fighters, not simply because they\nwere willing to march to the mouth of the guns, but because they fought\nfor the greatest cause that can be expressed in human language—the\nliberty of man. And to-night while General Mahone was speaking, I could\nnot but think that the North was just as responsible for the war as the\nSouth. The South upheld and maintained what is known as human slavery,\nand the North did the same; and do you know, I have always found in my\nheart a greater excuse for the man who held the slave, and lived on his\nlabor, and profited by the rascality, than I did for a Northern man that\nwent into partnership with him with a distinct understanding that he was\nto have none of the profits and half of the disgrace. So I say, that,\nin a larger sense—that is, when we view the question from a philosophic\nheight—the North was as responsible as the South; and when I remember\nthat in this very city, in this very city, men were mobbed simply for\nadvocating the abolition of slavery, I cannot find it in my heart to lay\na greater blame upon the South than upon the North. If this had been a\nwar of conquest, a war simply for national aggrandizement, then I should\nnot place General Grant side by side with or in advance of the greatest\ncommanders of the world. But when I remember that every blow was to\nbreak a chain, when I remember that the white man was to be civilized\nat the same time the black man was made free, when I remember that this\ncountry was to be made absolutely free, and the flag left without a\nstain, then I say that the great General who commanded the greatest army\never marshaled in the defence of human rights, stands at the head of the\ncommanders of this world.\n\nThere is one other idea,—and it was touched upon and beautifully\nillustrated by Mr. Depew. I do not believe that a more merciful general\nthan Grant ever drew his sword. All greatness is merciful. All greatness\nlongs to forgive. All true grandeur and nobility is capable of shedding\nthe divine tear of pity.\n\nLet me say one more word in that direction. The man in the wrong\ndefeated, and who sees the justice of his defeat, is a victor; and in\nthis view—and I say it understanding my words fully—the South was as\nvictorious as the North.\n\nNo man, in my judgment, is more willing to do justice to all parts\nof this country than I; but, after all, I have a little sentiment—a\nlittle. I admire great and splendid deeds, the dramatic effect of great\nvictories; but even more than that I admire that \"touch of nature which\nmakes the whole world kin.\" I know the names of Grant's victories. I\nknow that they shine like stars in the heaven of his fame. I know them\nall. But there is one thing in the history of that great soldier that\ntouched me nearer and more deeply than any victory he ever won, and that\nis this: When about to die, he insisted that his dust should be laid in\nno spot where his wife, when she sleeps in death, could not lie by his\nside. That tribute to the great and splendid institution that rises\nabove all others, the institution of the family, touched me even more\nthan the glories won upon the fields of war.\n\nAnd now let me say, General Sherman, as the years go by, in America, as\nlong as her people are great, as long as her people are free, as long\nas they admire patriotism and courage, as long as they admire deeds of\nself-denial, as long as they can remember the sacred blood shed for\nthe good of the whole nation, the birthday of General Grant will be\ncelebrated. And allow me to say, gentlemen, that there is another with\nus to-night whose birthday will be celebrated. Americans of the future,\nwhen they read the history of General Sherman, will feel the throb and\nthrill that all men feel in the presence of the patriotic and heroic.\n\nOne word more—when General Grant went to England, when he sat down\nat the table with the Ministers of her Britannic Majesty, he conferred\nhonor upon them. There is one change I wish to see in the diplomatic\nservice—and I want the example to be set by the great Republic—I want\nprecedence given here in Washington to the representatives of Republics.\nLet us have some backbone ourselves. Let the representatives of\nRepublics come first and the ambassadors of despots come in next day. In\nother words, let America be proud of American institutions, proud of a\nGovernment by the people. We at last have a history, we at last are a\ncivilized people, and on the pages of our annals are found as glorious\nnames as have been written in any language.\n"
}