FIRST ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT
_March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1873_
During the strife and turmoil of the régime of President Johnson, the
prestige and popularity of General Grant continued to increase. His
brilliant military exploits, his magnanimity to the Southern generals,
his unostentatious demeanour upon all occasions, and the wisdom of the
silence he maintained upon the issues of the day, combined to invest
him in public opinion with superlative acumen and the qualities of
a superstatesman. The result of the adulation was the creation of a
gigantic tide of public approval that expressed itself in a universal
demand for him as President of the United States. At this particular
crisis, he was regarded with a sort of reverent affection as the man
of destiny to handle the troubled political situation with the same
brilliant strategy that had characterized his military achievements.
Yet none remembered that this peerless soldier became the victorious
war general through long training in military technique. Following
an expert military education, his skill in this science had been
amplified, concentrated, and forged into a life vocation by years of
hard service and bitter experience in Texas, Mexico, and California.
Every single success of the Civil War had come through the application
to each situation of the knowledge derived through years of experience
and observation.
In all his busy life as soldier, farmer, tanner, store clerk, and
real-estate dealer, politics had had no place. Politics had never
interested him. He seems to have given but the most casual attention to
the political struggles of the great parties. His political inclination
was shown by the only ballot he ever cast before he came to the White
House--for James Buchanan. So it was upon his military record alone
that he was swept into the Presidency, with a million and a half
majority of votes. That the American public did not underestimate the
character of General Grant is proved by the fact that the maelstrom
of political intrigue, scandal, and crookedness into which he was
precipitated wholly unprepared by previous experiences left him a
greater man at the close of his eight years of administration--in spite
of his Presidency rather than because of it.
Ulysses S. Grant was inaugurated March 4, 1869, in the disagreeable
weather that had become traditional for these ceremonies in Washington.
The weather, however, could not dampen the hilarious spirit of the
vast throngs that had descended upon the city. No man ever came into
the office more thoroughly approved and honoured by the American
people. He was the idol of the military through the war; and the
military, in dispersing to their homes, carried and spread the fame of
“Unconditional Surrender” Grant to every city and hamlet and crossroads.
The President elect rode with General Rawlins, escorted by eight
divisions of organizations of military regulars and volunteers (among
them several companies of coloured men) and numerous civic and
patriotic organizations.
Never did Washington witness such packed streets. Trains had been
unloading thousands daily, and every Washingtonian able to leave his
bed was out to do his bit to honour the President elect who had so
greatly endeared himself to the people of the district in his four
years of residence among them. President Johnson did not accompany
him, but went to the capitol early to sign bills. Mr. Colfax, with
the senatorial committee, followed General Grant, and after the
installation of the Vice President, the presidential oath was given to
the incoming President by Chief Justice Chase in the presence of the
multitude assembled around the East Portico. The inaugural address was
brief and direct and set forth the fact that he “would have a definite
policy of his own upon all subjects to recommend but none to enforce
against the will of the people.”
The General’s prideful family sat close by. His little daughter Nellie,
startled at the confusion, ran with childish instinct to her father for
protection and, after getting hold of his hand, remained contentedly at
his side.
The climax of the day’s events was the ball held in the north wing of
the Treasury Department.
The President and Mrs. Grant and Vice President and Mrs. Colfax
attended. Mrs. Grant wore an unusually rich and handsome gown of
elegant white satin elaborately trimmed in point lace with pearl and
diamond ornaments, while Mrs. Colfax was especially lovely in soft pink
satin, with a profusion of pink illusion (tulle), offset by pearls.
The affair was horribly mismanaged, causing great discomfort and
drawing severe criticism to the managers. The bitter weather added to
the distress. There were no adequate arrangements for wraps and hats,
no system for calling cabs and carriages, and, consequently, scores
upon scores of people were obliged to give up all hope of finding their
own garments when they desired to leave. There were no hired carriages
to be had, and many walked home through the mud and slush in the wee
small hours of the morning minus cloaks and headgear. Horace Greeley
lost his cherished white hat and venerable gray overcoat in the mêlée.
Many ladies, in their struggle to get into the supper room, lost their
escorts, and, failing to find them again or to get any supper, remained
sitting on the floor, cold, hungry, and disconsolate, through that
never-to-be-forgotten night. Ten o’ clock next morning found nearly a
thousand people still clamouring for their hats and coats.
The supper also was a dismal failure. Half of the assemblage could not
get near the door, much less to the table, after having bought supper
tickets. All of this confusion was bad enough; what made it worse was
that Washington was locked in the teeth of a blizzard. Many deaths and
much illness were attributed to the exposure.
General Grant kept the personnel of his Cabinet a complete secret
until he sent their names to the Senate for confirmation the day after
inauguration. Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois, was made Secretary
of State. He had been the staunchest defender of General Grant when
General Halleck’s charges and complaints of Grant’s conduct to
President Lincoln threatened to cause him to be relieved of his command
after the engagement of Shiloh. He served only six days, when Hamilton
Fish, descended from a long fine of prominent New York statesmen, was
nominated and confirmed as his successor. Washburne went to France as
Minister Plenipotentiary.
President Grant found his problems multiplying with unpleasant
rapidity. From the start, he had difficulty with Senator Charles
Sumner, of Massachusetts, who was offended because he had not been
consulted about Cabinet nominations, and showed his disapproval by
objections to the President’s nominee for Secretary of the Treasury.
This man was A. T. Stewart, the millionaire merchant of New York, who
accepted the position with pleasure and engaged a suite at the Ebbitt
House preparatory to assuming his position. Senator Sumner’s objections
to him were based on the grounds that it was not lawful for a man who
was an importer in active business to hold the position of Secretary of
the Treasury. Although Mr. Stewart was ready to retire from business
and devote the entire profits that might accrue during the term of his
desired Cabinet service to charity, this was not regarded as a proper
procedure for him or for the government to sanction. The President
requested that the old law, accredited to Alexander Hamilton, covering
this situation, which had been passed in 1788, be set aside so as to
enable his candidate to qualify for the office. However, the Senate
declined, and the President was disappointed and distinctly annoyed
at meeting antagonism at the beginning of his term. The antipathy
between President Grant and Charles Sumner came finally to open
rupture. President Grant appointed George S. Boutwell, ex-Governor
of Massachusetts, as Secretary of the Treasury. This nomination was
unanimously confirmed.
Edwin M. Stanton’s career as Secretary of War was ended, and he had
been appointed Justice of the Supreme Court through the efforts of
Senator Ben Wade, of Ohio. He accepted and took the oath, but never sat
in the tribunal, since he died December 24, 1869. Considerable mystery
surrounded his death; many believed that he committed suicide, but
investigation of this matter and evidence of the attending physician
brought the statement that death occurred from natural causes.
The President chose for his Secretary of War General John A. Rawlins,
who had been his chief of staff and military adviser. Rudolph R. Borie,
a retired Philadelphia merchant, received the nomination as Secretary
of the Navy; John D. Cox, lawyer, of Ohio, the post of Secretary
of the Interior; John A. Cresswell, of Maryland, that of Postmaster
General; and Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, of Massachusetts, Attorney
General. This concluded what was regarded as a very strong Cabinet.
James G. Blaine was elected Speaker of the House. By this time, every
state was represented in the legislative body, and the administration
had the support of a large majority in both Houses.
Shortly after his induction into office, President Grant developed a
plan to improve the condition and appearance of the Capital City. He
considered it unworthy of its name, and no credit either to the nation
or the name of General Washington, who had selected the site and had
approved the designs and plans made for its development by his friend
and aide, the gifted Major Pierre L’Enfant. With each war of the
nation, the Capital City experienced a mushroom growth in population
and in business enterprise. Then would come a slump financially and
physically. The effect of the slump following the close of the Civil
War was not conducive to either national or civic pride in the city as
the seat of government for an already great and growing nation.
The streets were wagon trails of alternating mud and dust; the
pavements crooked and overgrown with grass and weeds. The parks, having
been soldier camps, were covered with brush, weeds, and even débris
of wrecked buildings, the grassy slopes beaten bare by the tramp of
thousands of feet. The population and business projects alike had
shrunk, and the general aspect of squalor and neglect was heightened
in many localities by the presence of shanties, cabins, and lean-tos
thrown together with nondescript odds and ends of lumber, tin, and
what-not to make shelter for the Negro element. These were pitched
anywhere about the city where a darky family of squatters were
unmolested long enough to get a shack put up and install themselves.
Frequently, for many years, their little hovels abutted some of the
stateliest mansions.
General Grant selected the best man available for the rehabilitation
he had in mind--Alexander R. Shepherd, of the District of Columbia,
and made him Chairman of Public Works. Together they planned extensive
permanent improvements, which were put into execution as speedily as
money was forthcoming. Regardless of expense, the entire city was
placed upon an even and regular grade. High knolls and embankments
were cut down, low places filled, many houses, in consequence, finding
themselves far above or below the new street level.
Public grounds and parks were planted with trees and shrubbery;
pavements were repaired and laid; ninety of the three hundred miles of
streets were straightened and graded, and a great improvement was made
by reducing the width of streets to give to each house a bit of lawn or
front yard. Shade trees were set out. Tiber Creek, so long an eyesore,
running through part of the city, a breeding place for mosquitoes and
an attraction for the pigs and cattle that were allowed to roam about,
was diverted from its original course and turned into a sewer.
For all of this work, Congress appropriated five million dollars, while
eight million came from the taxpayers.
[Illustration: _Photos. by Brady_
MRS. ULYSSES S. GRANT]
On February 20, 1871, the President signed the bill by which
territorial government was established in the District of Columbia,
with a governor, a house of delegates, and a delegate to Congress.
Henry D. Cooke, the first governor, was succeeded by Alexander
Shepherd, chosen because of the great improvement he was bringing to
pass in the city. Governor Shepherd soon found himself in difficulties,
owing to charges that he gave contracts to his friends and to the
friends of members of Congress whose votes were needed to secure
liberal appropriations for the work. However, close investigation
failed to show where Governor Shepherd had enriched himself in the
slightest degree, or had added to the value of his own property any
more than to that of others. His ambition was not a selfish one,
it was for the city, and his ability was equalled by his honesty.
General Grant always believed in him, and as his improvements became
perfected, he was regarded as the saviour and regenerator of the City
of Washington. The social functions at the Shepherd home were long
remembered for their lavish hospitality and for the brilliance of the
assemblages that flocked there under the inspiration of this very
progressive governor and his charming lady.
The new Department of State was under construction. From 1869 until
1875, the Government leased the Washington Orphan Asylum at Fourteenth
and S streets, established by Dolly Madison, for the quarters for this
department.
With the opening of the Grant régime, the old customs of the
White House disappeared. New furnishings and a change in plan of
household management made it possible for the President to make his
entertainments conform more truly to the dignity of his office. Before
this administration, the wives of the presidents had superintended
their own culinary department, but with President Grant’s induction
into office, a steward was installed in the White House for the first
time since Mrs. Madison’s day. Melah, this steward, was an Italian of
considerable fame, as he had served some of the most famous hotels of
the country. A past master in the art of concocting delicious menus
and an expert in service, under his guiding genius, the cuisine at the
White House assumed the dignity and perfection befitting the home of
the President. He planned his dinners according to his idea of the
quality of his guests. As the table would seat but thirty-six, it was
necessary to hold these functions weekly during the social season.
Some of these dinners cost as little as three hundred dollars, but the
usual amount allowed was seven hundred. When Prince Arthur of England
was entertained the banquet for thirty-six guests cost fifteen hundred
dollars, exclusive of the wines.
Social life experienced a very profound revival, taking its cue from
the White House family, as is usual. Mrs. Grant being endowed with
exceptional social graces, her régime was one of charming, genial
hospitality strongly tinged with the wholesome domesticity that made
the President’s house the ideal American home. She loved people, was
a charming conversationalist, and all her life had lived in a social
atmosphere. She was keenly alive to the interests and events of the
hour, and, while typically feminine in every instinct, was also clever
and thoroughly conversant with the questions that engrossed her
husband; yet she never intruded in his affairs. Her influence with him
was paramount through life. He appeared at her morning and afternoon
receptions, and together they broke many of the burdensome social
precedents that had been fastened upon the incumbents of the White
House by previous régimes. The President and his wife dined out. They
made calls, if they so desired, and whereas it had not been considered
dignified for the President and his wife to attend evening parties,
these two settled such matters as their own fancy dictated and lost no
social prestige whatever thereby. President Grant flatly refused to
be a prisoner in the White House or to be handicapped by customs he
considered useless and irksome.
At the height of his popularity, when he was in demand everywhere by
individuals, groups, and associations who sought to honour him, Mrs.
Grant became disturbed over the condition of her right eye, which
had been injured in girlhood by a peculiar and distressing accident
that occurred while she was boating with a party of young people on
the river near her home at White Haven. Through accident or someone’s
carelessness, an oar flew up and struck her in the eye. Surgery not
being advanced, as it is to-day, the eye never resumed its normal
position, being slightly turned. The General would not listen to the
suggestion of an operation. He reminded her that he had fallen in love
with her with her eyes just as they were, and had been contentedly
looking at them for a good many years and did not wish them changed.
His veto settled the matter for all time.
Mrs. Grant established a new plan for the weekly Cabinet day
receptions that became so popular as to be followed more or less by
her successors. She invited some of the ladies of the Cabinet, wives
of Senators or other officials, as well as visiting friends and
celebrities to assist her on these occasions, generally entertaining
her receiving party at luncheon on the appointed day. After the Cabinet
meeting, the President would join his wife and receive with her.
The evening receptions, like those of the Grant home on Minnesota Row,
were always packed with an eager, interested crowd.
One of the distinguished visitors to the Capital the first year of
the Grant régime was the nineteen-year-old Prince Arthur, young son
of Queen Victoria of England, who was elaborately entertained at the
British Legation.
The President did not feel it incumbent upon him either to make an
especial call upon the young man or to give a special entertainment in
his honour. Instead, the Prince was invited to the regular state dinner
of the week, just as any other distinguished visitor might have been.
Among the many problems presented to Mrs. Grant was the selection of
a fashion dictator for American women. So long had the charming and
elegant Empress Eugénie been the arbiter of fashion that, with her
eclipse in the passing of the last Napoleonic empire, women were at a
loss for a leader. Accordingly, they besought the First Lady of the
Land to settle the matter. Mrs. Grant, with her usual wisdom, referred
the representative of the press to Mrs. Fish, wife of the Secretary of
State, saying:
“In matters pertaining to good sense and fine tact, I rely upon Mrs.
Fish. Say to her that you seek her presence by my direction.”
Upon learning that Mrs. Grant desired her to make a statement for
publication as to whether or not the ladies of the Cabinet would
originate the styles, Mrs. Fish said:
“I am glad the time has come when we shall have fashions of our own
and not be dictated to by those who differ with us in the spirit of
our institutions. This is a republic, not an empire or a monarchy. No
woman, either at home or abroad, will be followed or allowed to set
the fashions for this country. So far as I am concerned, the short,
comfortable street dress has come to stay, and the neat-fitting basque
in some form will always be found in my wardrobe, and I trust every
woman will seek her own convenience and comfort whilst thinking of
other things than dress.”
Mrs. Grant’s gowns were notable for their good taste and elegance. The
first administration, or at least the first three years of it, were
rather quiet, owing to the fact that the children, all but small Jesse,
were away at school. Mrs. Grant liked to have her own people around
her, and her family was pretty thoroughly and constantly represented
in the house guests.
Mr. F. F. Dent, her father, made his home with them while they were in
the White House. A most interesting man, he was the object of family
attention and devotion. Although a Southerner who never changed his
political views, he was devoted to his distinguished son-in-law,
with whom he differed radically on many questions. President Grant’s
affection for his wife’s father expressed itself in many practical
ways. When serious reverses came to Mr. Dent, and it seemed as though
all of his property must be sacrificed, the President bought up the
notes on the old Dent homestead and so arranged matters that the income
from it was paid periodically and promptly to Mr. Dent, who was left to
believe that, through a readjustment, the property was still his own.
Mr. Dent died in the White House, and his funeral was held there.
General Grant brought his army efficiency into the executive office,
along with two of his generals, Babcock and Porter; and with his genius
for organizing, he soon had a schedule that left him a little time to
follow the pursuits that diverted and rested him.
An early riser, seven o’clock found him reading the papers. He
breakfasted with his family at eight o’clock, then went for a stroll to
enjoy his cigar. By ten he was in his office ready for the day’s tasks,
and when three o’clock came he considered the day’s work completed
sufficiently for him to leave his desk.
A daily pleasure was the visit to his horses, which were a hobby.
After making the rounds and giving a word or a pat to each, he enjoyed
a walk or drive, the latter usually to please his wife. His horses
were Cincinnatus, a dark bay charger; St. Louis, and Egypt, carriage
horses, beautifully matched; Julia, for a buggy; Billy Button and Red.
Shetland ponies; Jeff Davis, a saddle horse quite hard to manage;
Jennie and Mary, the property of Miss Nellie. Five vehicles found place
in the carriage house, and thus the tastes and fancy of every member
of the family were considered--a landau, barouche, top buggy, pony
phaëton, and road wagon.
General Grant’s love for horses had become proverbial before he became
President. At the time that he was elected, he had a stock farm near
St. Louis, where it is said he kept more than a hundred animals.
Cincinnatus was a good saddle horse, and the President could ride him
to any part of the city and leave him standing unhitched for any length
of time. He never became frightened at parades or street fights or
commotion.
One of Grant’s best horses was named Butcher’s Boy, into the possession
of which he came in an odd way. General Grant was riding through the
city one day and attempted to pass a butcher’s wagon, which was jogging
along in front of him. The boy driving the horse whipped up and the
General whipped up, and the two had a lively race. Grant was in a
light rig and the boy had no idea in the world that he was racing the
President of the United States. His horse was so good, however, that he
kept ahead for a long distance, and President Grant admired him so much
that, when the wagon stopped at a butcher’s shop, he made note of the
place. Some days after this, he sent one of his friends to look at the
horse and purchase it if possible. The result was that the butcher’s
horse took his place in the White House stables.
During his administration, new stables of the White House were built.
The family dinner hour was five o’clock, and the master of the
establishment required punctuality from all of his household. The table
was invariably set to accommodate half a dozen extra guests, and
there were few days in the strenuous eight years when the family dined
alone. With old-fashioned wifely care, Mrs. Grant saw to it that the
dishes the President especially liked were included in the menus. His
favourite dessert, rice pudding, gained international fame as concocted
under the direction of the incomparable steward.
General Grant’s presidency simply transferred the national interest
from the house on Minnesota Row, given him by an admiring public,
to the White House. His election and inauguration also brought to
publication many interesting stories of his boyhood, youth, and
military career through which his pride in his sturdy all-American
ancestry, the events and exploits which made him so rich in nicknames,
and the youthful achievements of pluck and persistence that cast their
prophecy of his calibre as man while he was yet in his teens all became
household history. Familiar, also, was thus made the life at West
Point, the thrilling experiences of the Mexican War, and the drab,
disheartening struggles of the civilian life at “Hardscrabble,” and the
clerkship in the family tannery.
Old and young alike exulted again and again over the turn of fortune
that threw this born soldier back into the leadership of men; and the
tale of every victory and the record of every honour called forth a
responsive throb of sympathy and affection, expressed emphatically in
the ballots at his election.
But the least known among the treasured stories of Grant’s modest young
manhood are those that relate to his meeting and his courtship of his
first and only sweetheart, Julia Dent. The romance of Ulysses S. Grant
and Julia Dent began with their first meeting--it ended with life.
While at West Point, his roommate invited him to spend a furlough at
his father’s home, at White Haven, near St. Louis. They arrived without
announcing their coming, and he met the sister of his chum, Julia Dent,
then about seventeen. He was greatly attracted to her, the interest
seemed to be mutual, and other visits followed more frequently after
graduation. After Lieutenant Grant took his departure at the close of
one of these he found the memories of Miss Julia so compelling that
he returned to pursue his attentions to her. Their betrothal occurred
while they were crossing the Gravois. They were in a light rig, the
young man driving, the waters swollen and the current so swift from
recent heavy rains that they were in grave danger.
The manner of her clinging to him in her fear of the water inspired
him with the courage to propose to her in the midst of the stream.
In after years, she often related to her grandchildren the story of
the betrothal, placing special stress on the significance of the old
superstition that prophesied unusual strength and constancy to any
pledge made over running water. Mrs. Grant also told the tale of her
dream. The night before the first meeting, she had a vivid dream, in
which she met, loved, and married a young officer whose name she did
not know and whom she had never seen. After she became engaged, she
told her sisters, the dream was “out.”
From the beginning of their romance until she closed her hero husband’s
eyes in death, no one else could ever equal or compare with him in her
estimation of his appearance, character, or achievements.
President Grant was not unaware of the proportions of the task that
an adoring following had placed upon his shoulders as the new head of
the nation still in the throes of internal political chaos. He fully
realized the difficulties of working a miracle in the restoration
of harmonious organization. The absence of political bias and of
animosity toward those who differed with him was a great asset. In this
he stood alone, a figure unique in its isolated superiority to other
party leaders. Advice he did not seek. There was no one qualified to
give him what he could supply so well from his own impartial point of
view. While he appreciated the confidence, loyalty, and high honour of
his overwhelming election to the Presidency, he was not blind to the
undercurrent of suspicion swirling about his every act, or impervious
to the hatred that prevailed toward him in certain sections, nor was
he indifferent to the smouldering vengeance seeking its appeasement in
his undoing in one fashion or another. So he kept his counsel, studied
well each problem, picked the men to fit as best he could, and squared
himself to meet the onslaught of legislative and executive sieges
with the same direct, practical common sense that had been focussed
on his military manœuvres. Of course, mistakes followed, for subtle
intrigues and conspiracies could not always be handled by the direct
open method. From the opening of his administration, international
complications with England beclouded the horizon for a time, and war
seemed altogether too imminent for peace of mind.
The Secretary of State and the President were in accord as to the
importance of an amicable settlement with Great Britain, if that
could be accomplished without the sacrifice of American dignity or
honour, and they were most anxious that the differences between the
two governments over the depredations of rebel cruisers fitted out
in British ports and the depletion of fisheries in North American
waters be adjusted as speedily and thoroughly as possible. Remembering
the advantages and pleasant relations ensuing as the result of the
Webster-Ashburton conferences and the subsequent treaty, these two
finally concluded that a set of commissioners from each nation should
find the solution. The view was supported by Sir John Rose, Canadian
Premier, serving as commissioner under a previous treaty between Canada
and the United States, to effect a settlement of certain disputed
points between the two countries.
The aggressive attitude of Senator Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts,
Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, had
produced a strained atmosphere, which the Secretary of State had to
combat in his dealings with the English Minister, Sir Edward Thornton,
as well as in the case of the Premier of Canada. Frequent conferences
opened a way for a plan of adjustment, and the letters stipulating
for a Joint High Commission were planned and drawn up. Very soon,
the Canadian Premier left for England, carrying with him a full and
complete concept of the American stand on the difficulty. The plan
of the Joint Commission was adopted; and shortly after Sir John Rose
returned to England, Earl de Grey, Sir Stafford Northcote, Professor
Montague Bernard of Oxford, and the Premier of Canada, Sir John
MacDonald, arrived to comprise, with Sir Edward Thornton, the British
group, while the American contingent consisted of the Secretary of
State, General Schenck (newly appointed Minister to England), Justice
Nelson of the Supreme Court, ex-Attorney General E. R. Hoar, and his
successor, General George H. Williams.
The Commission, familiarly called “High Joints,” assembled in the
spring of 1871. They took a furnished house in Franklin Square and
gave a series of dinner parties and evening entertainments. Many
return courtesies of officials and prominent civic bodies followed,
including a banquet by the Freemasons of Washington, some of whom
were members of Congress, in honour of Earl de Gray, at the time Grand
Master of Masons in England, and Lord Tenterden, also prominent in this
fraternity.
Monsieur de Catacazy, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Emperor of Russia
to the United States, opposed this treaty, endeavouring to prejudice
Senators and Representatives against it. He carried his opposition
to it far enough for Secretary of State Fish to request his recall.
His attitude in this matter was not the only reason for his lack of
popularity. His private life had long been a matter of gossip. His
wife was an attractive lady around whom much scandal centred during
his Washington residence. The story was that she had eloped from her
husband fifteen years previously with Monsieur de Catacazy, then
Secretary of the Legation. The Russian Emperor, learning that his
representative was _persona non grata_, instructed his Minister of
Foreign Affairs to ask, in his name, that President Grant tolerate
Monsieur de Catacazy’s service until the impending visit of his third
son, Grand Duke Alexis, was completed. To this General Grant assented.
Grand Duke Alexis arrived and proceeded at once to the legation, where
he was welcomed by Madame de Catacazy, elegant and charming in a gown
of gold silk. As the Grand Duke entered the legation, Madame met him
with a touch of his native traditional courtesy--in the gold salver on
which was placed a round loaf of black bread surmounted by a golden
salt cellar. The Prince took the uninviting loaf, broke it, and tasted
it, in accordance with the Russian custom. The Grand Duke was cordially
welcomed at the White House, and Monsieur de Catacazy treated with
corresponding coldness.
Sumner’s antipathy to the President and Secretary Hamilton Fish, to
both of whom he had been discourteous, with his subsequent refusal to
speak to either, brought about his removal as Chairman of the Committee
on Foreign Relations of the Senate. In less than two months, all
difficulties were settled and the commissioners made a satisfactory
treaty and returned. It stipulated that points at issue be submitted
to a tribunal of arbitration composed of five members of different
nationalities to sit at Geneva. In December, 1871, the tribunal met
and each party to the dispute filed its statements. Bancroft Davis
represented the United States, and William E. Evarts, Caleb Cushing,
and Morrison R. Waite were the American counsel.
When the question of damages was broached, a great hubbub followed in
England, instigated by the opposition party to the government. The
English press demanded that negotiations cease unless the claims of
the United States were withdrawn, and naturally the situation became
tense and critical. The American counsel maintained that the British
government had agreed to submit points of dispute to arbitration,
and a treaty had been made and accepted by the two nations to this
effect. Feeling became so bitter in England that the two countries
came near to war, and our own State Department was put to a severe
test. Secretary Fish displayed most able diplomacy in that he yielded
nothing of American national dignity and yet avoided false moves likely
to irritate and complicate. Finally, the arbitrators exercised their
right to decide that the claims were out of court and in their hands.
Thus, neither nation needed to abandon its position, as neither was
consulted. The arbitrators awarded damages to the United States to the
amount of $15,500,000 in gold for the direct injury inflicted by the
_Alabama_ and her consorts. England expressed due and proper regret,
a few more words or clauses were added to the code of international
law between the two countries, and peace and good feeling banished the
threatening war clouds.
The winter of 1871 was the scene of especial suffrage activity in the
National Capital, and a convention of all of the principal leaders of
the movement was held in Lincoln Hall, Ninth and D streets, with such
celebrated women on the platform at the various sessions as Elizabeth
Cady Stanton, Grace Greenwood, Phœbe Couzens, Pauline Davis, Susan B.
Anthony, Josephine Griffing, Rachel Moore Townsend, Reverend Olympia
Brown, Isabelle Beecher Hooker, Charlotte Wilbour, Jocelyn Gage, and
many others. Speeches, conferences, and committee hearings brought
the cause of Woman Suffrage very prominently to the attention of the
general public, and in Congress, one of the most notable of these
gatherings was that held on January 11, 1871. Those versed in the early
struggles for the enfranchisement of women give to Victoria Woodhull
the credit of the discovery that, under the rulings of the Fourteenth
and Fifteenth amendments to the Constitution of the United States,
women were entitled to the ballot; and in order that these heretofore
undetected points might be brought to the attention of the legislators,
arrangements were perfected for her presentation of a printed memorial
to the Judiciary Committees of the two Houses of Congress on January
11, 1871.
Victoria Woodhull is of especial interest because she was the first
woman ever to be nominated for the Presidency of the United States,
being the choice of the Equal Rights Party in 1872. Mrs. Woodhull, a
native of Homer, Ohio, born in 1838, is at present living in England.
Her career was interesting in 1870. She opened a bank on Wall Street,
New York City, where her transactions were spectacular. She was also
associated with Tennessee Claflin (Lady Cook) in the publication of
_Woodhull and Claflin’s Weekly_. After her defeat of election and her
second marriage in 1876, she abandoned politics and likewise the United
States, making her home abroad. Her editorial interests continue in the
publication of the _Humanitarian Magazine_ in London.
Her appearance before the Committee of Congress created much
comment, owing to her unusual costume, which the two members of the
Woodhull-Claflin firm had adopted. This dress consisted of a so-called
“business suit” made of dark blue cloth, skimpy in the skirt, with a
basque or jacket finished off with mannish coat tails. A severely plain
hat with steeple crown topping clipped hair gave a masculine appearance
not regarded with favour by the conservative element.
As the presentation of the memorial was Mrs. Woodhull’s first attempt
at public speaking, she read from the printed page.
While the advocates of the ballot for women were straining every effort
to put forth plausible and convincing argument to win adherents to
their cherished dream, another group of women were equally energetic in
preventing the adoption of a suffrage amendment. They became so anxious
over the apparent advantages being gained by Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Susan B. Anthony, and their cohorts, that they, too, formulated a
pretentious document which was an opposing petition, and to it they
secured the signatures of hundreds of women who preferred to follow the
old order of things and leave the voting privilege in the hands of men.
The opposing petition closed with the following appeal:
“Should the person receiving this approve of the object in view, his
or her aid is respectfully requested to obtain signatures to the
annexed petition, which may, after having been signed, be returned
to either of the following persons: Mrs. Gen. W. T. Sherman, Mrs.
John A. Dahlgren, Mrs. Jacob D. Cox, Mrs. Joseph Henry, Mrs. Rev. Dr.
Butler, Mrs. Rev. Rankin, Mrs. Rev. Dr. Boynton, Mrs. Rev. Dr. Samson,
Mrs. B. B. French, Miss Jennie Carroll, Mrs. C. V. Morris, Mrs. Hugh
McCulloch, all of Washington, D. C.; Mrs. Senator Sherman, Mansfield,
Ohio; Mrs. Senator Scott, Huntington, Pa.; Mrs. Senator Corbet,
Portland, Ore.; Mrs. Senator Edmunds, Burlington, Vt.; Mrs. Luke E.
Poland, St. Johnsbury, Vt.; Mrs. Samuel J. Randall, Philadelphia, Pa.;
Mrs. Catherine E. Beecher, 69 West Thirty-eighth Street, New York
City.”
Although each war has hatched its own brood of scandals and given
birth to its own tribe of financial and political vampires to wreck
parties and ruin leaders, yet at no period of our national history
have there been more gigantic, hydra-headed monsters of graft unloosed
upon the head of a nation than the series of financial scandals
exposed during the two administrations of Ulysses S. Grant. The fact
that all of these had their inception years before and, like a vast
canker, had slowly and steadily spread their virus and corruption
through a constantly widening area until an eruption was inevitable
did not lessen the embarrassment or mitigate the actual suffering they
brought to the Executive. His own character and simple plan of life
had kept him so far removed from contact with such schemes and their
perpetrators as virtually to render him incapable of understanding a
stress of conditions and circumstances that could ensnare a private
individual, much less a man pledged to the service of his country,
in any entanglement for gain, through which his disgrace would
inevitably reflect discredit upon his country. But President Grant’s
own integrity, which was never besmirched in the slightest degree,
despite many efforts to implicate him in one scandal or another, did
not spare him the humiliation of seeing his two Vice Presidents and a
large group of friends in the Senate and the House entangled in the
exposure of the Crédit Mobilier swindle of the government. The gold
panic and the Whisky Fraud investigation also brought low the pride of
a group high in honour and power. Not only among family connections,
but in the Cabinet and even the august precincts of the Supreme Court,
the accusing finger of suspicion pointed to the guilty.
All writers of the period dwell more or less at length upon the bold
schemes of speculators to enrich themselves at the expense of the
government. One of the first to come to light, and one of the most
daring, was the attempt to corner the gold market in New York in
1869, when the gold dollar was forced to 162 on the Stock Exchange.
Ben Perley Poore, noted correspondent of the day, gives the following
account of this transaction, which threatened to create a financial
eruption that would rock the entire country. In his “Reminiscences,”
Mr. Poore says:
“General Grant was much embarrassed early in his presidential career
by the attempts of those around him to engage in speculations for
their private benefit. Always willing to bestow offices, or to
dispense profitable favours to his numerous relatives by blood and
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 led some of them into. Among his protégés
was Abel R. Corbin, who had been known at Washington as the clerk
of a House committee, a correspondent, and a lobbyist, and who
afterward had 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 partnership with Jay Gould
and James Fisk, Jr. By adroit management, these operators held, on
the first of September, 1869, ‘calls’ for one hundred millions of
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 assured 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 a special
messenger, but, in fact, substituted 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 ensued. 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. Secretary Boutwell promptly
telegraphed to Sub-Treasurer Butterfield, 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 on the conspirators and breaking their
power, he had treated them as enemies of the credit and business of
the Union.”
Great satisfaction came to the country when Congress convened in
December, and it was manifest that the reconstruction of all of the
Southern states was accomplished, and with the opening of the New
Year, all the states of the Union were represented in Congress for the
first time since December, 1860. Vice President Colfax presided over
fifty-one Republican and thirteen Democratic Senators, while James
G. Blaine, Speaker of the House, held his gavel over one hundred and
seventy-two Republicans and seventy-one Democratic Representatives.
Meanwhile, Congress had established the Weather Bureau, with
headquarters at Washington. Its object was to secure and issue
information of approaching changes of weather and impending storms.
The butt of many jokes in the beginning of its career, it has saved
the people of the country from heavy losses both by land and by sea.
Branches were located in all of the principal cities. As time has
passed, the importance of the work of this Bureau brought measures for
the extension of its operations.
As the administration drew to a close, the effect of the financial
scandals was shown in the opposition that seemed to spring up in all
directions to President Grant. Rumour and query were already directed
toward the Pennsylvania Courts, where a Crédit Mobilier scandal was
impending and the money panic threatening.
Charles Sumner and the President, through a series of misunderstandings
that might in the early stages have been easily explained and
completely adjusted, were bitterly antagonistic. The President’s San
Domingo annexation theory and certain actions and policies followed
in the arrangement for the English treaty were contrary to Senator
Sumner’s ideas. In addition, one of the contributing causes to the
strained relations and widening breach was the fact that the Senator
disapproved of the President’s receiving valuable gifts. He believed
that all such gifts were made with the idea that especial consideration
could be expected by the donor in return. He considered it the duty of
every public man to set his face resolutely against the acceptance of
all presents and courtesies that could embarrass him in his official
duty in any respect. To President Grant such a course would have been
exceedingly difficult, owing to his extreme popularity with both the
military and the civilians. Refusal of tributes of appreciation under
such conditions would also have caused embarrassment. However, this
cause for criticism, added to the other points of dispute between these
two sterling leaders and statesmen, gave sufficient tinder to the
spark of Sumner’s growing antagonism to send him energetically to work
to rally the indifferent or disgruntled Republicans into a clique to
prevent the reëlection of the President.
The importance attached to Senator Sumner’s opposition may be gathered
from the fact that it called forth a protest from Henry Wilson, slated
for the nomination as Vice President to succeed Colfax, who was already
too thoroughly enmeshed in the Crédit Mobilier entanglement to be
considered. Part of Mr. Wilson’s letter to the President is as follows:
“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. I want to
see the President and Congress in harmony, the Republican Party united
and victorious. To accomplish this, we must all be just, careful, and
forgiving.”
General Grant’s wonderful success as a soldier, however, was not
equalled by the same type of success as a statesman. The opposition to
his reëlection grew, and no less than seven candidates were thrown into
the field against him. To the campaign of 1872 was given the name, “Go
as you please,” the watchword of the factions being “Anything to beat
Grant.” A serious opposition was met in the combination of the Liberal
Republican and Democratic parties who nominated Horace Greeley, but the
victory was again given to the hero of Appomattox.