control of the executive department of the Government under circumstances of peculiar difficulty. The administration of President Johnson had not been calculated to hasten a just system of reconstruction. The animosities of the war, so far from being allayed by Mr. Johnson's policy, had been aggravated, and the discontent, among the less honorable classes of society manifested itself in secret organizations which became responsible for many hideous crimes, and in some portions of the South a reign of terror. That all this has ceased, and that with the interposition of martial law, as expressly authorized by Congress, in only a single instance, is largely due to the personal influence of President Grant himself. When he entered the presidential office, many seats of Senators and Representatives were vacant-the result of the severance of relations with the Union caused by secession and a year before the expiration of his first term, every seat was occupied, some by gentlemen who had taken active part in the rebellion, but had become qualified by the magnanimous clemency of the Government. Complete reconstruction has, therefore, for some time been a practical fact, and thorough reconciliation is rapidly being brought about. It is difficult to conceive how more could have been done in the same time.

PATRONAGE AND ITS EVILS.

But the embarrassments of the administration only began with the question of reconstruction..

The practical matter of patronage at once presented serious trouble. The President selected as his cabinet E. B. Washburne, of Illinois, Secretary of State; A. T. Stewart, of New York, Secretary of the Treasury; A. E. Borie, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Navy; Jacob D. Cox, of Ohio, Secretary of the Interior; John A. J. Creswell, of Maryland, Postmaster-General, and E. R. Hoar, of Massachusetts, Attorney-General. General Sherman

was allowed to act as Secretary of War for a time. Mr. Stewart being found ineligible, George S. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, was appointed Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Washburne soon resigned, and Hamilton Fish, of New York, was made Secretary of State. Soon afterwards General John A. Rawlins, of Illinois, was made Secretary of War. He was a most admirable officer, but soon succumbed to a dread disease-consumption-by which his life had long been threatened. After his death, Gen. William W. Belknap, of Iowa, was appointed. His department was assailed on a memorable occasion, and by able men, but the assault was signally and honorably repulsed, and the integrity and ability of the Secretary completely sustained. Mr. Hoar was appointed one of the Circuit Judges, under the act of Congress creating that adjunct to the Supreme Court of the United States, but the Senate, in a spasm of childish resentment, refused to confirm him, and he resigned the office of Attorney-General. Amos T. Akerman, of Georgia, was appointed to the place, but resigning in 1871,

Ex-Senator George H. Williams, of Oregon, was selected in his stead. Mr. Borie had previously resigned his position as Secretary of the Navy, to which Hon. George M. Robeson, of New Jersey, was appointed.

THE CIVIL SERVICE-DIFFICULTIES IN ITS MANAGEMENT.

The war had vastly augmented the civil service establishment. When President Grant entered the executive office, there were single bureaux of departments more extensive than had been some of the departments, or perhaps any of them, before the war. These had large numbers of officials at the national capital and throughout the country. One of the ill results of the war was this necessary increase of public offices. Many persons in every community directed their energies to office-getting as though it were a regular business. When President Grant was inaugurated, Washington swarmed with office-seekers; with many thousands of men asking the privilege of serving their country in public place. Many were necessarily disappointed, and hence arose a certain disaffection in the Republican party, which, aided by some opposed to the existing laws imposing duties on imports and the plan of internal taxation in being, culminated in the Cincinnati Convention of May, 1872, which is treated at length in subsequent chapters of this book.

Meanwhile, however, the vast patronage of the Government was distributed to the general satis

faction of the body politic, and, in the main, to the good of the service. It is believed that no more mistakes were made than were inevitable under the system in force.

Another great source of embarrassment to the Administration of President Grant-as it necessarily would have been to any administration-was the conflicting opinions among members of the Republican party upon questions which, of comparatively little moment during the war, had by this time come to be of grave importance. The patriotic public willingly endured high taxation to sustain those who were periling their lives to save the Republic and the cause of freedom. The war ended, and the armies disbanded, it was proper for the Government to cut off many of the sources of revenue. Upon the question of how this could most wisely be done, there was, and there still is, wide difference of opinion among patriotic states

men.

If it was impossible to secure unanimity of sentiment among Republicans during the war, when it was necessary for the Executive to exercise extraordinary powers, and the people to make extraordinary sacrifices both of substance and opinion, it would require a miracle to secure such unanimity in an era necessarily requiring many changes of policy, many changes of law. The ocean is said to be more dangerous to navigators just after a storm than during its prevalence. There is an irregular wildness about the waves as they settle back to

calmness, which is peculiarly perilous. Such was the political situation when President Grant assumed office. It was more difficult to administer the Government to the satisfaction of the party in power after the war than it had been during the

war.

SUCCESS OF GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION.

And yet there has been constant progress and success. Taxation has been greatly reduced, and that without giving so rude a shock to systems in being, to which the trade and commerce of the country had become accustomed, as to produce a financial panic. Large numbers of officials in the internal revenue department have been dispensed with by reason of this reduction, and taxation by this mode now rests but upon a few articles. The free list in the tariff has been considerably increased, and duties upon a large number of the necessaries of life and national development have been reduced. The expenditures of the government have been considerably diminished. The national debt has been paid to the amount of three hundred millions of dollars, in round numbers, during the first three years of President Grant's administration. A large amount of the government bonds, bearing six per cent. interest per annum has been converted into a like amount of bonds bearing six per cent. interest. Thus, by the action of a Republican Congress, ably sustained by a Republican administration, have the finances of the nation been successfully conducted,