Perley's Reminiscences Part 37

The Secretary of State is considered the "Premier" of the Administration, but General Grant regarded the Secretaryship of the Treasury as the most important position in his Cabinet. The Republic was at peace with other nations, and the military and naval forces, which had grown to such enormous proportions during the war, had been economically reduced, but the Treasury was an immense, overgrown organization, with its collections of customs and of internal revenue duties, its issues of interest-bearing bonds and of national bank-notes, the coinage of money, the revenue marine service, the coast survey, and the life-saving stations, all of which had been expanded during the war until the clerks and employees were numbered by thousands. General Grant wished to place at the head of this establishment a business man who could prune off its excrescences and reform its abuses. The place was offered to the millionaire merchant, Mr. A. T. Stewart, of New York, who accepted it with pleasure, and at once had a suite of rooms in the Ebbitt House, with a private entrance, fitted up for his occupancy until he could go to housekeeping. A few days before the 4th of March he came to Washington and occupied these rooms, with Judge Hilton as his companion and adviser.

On the day after the inauguration Mr. Stewart was nominated by General Grant, but Senator Sumner, who had not been consulted as to the formation of the Cabinet, interposed his objection to the immediate consideration of Mr. Stewart's nomination. Late in the afternoon of that day a rumor got abroad that there was a law, understood really to have been written by Alexander Hamilton while Secretary of the Treasury, prohibiting an importer in active business from holding the position of Secretary of the Treasury. A newspaper correspondent obtained this law and carried to General b.u.t.terfield, who conveyed it to Mr. Stewart and his legal adviser, Judge Hilton.

They consulted Chief Justice Chase, and he confirmed the view which had been taken of the law by those who first brought it to Mr.

Stewart's attention. Mr. Stewart then proposed to retire from business and devote the entire profits that might accrue during the time that he should hold the office of Secretary of the Treasury to charitable objects. But this was decided to be something which would not be proper either for him to carry out or for the Government to accept.

Immediately after seeing Chief Justice Chase, Mr. Stewart and Judge Hilton drove to the White House, and laid the facts and the opinions before the President, who, on the next day, wrote a message to the Senate asking that the law of 1788 be set aside so as to enable the candidate to hold the office. This the Senate declined to do.

It was a very natural ambition for a man of Mr. Stewart's tastes and training to desire to be at the head of the Treasury, and it is not unlikely that the disappointment was a very severe one.

This was the beginning of the "unpleasantness" between President Grant and Senator Sumner, which finally resulted in open rupture.

Disappointed in not having the services of Mr. Stewart, General Grant appointed George S. Boutwell, ex-Governor of Ma.s.sachusetts, who had had great legislative experience, as Secretary of the Treasury; General John A. Rawlins, who had been his chief of staff and military adviser, was made Secretary of War; Adolph E. Borie, a retired Philadelphia merchant, Secretary of the Navy; J. D. c.o.x, an Ohio lawyer, with a good military record, Secretary of the Interior; John A. J. Creswell, an ex-Senator from Maryland, Postmaster- General, and Ebenezer Rockwood h.o.a.r, a gifted Ma.s.sachusetts lawyer, endowed with keen wit, but possessed of most unpopular manners, Attorney-General.

The Cabinet was regarded as a strong one. In Congress, Vice- President Colfax presided over the Senate, and James G. Blaine was Speaker of the House. Every State was again represented, and the Republican Administration had the support of a decided majority at either end of the Capitol. It was hoped by the Republicans that their party was about to enter upon a new career of usefulness.

General Grant carried with him into the White House his army habits of regularity and two of his staff officers, Generals Porter and Babc.o.c.k. He used to rise in the morning about seven o'clock, read the Washington papers, and breakfast at half-past eight with his family. He would then light a cigar and take a short stroll, walking slowly, with his left hand behind him, and sometimes holding his cigar in his right hand. Ten o'clock found him in his office, ready for the reception of visitors and the transaction of executive business. On Thursdays and Fridays the Cabinet met, and members of Congress always had precedence over other visitors. He would listen attentively to all that was said to him by those who called, but he was silent or non-committal in his replies. As the day advanced his secretaries would bring him letters which required answers, and would receive instructions as to what replies should be made.

At three o'clock the official business of the day was ended, and General Grant almost invariably visited the White House stables, for he was very fond of his horses. Among them were "Cincinnatus,"

his dark bay charger; "St. Louis" and "Egypt," two carriage-horses of fine action; a buggy horse named "Julia;" Master Jesse's Shetland ponies, "Billy b.u.t.ton" and "Reb;" "Jeff Davis," a natural pacer; "Mary," Miss Nellie's saddle-horse; "Jennie," a brood mare, and three Hambletonian colts. Five vehicles were in the carriage house --a landau, a barouche, a light road-wagon, a top-buggy, and a pony- phaeton for the children.

From the stable, if the weather was pleasant and the walking good, General Grant would often take a stroll along the north sidewalk of Pennsylvania Avenue, occasionally stopping to exchange a few words with an old comrade. He returned all salutations, as had been his custom before becoming Chief Magistrate, and always lifted his hat when bowing to lady acquaintances.

Dinner was served at the White House promptly at five o'clock, and every member of the family was expected to be punctual. General Grant's favorite dishes were rare roast beef, boiled hominy, and wheaten bread, but he was always a light eater. Pleasant chat enlivened the meal, with Master Jesse as the humorist, while Grandpa Dent would occasionally indulge in some conservative growls against the progress being made by the colored race. After coffee, the General would light another cigar and smoke while he glanced over the New York papers. About nine o'clock, a few chosen friends would often call, sometimes by appointment, but business matters were generally forbidden, and offices were not to be mentioned.

The children retired at nine o'clock, Mrs. Grant followed them about ten, and between ten and eleven General Grant sought his pillow.

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U. S. Grant ULYSSES S. GRANT was born at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio, April 27th, 1822; graduated from the Military Academy at West Point in 1843, and was commissioned as a Brevet Second Lieutenant in the Fourth United States Infantry; served in the Mexican war, receiving the brevets of First Lieutenant and Captain; resigned his commission in 1854; carried on a farm near St. Louis; was commissioned Colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment of Illinois Volunteers, June 16th, 1861; was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General, May 17th, 1861; of Major-General, February 17th, 1862; of Lieutenant-General, March 1st, 1864, and as Commander of the Armies of the United States, March 24th, 1864; received the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox Court-House, April 9th, 1865; was inaugurated as President of the United States, March 4th, 1869; was again inaugurated March 4th, 1873; traveled around the world with his family, May 17th, 1877 - December 16th, 1879; died at Mount McGregor, July 23d, 1885, and was buried in the city of New York.

CHAPTER XXIII.

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE METROPOLIS.

General Grant, soon after his election to the Presidential chair, turned his attention to the improvement of the National Capital, which was then unworthy of the American people. The streets generally were wagon tracks, muddy in the winter and dusty in the summer, while the numerous public reservations were commons overgrown with weeds. The growth of the city had been slow and labored, the real estate being generally in the hands of a few old fogies who manifested no disposition to improve or to sell. For many years the metropolis had been petted and spoiled by the general Government, which had doled out small annual appropriations, and the residents had been exempted from many of the ordinary burdens of munic.i.p.al government and local improvement.

General Grant, with his great knowledge of men, found the right person to place at the head of the regeneration of the city. It was Alexander R. Shepherd, a native of Washington, born poor and without friends, who went from the public schools into the shop of a gas-fitter and plumber, where he learned the trade and became, in a short time, by honesty, industry, and ability, a leading business man. The Territorial Government was organized with Henry D. Cooke, the banker, as Governor, a Legislature, and Delegate to represent the District in Congress. Shepherd, as Chairman of the Board of Public Works, commenced with his immense energy and invincible determination, to transform a slovenly and comfortless sleepy old town into the great and beautiful metropolis which L'Enfant had planned and which Washington approved before it received his name. The grandest systems of munic.i.p.al improvement ever conceived were carried out regardless of expense. The whole city was placed upon an even and regular grade, the low places filled up, and the elevations cut down. Some ninety miles of the three hundred miles of half-made streets and avenues were graded and paved, some with wood and others with asphaltum. The public grounds and parks were made and ornamented with gra.s.s plats, shrubbery, and fountains, the sewerage and drainage were made perfect, and health, beauty, and comfort were permanently secured.

Washington, thanks to Governor Shepherd (he having in time succeeded Governor Cooke) became a metropolis worthy of the Republic. By reducing the width of the streets a front yard was given to each house, planted with trees or flowers, and where the old ca.n.a.l yawned through the heart of the city, a muddy receptacle for dead dogs and filth, arose a broad avenue, while the small reservations dotted over the city were graded and ornamented with trees, fountains, and flowers.

All of this cost a great deal of money. Congress appropriated five million dollars in cash, and several millions more were raised on bonds. Much of this money was disbursed by Governor Shepherd, and he undoubtedly was disposed to give profitable contracts to his friends, and to the henchmen of those members of Congress whose votes secured him liberal appropriations. Newspaper correspondents received in several instances contracts for paving, which they disposed of to those engaged in that business, and realized handsome sums, but close investigation failed to show that Governor Shepherd had enriched himself or had added to the value of his own property as distinguished from the property of others. His ambition was more than a merely selfish one, and it was shown clearly that his ability was equaled by his honesty. A few years later he became financially embarra.s.sed, and was forced to exile himself to Mexico, hoping to repair in its silver mines his shattered fortune. General Grant never lost confidence in him, and as his improvements became perfected, Alexander R. Shepherd was regarded as the regenerator of the National Metropolis.

Another man who did much for the ornamentation of Washington City was A. B. Mullett, the Supervising Architect of the Treasury.

After having finished that magnificent structure, the extended Treasury Building, he planned and commenced the great State, War, and Navy Building, the cost of which is about twelve millions of dollars. His professional advice was followed by Governor Shepherd, and it is not altogether creditable to our inst.i.tutions that after having honestly disbursed millions on the public buildings in almost every section of the country, as well as on those at Washington City, Mr. Mullett was removed from his position on political grounds, and was obliged, after having given the best years of his life to his country, to commence anew the practice of his profession for a livelihood.

General Grant was much embarra.s.sed early in his Presidential career by the attempts of some of those around him to engage in speculations for their private benefit. Always willing to bestow offices, or to dispense profitable favors to his numerous relatives by blood and by marriage, and to advance the interests of those who had served him faithfully during the war, he could not understand the desperate intrigues which speculation had led some of them into.

Among his proteges was Abel R. Corbin, who had been known at Washington as the clerk of a House committee, a correspondent, and a lobbyist, and who had afterward removed to New York, where he had added to his means by successful speculation. Marrying General Grant's sister, who was somewhat advanced in years, he conceived the idea of using his brother-in-law for a gigantic speculation in gold, and in order to obtain the requisite capital entered into a partnership with Jay Gould and James Fisk, Jr. By adroit management, these operators held on the first of September, 1869, "calls" for one hundred million dollars of gold, and as there were not more than fifteen millions of the precious metal in New York outside of the Sub-Treasury, they were masters of the situation. The only obstacle in the way of their triumphant success would be the sale of gold from the Sub-Treasury at a moderate price, by direction of General Grant. Corbin a.s.sured his co-conspirators that he could prevent this interference, and wrote a letter to the President urging him not to order or permit sales from the Sub-Treasury. He ostensibly sent this letter by special messenger, but, in fact, subst.i.tuted for it an ordinary letter on family matters. General Grant's suspicions were aroused by the receipt of this unimportant epistle, and at his request Mrs. Grant wrote to Mrs. Corbin, saying that the General had learned with regret that her husband was engaged in gold speculations, and he had better give them up.

General Grant returned to Washington on the 23d of September, 1869.

The next day, "Black Friday," the conspirators put up the price of gold, and a wild panic ensured. Leading men of all parties in the city of New York telegraphed the President and the Secretary of the Treasury, urging their interference as the only way of preventing a financial crash, which would have extended over the whole country.

About eleven o'clock Secretary Boutwell went to the White House, and after a brief conference General Grant expressed his wish that the desired relief should be given, and Secretary Boutwell promptly telegraphed to Sub-Treasurer b.u.t.terfield, at New York, to give notice that he would sell four millions of gold. This collapsed the speculation. "I knew," said Jim Fisk, afterward, "that somebody had run a sword right into us." It was not without difficulty that Corbin, Gould, and Fisk escaped from the fury of their victims.

The conspiracy was subsequently investigated by a committee of the House of Representatives, and a report was made by James A. Garfield, completely exonerating General Grant, and declaring that by laying the strong hand of Government upon the conspirators and breaking their power he had treated them as enemies of the credit and business of the Union.

General Grant was known to advocate the speediest practical return to specie payment, but the Supreme Court of the United States changed the current of financial operations by declaring that the act of Congress of 1864, making "greenback" notes a legal tender, was unconst.i.tutional. It is a curious fact, that while the community every now and then is thrown into a condition of great excitement about political rights and duties, and about who shall be President and who member of Congress, nine elderly gentlemen, wearing silk gowns, sitting in a quiet room in the Capitol, are deciding questions of direct and immediate political concern, taking laws from the statute books, and nullifying the action of the executive and legislative departments of the Government, yet not one in a thousand of the busy, restless citizens of the country knows or cares what the decisions of this arch-tribunal are.

This high tribunal holds its sessions in the chamber of the Capitol which was originally constructed for and occupied by the Senate of the United States. The Supreme Court began its sessions here in 1860. The Court is in session from the second Monday in October to early in May of each year. It usually sits five days each week, reserving Sat.u.r.day for consultations on the cases in hand. Positions on this bench are deemed eminently desirable, as they are for life, or "during good behavior." The salaries are not to be despised either, being ten thousand dollars each per annum, with an additional five hundred dollars to the Chief Justice.

The Credit Mobilier made a deal of talk, although comparatively few people knew what it really was. Under various acts of Congress granting aid to the Union Pacific Railroad, that corporation was to receive twelve thousand eight hundred acres of land to the mile, or about twelve million acres in all, and Government six per cent.

bonds to the amount of twelve thousand dollars per mile for one portion of the road, thirty-two thousand dollars per mile for another portion, and forty-eight thousand dollars per mile for another. In addition to these subsidies, the company was authorized to issue its own first mortgage bonds to an amount equal to the Government bonds, and to organize with a capital stock not to exceed one hundred million dollars. All this const.i.tuted a magnificent fund, and it soon became evident that the road could be built for at least twenty million dollars less than the resources thus furnished. Of course, the honest way would have been to build the road as economically as possible, and give the Government the benefit of the saving, but this was not thought of. The directors set themselves at work to concoct a plan by which they could appropriate the whole amount, and, after building the road, divide the large surplus among themselves. The plan hit upon was for the directors to become contractors, in other words, to hire themselves to build the road. To consummate this fraud without exciting public attention, and to cover all traces of the transaction, was no easy matter, but the directors employed an eminent attorney skilled in the intricacies of railroad fraud, and with his aid and advice the machinery for the transaction was finally arranged to the satisfaction of all concerned. This attorney was Samuel J. Tilden.

In order to avoid personal liability and give their movement the semblance of legality, the directors purchased the charter of the "Pennsylvania Fiscal Agency," and changed its name to the "Credit Mobilier of America." At this time (1864) two million dollars of stock had been subscribed to the railroad company, and two hundred and eighteen thousand dollars paid in. Samuel J. Tilden had subscribed twenty thousand dollars. The first thing the Credit Mobilier did was to buy in all of this stock and bring the railroad company and Credit Mobilier under one management and the same set of officers. Then the directors of the railroad company, through certain middle-men, awarded the contract for building the road to the Credit Mobilier, in other words, to themselves, for from twenty thousand dollars to thirty thousand dollars per mile more than it was worth. Evidence which afterward came to light in the Congressional investigations showed that the Credit Mobilier made a cash profit in the transaction of over twenty-three million dollars, besides gobbling up the stock of the road at thirty cents on the dollar, when the law plainly provided that it should not be issued at less than par.

Oakes Ames, a st.u.r.dy Ma.s.sachusetts mechanic, who had acquired a fortune by the manufacture of shovels, had been persuaded to embark in the construction of the Pacific Railroad. Finding legislation necessary, and knowing how difficult it was to secure the attention of Congressmen to schemes which did not benefit them or their const.i.tuents, he distributed shares of this Credit Mobilier, to use his own words, "where it would do the most good." Some of the recipients kept it and pocketed the profits, while others endeavored to get rid of it when public attention was called to it, and they ungratefully tried to make Mr. Ames their scapegoat.

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James Monroe JAMES MONROE was born in Westmoreland County, Va., April 28th, 1758; served honorably in the Revolution; entered the Virginia Legislature when twenty-three years of age; entered Congress when twenty-four; chosen United States Senator, 1789; was Minister to France, 1794-1796; was Governor of Virginia, 1799-1802; re-elected Governor in 1811; resigned and became Secretary of State under Madison, 1811-1817; was President of the United States, 1817-1825; died July 4th, 1831, in New York.

CHAPTER XXIV.

RESTORATION OF THE UNION.

The Southern States had again returned to their allegiance, and in the third session of the Forty-first Congress every State in the Union was represented. Vice-President Colfax presided over sixty- one Republican and thirteen Democratic Senators, and Speaker Blaine over one hundred and seventy-two Republican and seventy-one Democratic Representatives. The Republican party had preserved the Union, conquered peace, and was at the height of its power. The "carpet- baggers" from the South were gradually being replaced by ante-bellum politicians and "Southern brigadiers." Many Northern men regretted that the North had not sent more of its heroes to Congress, feeling that men who had honorably faced each other on hard-fought battle- fields would have a mutual respect and a mutual desire to co-operate together for the national welfare.

It soon became evident, however, that the Southern Democrats were about to exercise an important influence in national politics, that they possessed in common some very clearly defined purposes, and that they were not likely to permit their allegiance to their party to interfere with their efforts to obtain what they called "justice for the South." They went in without reserve for the old flag, but they also went in for an appropriation--in fact, several appropriations. They honestly thought that they were only asking simple justice in demanding that the Government should spend nearly as much for the development of their material resources as it did for the suppression of the Rebellion. All their cherished ideas of State Rights vanished when money was to be expended at the South, and the honesty of their intentions made their influence far more to be dreaded than that of adepts in legislative corruption, who are always distrusted.

The number of Southern Representatives was greatly increased by that change in the Const.i.tution which abolished the fractional representation of colored people and made all men equal. It soon became evident, too, that the whites were determined, by a well- disciplined legion, known as the Ku-Klux Klan, whose members pretended to be the ghosts of the Confederate dead, to intimidate the colored voters, and intimidation was often supplemented by violence and murder. The grossest outrages by this secret body went unpunished and Congress finally pa.s.sed a law which enabled the President to eradicate the evil.

The "Joint High Commission," for the adjustment of all causes of difference between the United States and Great Britain, including the depredations of Rebel cruisers fitted out in British ports and the disputed fisheries in North American waters, a.s.sembled in Washington in the spring of 1871. The "High Joints," as they were familiarly termed, took the furnished house of Mr. Philp, on Franklin Square, where they gave a series of dinner-parties, with several evening entertainments. In return numerous entertainments were given to them, including a banquet by the leading Freemasons in Washington, some of them members of Congress, to the Earl De Gray (then Grand Master of Masons in England), and Lord Tenterden, who was also a prominent member of the fraternity.

There are good reasons for believing that the British were induced to gracefully make the concessions involved in the Alabama treaty by the knowledge that General Grant had taken into consideration the expediency of seizing Canada as a compensation for damages inflicted upon the United States ships by Confederate cruisers fitted out in English ports. This was a favorite idea of General John A. Rawlins, who was the brain of General Grant's staff and his Secretary of War until death removed him. General Rawlins was in full accord with the hope that Stephen A. Douglas's aspirations for an ocean-bound Republic might be realized, and it was understood that he was warmly seconded by General Pryor, of Virginia, ex- Lieutenant Governor Reynolds, of Missouri, and others.

The treaty was indirectly opposed by Monsieur de Catacazy, the Minister Plenipotentiary of the Emperor of Russia to the United States, who endeavored to prejudice Senators against its ratification, and inspired the correspondent of a New York paper to write against it. This prompted Secretary Fish to request the Minister's recall, and there was also much scandal circulated by Madame de Catacazy, a beautiful woman, who had been at Washington--so the gossips say --fifteen years before, when she had eloped from her husband under the protection of Monsieur de Catacazy, then Secretary of the Russian Legation. The Emperor of Russia, on receiving complaint against his Envoy, directed the Minister of Foreign Affairs to ask in his name that the President "would tolerate Monsieur de Catacazy until the coming visit of his third son, the Grand Duke Alexis, was concluded." To this personal appeal General Grant a.s.sented.

The Grand Duke soon afterward arrived at Washington, and was welcomed at the Russian Legation by Madame de Catacazy, who wore a dress of gold-colored silk, with a flowing train, elaborately trimmed with gold-colored satin. On her right arm she wore a double bracelet, one band being on the wrist and the other above the elbow, the two joined together by elaborately wrought chains. Her other ornaments were of plain gold, and above them was a wealth of golden hair.

As the Grand Duke entered the Legation, Madame de Catacazy carried a silver salver, on which was placed a round loaf of plain black bread, on the top of which was imbedded a golden salt-cellar. The Prince took the uninviting loaf, broke and tasted of it, in accordance with the old Russian custom.

The Grand Duke was cordially welcomed at the White House, but Monsieur de Catacazy was treated with studied coolness. It was openly intimated that there was a little Frenchwoman at Washington, young, sprightly, and accomplished, who had won the way into the Catacazy's household through the sympathies of its handsome mistress.

She was made a companion of, advised with, and intrusted with whatever the house or Legation contained, confidential and otherwise.

All the public or private letters, papers, and despatches pa.s.sed under they eyes of this bright little woman, all that was said went into her sharp ears, and every day she made a written report of what she had heard and seen, which was privately sent to the Department of State, and for which she was handsomely remunerated from the Secret Service Fund.

Charles Sumner purchased (before it was completed) an elegant dwelling-house between the Arlington Hotel and Lafayette Square, but when he occupied it at the commencement of the next session, he was alone. The energetic reporters at once began to intimate that the Senator's marriage had not been a happy one, and from that time until the great Senator pa.s.sed over the dark river this painful subject was, as it were, a base of supplies from which a great variety of theories were drawn and sustained. One was sure that the attentions of a diplomat had troubled the Senator, another declared that he was too arrogant, another that he was too exacting --in short, there was not an editorial paragraphist who did not sooner or later give a conjectural solution of Mr. Sumner's domestic infelicity. They were divorced, and he lived alone for several years in his sumptuous house, which he adorned with superb works of art. Here he hospitably entertained personal friends and distinguished strangers. Unforgiving and implacable, his smile grew sadder, the furrows on his face deepened, and he lost his former _bonhomie_. He was a Prometheus Vinctus, bound to the desolate rock of a wrecked life, but heroically refraining from revenging his great wrong by attacking a woman.

General Grant's difficulty with Mr. Sumner began when the President did not consult the Senator about the formation of his Cabinet.

The breach was gradually widened, and thorough it the Senator finally became completely estranged from his old friend and a.s.sociate in the Senate, Secretary Fish. When Mr. Motley was removed from the English mission, Mr. Sumner insisted upon regarding it as a personal insult, which he sought to repay by opposition to the acquisition of San Domingo. General Grant endeavored to appease the offended Senator, and on the evening of the day on which the San Domingo treaty was to be sent to the Senate he called at Mr.

Sumner's house. General Grant found the Senator at his dinner- table with Colonel Forney and the writer, and was invited to take a seat with them. After some preliminary conversation, General Grant began to talk about San Domingo, but he did not have the treaty or any memorandum of it with him. He dwelt especially upon the expenditures of General Babc.o.c.k at San Domingo of a large sum taken from the secret service fund for promoting intercourse with the West India Islands, which Mr. Seward, when Secretary of State, had prevailed on Representative Thad Stevens to have inserted in an appropriation bill during the war. The President impressed Mr.

Sumner with the idea that he looked for an attack in Congress on the manner in which much of that money had been spent. Mr. Sumner unquestionably thought that General Grant had come to enlist his services in defending the expenditure by General Babc.o.c.k of one hundred thousand dollars in cash, and fifty thousand dollars for a light battery purchased at New York. The President meant, as Colonel Forney and the writer thought, the treaty for the acquisition of the Dominican Republic. The President and the Senator misunderstood each other. After awhile General Grant promised to send General Babc.o.c.k to the Senator the next day with copies of the papers, and then left. While escorting the President to the door, Mr. Sumner a.s.sured him that he was a Republican and a supporter of the Republican Administration, and that he should sustain the Administration in this case if he possibly could, after he had examined the papers.

He meant the expenditure of General Babc.o.c.k, but the President meant the treaty.

The next morning General Babc.o.c.k called on Senator Sumner with a copy of the treaty, which he began to read, but he had not gotten beyond the preamble, in which Babc.o.c.k was styled "aid-de-camp of His Excellency General Ulysses S. Grant," before Mr. Sumner showed signs of disapprobation. When General Babc.o.c.k proceeded and read the stipulation that "His Excellency General Grant, President of the United States, promises perfectly to use all his influence in order that the idea of annexing the Dominican Republic to the United States may acquire such a degree of popularity among the members of Congress as will be necessary for its accomplishment," Senator Sumner became the enemy of the whole scheme. He did not believe that the President of the United States should be made a lobbyist to bring about annexation by Congress. Some of Mr. Sumner's friends used to tell him that he should have gone at once to General Grant and have told him of his purpose to oppose the treaty, and that he had declared his hostility to it to General Babc.o.c.k in unmistakable terms.

This was the time when well-meaning friends of both of these great men might have secured satisfactory mutual explanation, although no living power could have made Senator Sumner a supporter of the acquisition of the port of Samana in San Domingo. In the Senate sycophants who "carried water on both shoulders," and men who always delight in fomenting quarrels, embittered Mr. Sumner against the President. One had served his country well in the camp, while the other had performed equally valuable services in the Senate; one was a statesman, the other was a soldier. What did not appear to be wrong to the General, the Senator regarded as criminal. Conscious of the value of his services in saving the Union, General Grant accepted with grat.i.tude the voluntary offerings of grateful citizens; but Senator Sumner, who had seen so much of political life and of politicians, knew too well that those who make gifts to public men expect favors in return, and that every public man should be inflexibly opposed to the reception of presents. Remarks by him about the President, and remarks by the President about him were carried to and fro by mischief-makers, like the shuttle of a loom, and Mr. Sumner directly found himself placed at the head of a clique of disappointed Republicans, who were determined to prevent, if possible, the re-election of General Grant to the Presidency.

Henry Wilson, when Vice-President of the United States, endeavored to restore harmony, and said, in a letter to General Grant: "Your Administration is menaced by great opposition, and it must needs possess a unity among the people and in Congress. The head of a great party, the President of the United States has much to forget and forgive, but he can afford to be magnanimous and forgiving.