Page images
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
[graphic][merged small]

HOW THE CONVERSATIONS WERE WRITTEN.

151

and the colonel, whose views as to the rest and nourishment required by the human frame are conservative. But although this rising with the sun breaks awkwardly upon one's slothful civilized habits, it becomes in time one of the pleasures of the tropics. Then, if ever, you have what cool breezes come from the sea. You are sheltered from the imperious sun. If the coolie, with his brush and broom, comes to disturb you, your own servant also comes to comfort you with a cup of tea and a morsel of toast, and the fresh morning hours are all your own, for reading, writing, and meditation.

Many were the conversations which took place between General Grant and our party in reference to the great scenes and events in which he had taken part. It was while sailing over summer seas, like the Bay of Bengal, that General Grant found opportunities for recalling and commenting upon many incidents in the recent history of America. It seems to

me that I can do no better service to the historian than to throw my memoranda of these conversations into permanent shape. There are few men more willing to converse on subjects on which he is acquainted than General Grant. The charm of his talk is that it is never about anything that he does not know, and what he does know he knows well. He is never vindictive, and never gossips, and when referring to men and things in his eventful career seems passionless and just. When I was in Hamburg I made a synopsis of some of his conversations and sent them to the New York Herald. Some of my readers may remember the profound impression created by what became known in the newspaper literature of the time as "The Hamburg Interview." Most of our journals took it up, and for weeks the statements it contained were the themes of comment and discussion. My own humble part in that publication was not overlooked, and I was interested in the variety of motives assigned to me by my brethren in the editorial profession. It was suggested at the time that I should take part in the controversy that swayed the country-that I should soothe military susceptibilities-that I should reconcile historical differences-that at least I should explain how it was that no bat

[graphic]
« PreviousContinue »