1 82 Grant 



tirely that these freemen would remain free only 

 while they kept mastery over their own evil pas 

 sions. He saw that lawlessness in all its forms was 

 the handmaiden of tyranny. No nation ever yet 

 retained its freedom for any length of time after los 

 ing its respect for the law, after losing the law- 

 abiding spirit, the spirit that really makes orderly 

 liberty. 



Grant, in short, stood for the great elementary 

 virtues, for justice, for freedom, for order, for un 

 yielding resolution, for manliness in its broadest and 

 highest sense. His greatness was not so much great 

 ness of intellect as greatness of character, including 

 in the word "character" all the strong, virile virtues. 

 It is character that counts in a nation as in a man. 

 It is a good thing to have a keen, fine intellectual 

 development in a nation, to produce orators, artists, 

 successful business men ; but it is an infinitely greater 

 thing to have those solid qualities which we group 

 together under the name of character sobriety, 

 steadfastness, the sense of obligation toward one's 

 neighbor and one's God, hard common-sense, and, 

 combined with it, the lift of generous enthusiasm 

 toward whatever is right. These are the qualities 

 which go to make up true national greatness, and 

 these were the qualities which Grant possessed in 

 an eminent degree. 



We have come here, then, to realize what the 



