the various departments; and, while the right of all persons in official positions to take part in politics is acknowledged, and the elective franchise is recognized as a high trust to be discharged by all entitled to its exercise, whether in the employment of the government or in private life, honesty and efficiency, not political activity, will determine the tenure of office."

GRANT ON CIVIL RIGHTS.

"I sympathize most cordially in any effort to secure for all our people, of whatever race, nativity, or color, the exercise of those rights to which every citizen should be entitled."

GRANT ON THE SUCCESSION.

"Past experience may guide me in avoiding mistakes, inevitable with novices in all professions and in all occupations. When relieved from the responsibilities of my present trust by the election of a successor, whether it be at the end of this term or the next, I hope to leave to him as Executive a country at peace within its own borders, at peace with outside nations, with a credit at home and abroad, and without embarrassing questions to threaten its future prosperity."

GRANT ON HIMSELF.

"I never sought the office for a second, nor even for a first, nomination. To the first I was called from a life position, one created by Congress expressly for me for supposed services rendered to the republic. The position vacated I liked. It would have been most agreeable to me to have retained it until such time as Congress might have consented to my retirement, with the rank and a portion of the emoluments which I so much needed, to a home where the balance of my days might be spent in peace and in the enjoyment of domestic quiet, relieved from the cares which have oppressed me so constantly now for fourteen years. But I was made to believe that the public good called me to make the sacrifice.

"Without seeking the office for the second term, the nomination was tendered to me by a unanimous vote of the delegates of all the States and Territories, selected by the Republicans of each to represent their whole number for the purpose of making their nomination. I cannot say that I was not pleased at this, and at the overwhelming indorsement which their action received at the election following. But it must be remembered that all the sacrifices, except that of comfort, had been made in accepting the first term. Then, too, such a fire of personal abuse and slander had been kept up for four years, notwithstanding the conscientious performance of my duties to the best of my understanding, though I admit, in the light of subsequent events, many times subject to fair criticism, - that an indorsement from the people, who alone govern republics, was a gratification that it is only human to have appreciated and enjoyed."

Grant made mistakes in war: his virtue consisted in never defending or repeating them. He erred in civil administration: it is but to acknowledge his humanity to admit his liability to stumble. He had the military contempt, not always sound, for doctrinaires and politicians. He did not, as it would have been better for him to have done, consult familiarly public men who had done much to make true public sentiment. His method of selecting his cabinet and of making appointments will not stand the test of rigid criticism. There is a better way to choose ministers and high officials than because of their genial qualities or good fellowship. As ninety per cent of the civil list today were officers under Grant, and as no complaint is made now in this direction, it is apparent in the

main that his appointments were judicious. His mistakes came from his generous impulses towards his personal friends, and his determination to stand. by them against odds. His reliance upon those who had served with him, and others whom he had intimately known, was over-confident: he could not discredit them. When, early in the war, his old instructor at West Point, who was in his command, had been reported disloyal, he said, "Keep out of the papers every thing against Smith. Any thing against him must be a lie." This was the key of his adhesion to his friends through good and ill report.

He sometimes trusted not wisely, but too well. The motive was always good and true, whatever may have been the mistake. Coming into civil life unprepared, save by natural excellence of judgment, purity of intention, and firmness of resolve, his administration brought the country each year nearer to that consummation of reduced expenses, lessened public debt, unquestioned public credit, and peace at home and abroad, to which he stood pledged in assuming his responsibilities. If those in whom he placed confidence were unfaithful, no one of his bitterest maligners has ever yet dared to impugn his individual integrity, or refuse to him the qualification Aristides said "became a general;" and that is, "to have clean hands.”

CHAPTER XVII.

THE BESOTTED NATION.

Ask any one of the professional denunciators of Grant the cause of his opposition, it will be rereplied, that corruption flourished, and the civil service was debauched during his administration.

This statement cannot be disputed. War had unloaded upon the community a currency that in volume was far beyond honest business-needs, and was worth much less than its face value. It was the era of latitude in morals as well as looseness in political and commercial dealings. Occupants of congressional and senatòrial seats had continued the system, which, from the days of Andrew Jackson, had been growing into general practice, of farming out the federal patronage. This pernicious system had the effect to increase the force, while it weakened the standard for the individual office-holder.

The temptation to defraud the revenues, together with the inefficiency or infidelity of the official, led to an organized swindling. To protect the treasury there were made many additions to the civil list.

There is a legend that the lambs once got to

1

gether, and voted to increase the number of dogs to protect themselves from the ravenous beasts. The affair went on well until the beasts were disposed of; when, being hungry, the dogs turned their attention to mutton. So the flock suffered more from the dogs at last than from the beasts at first. So with our government.

"One bottle of water will not be noticed if I pour it into the rabbi's yearly store," said a closedealing Hebrew. As every one else had the same thought, and carried it out, it was fatal to the rabbi's store of wine.

The same inclination to be sharp and to take advantage, if not universal, was very general; while inflation careered among us with the mad recklessness of a carnival. So lost to a fine sense of honor had the greater number of property-holders become, that the returns of income, though verified by oath, were deemed incorrect as a rule. The grossness and openness of this way of wronging the treasury was so proverbial and irremediable, that the repeal of the tax was demanded on the score of impossibility in procuring just accounts. If those who had wealth, and could best afford to bear the heavy burdens of the nation, were so unscrupulous as to rob the nation, what could be expected of those less fortunate in possessions, and from other circumstances less likely to be accurate in keeping books? Grant came to the presidency when the spirit of speculation was most rife. He did nothing to create this