six live chickens, six ducks, and four hams. nor was in conference with the General the animals remained outside. There was nothing for the General to do but to accept the homely offering and present it to the servants. Amoy is another of the treaty ports open to foreign trade. It is on the island of Heamun, at the mouth of Dragon River. It was one of the ports visited by the Portuguese, and has practically been open to trade for three centuries. The island is about forty miles in circumference, and the scenery as we approached was picturesque. All the batteries fired, and there was a welcome from one of our own men-of-war, the "Ranger," commanded by Commander Boyd. N. C. Stevens, the ViceConsul, came on board and welcomed us to Amoy. Here we met Sir Thomas Wade, the British Minister to Pekin, who was on his way to the capital, and with whom the General had a long conversation about China. We went on board the "Ranger" to attend a reception. You can never tell what can be done with a man-of-war in the way of flags and lanterns and greenery. Certainly the "Ranger," under the inspiration of the officers, was transformed into a fairy scene, and nothing could have been more kind and hospitable than the captain and the officers. Mrs. Boyd assisted her husband in entertaining his guests. At seven o'clock, as the sun was going down, we took our leave of the brilliant gathering in the "Ranger" and steamed to Shanghai. While steaming along the Chinese coasts over the smooth, inviting seas, it was pleasant to resume the conversations with General Grant, the remembrance of which forms so pleasant a feature in our journey. "I am always indulgent," said the General one day, "in my opinions of the generals who did not succeed. There can be no greater mistake than to say that because generals failed in the field they lacked in high qualities. In the popular estimate of generals, nothing succeeds but success. I think in many cases-cases that I know-much hardship is done. Some of the men who were most unfortunate in It is our war are men in whom I have perfect confidence, whom I would not be afraid to trust with important commands. REQUISITE OF A SUCCESSFUL GENERAL. A successful 353 Europe and America. Consequently, while our generals were working out problems of an ideal character, problems that would have looked well on a blackboard, practical facts were neglected. To that extent I consider remembrances of old campaigns a disadvantage. Even Napoleon showed that, for my impression is that his first success came because he made war in his own way, and not in imitation of others. War is progressive, because all the instruments and elements of war are progressive. I do not believe in luck in war any more than in luck in business. Luck is a small matter, may affect a battle or a movement, but not a campaign or a career. general needs health and youth and energy. I should not like to put a general in the field over fifty. When I was in the army I had a physique that could stand anything. Whether I slept on the ground or in a tent, whether I slept one hour or ten in the twenty-four, whether I had one meal or three, or none, made no difference. I could lie down and sleep in the rain without caring. But I was many years younger, and I could not hope to do that now. Sherman thinks he could go through a campaign, but I question it, although Sherman is in the best condition. The power to endure is an immense power, and naturally belongs to youth. The only eyes a general can trust are his own. He must be able to see and know the You look on a map country, the streams, the passes, the hills. and you see a pass in Switzerland. pass, but in a military sense you really know nothing about it. After you had ridden over a Swiss pass, your knowledge of all other passes would be good, and you could depend upon your The conditions of war maps. There is nothing ideal in war. in Europe and America are so unlike that there can be no comparison. Compare the invasion of France by the Germans You know there is such a with the invasion of the South. The Germans moved from town to town, every town being a base of supply. They had no bridges to build. They had no corduroy roads to make, and I question if a corduroy road was made in the whole campaign. I saw no reason for one in my journeys through France. I saw the finest roads in the world. The difficulties of a cam VOL. II.-23 paign in an open country, generally a wilderness like America, especially as compared with a highly civilized country like France, are incalculable." I recall many conversations with General Grant about those who took a high place in the civil administration of the war, and Of Lincoln the General always especially about Lincoln. "I never saw the Presispeaks with reverence and esteem. dent," said the General, "until he gave me my commission as lieutenant-general. Afterwards I saw him often either in Washington or at head-quarters. Lincoln, I may almost say, spent the last days of his life with me. I often recall those days. He came down to City Point in the last month of the war, and was with me all the time. He lived on a dispatch-boat in the river, but was always around head-quarters. He was a fine horseman, horse Cincinnati. We visited the different camps, and rode my horse Cincinnati. He was very anxious and I did all I could to interest him. He was very I about the war closing; was afraid we could not stand a new campaign, and wanted to be around when the crash came. have no doubt that Lincoln will be the conspicuous figure of the war; one of the great figures of history. He was a great The more I saw of him, the more this man, a very great man. He was incontestably the greatest man I ever impressed me. knew. What marked him especially was his sincerity, his kindness, his clear insight into affairs. Under all this he had a firm will, and a clear policy. People used to say that Seward swayed him, or Chase, or Stanton. This was a mistake. He might appear to go Seward's way one day, and Stanton's another, but all the time he was going his own course, and they with him. It was that gentle firmness in carrying out his own will, without apparent force or friction, that formed the basis of his charHe was a wonderful talker and a teller of stories. It is said his stories were improper. I have heard of them, but I never heard Lincoln use an improper word or phrase. I have sometimes, when I hear his memory called in question, tried to recall such a thing, but cannot. I always found him pre-eminently a clean-minded man. I regard these stories as exaggerations. Lincoln's power of illustration, his humor, was inex |