His training had been of the best. In youth, he had sat in the inner circles of the Jacksonians in Washington, aroused the interest of Calhoun, and for years had been the trusted adviser of his uncle, William Allen, and of his party in matters of management and principles. A lawyer of erudition, a jurist of experience and distinction, few Senators cared to cross swords with him on legal or constitutional questions. 'When I speak of the law,' said Conkling, 'I turn to the Senator from Ohio as the Mussulman turns toward Mecca.' His method in debate was that of a great lawyer; his speeches were as the expositions of a great judge. He indulged in no frivolities, and took the floor only when he had something to say. In reasoning robust, his blows were titanic, and when occasion called, his sarcasm and satire were destructive. Fair in statement, honest in his conclusions, sincere in purpose, he commanded universal respect.

In political judgment, he was instinctively sound. On all the fundamentals of his party's faith he was safe. He not only had mastered the philosophy of the fathers; it was inherently his own. He believed in fighting the enemy cleanly - but he believed in fighting. In general culture, he was above the average in the Senate, an omnivorous reader, especially fond of the French masters, a lover of Molière and Racine, and in moments of social relaxation wont to quote pages of humorous passages from Balzac. A devotee of music and the drama, he was one of the most constant playgoers of the capital.

For the corruption and moral laxity of the times he had the utmost scorn, and he was repeatedly to stand forth against the organized forces of predatory wealth. His honesty was proverbial, and that made him loom large in his generation. He was of the race of giants - a reminder of the elder day.1

Of less heroic stature, and yet of commanding ability, in the first rank of statesmanship and leadership, was Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware. More suave than Thurman, with a little less power in his punch, he was a seasoned statesman, a clever debater, a sagacious political manager. Where Thurman was the warrior, Bayard was the diplomat. Of pleasing presence, moder

1 Historical and Biographical Cyclopedia of Ohio; Blaine, Twenty Years, 11, 442; Thurman Papers; New York World, December 20, 1869.

ate, urbane, dignified, he made an impressive figure on the floor. He never lost his balance or struck a blow beneath the belt. Socially a charming companion, fluent and interesting in conversation, his familiarity with the French language made him a favorite in diplomatic circles. Like Thurman, he was a book man, liking nothing better than a quiet evening in his library.

Hendricks, Thurman, and Bayard - these three led the minority through tragic years when constitutional barriers were being brushed aside, when courts were in contempt, and our institutions were being remoulded by the fingers of prejudice and fanaticism. With but a little band behind them, they managed, through the force of intellect and character, occasionally to give pause to the mad spirit of the times. This, not the mere wrangling of the majority, explains Grant's complaint that the dominant party was 'allowing the few Democrats to be the balance to fix amendments to every important measure.'1 It was something that Grant could not understand.

VI

This session witnessed the dramatic advent of another new Senator who illustrated the full flowering of the policy imposed upon the South. An artist would have found an interesting study in the faces of women peering down upon the floor in the first days of February. Some registered curiosity; others something of repulsion. For there, surrounded by admiring partisans, stood a black man - Hiram R. Revels, new Senator from Mississippi, elected to the seat of Jefferson Davis. A man of some education, not without some culture, modest and dignified in demeanor, he impressed a correspondent as a man ‘able to take care of himself... who will not suffer himself to be browbeaten even by Sumner.' 2 On his arrival, he had been honored at a dinner at which both races had mingled about the board. There were some senators, the entire Mississippi delegation, Adelbert Ames, soon to marry the daughter of Ben Butler and now awaiting his admission to the Senate as the black man's colleague, and 'Pig Iron' Kelley, who had found the negroes in the South the intellectual superiors of the whites. The diners had lingered long at the board in merry conversation and 1 Grant's Letters to a Friend, 66–67.

2 New York World, January 31, 1870

perfect fraternity, and there was much lifting of eyebrows even among the political advocates of equality.1 When Revels appeared in the Senate, he was lionized by the Radicals, Sumner the first to greet him with smiles and compliments, closely followed by Simon Cameron and the carpetbag Senators.2

That month John W. Forney gave his 'social equality party,' with the two races mingling as one. Grant dropped in, and members of the Cabinet, and chatted the evening away. The new Mississippi Senator was the center of attraction, and that venerable journalist, Major Poore, made a grave social error. Arriving late, he turned to a colored man seated at a table.

'Go and get me some wine, my good fellow,' he ordered.

'Sir, I think we have met before at Sumner's,' replied the negro with dignity. 'I believe I am addressing Major Poore, am I not? And the Major must remember that we dined together at Senator Sumner's.'

'Oh, I beg your pardon. So we did, sir. How are you, Professor?'

It was Professor Vashon. Under the new social dispensation, such social errors were almost unavoidable.3

Soon Revels made his maiden speech to galleries packed with both races, speaking in excellent taste, in language many Senators could not have matched in grace of diction; and Morton, who had sought vainly to secure for the negro the very seat once occupied by Davis, rose to compliment the speaker who 'so well vindicated the ability and intelligence of his race... and shows the country that in receiving him in exchange for Jefferson Davis, the Senate has lost nothing in intelligence.' 4

Soon followed the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, and then, feverish activity among the Radicals. The Republican Club marched to the White House, and, responding to the serenade, Grant appeared at the door with Forney, to declare that 'no consummation since the Civil War affords me so much pleasure.' 5 Negro orators planned stumping tours in the North; and it was

1 New York Herald, February 2, 1870.

Ibid., February 20, 1870.

2 Ibid., February 3, 1870.

• Congressional Globe, March 16, 1870; New York Tribune, March 17, 1870. 5 New York Herald, April 2, 1870.

said the Union League Club would begin the organization of secret leagues in the Northern States for the purposes of the approaching campaign. To the politicians the Amendment meant the reclamation of some lost States - Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey.1

Two months later, when the Union League held its conference at the Arlington, the reports were encouraging, the finances satisfactory, and the national secretary was instructed to proceed forthwith to the South. The dominant party had never been more jubilant; the freedmen, never so enthusiastic over the prospects of real equality. And yet there was a fly in the ointment when Revels appointed a colored boy a cadet at West Point. 'A very foolish and cruel thing as far as the boy and his family is concerned, and a very injudicious thing as far as the colored race is concerned,' thought 'The Nation.' Of course, it said, the boy could not pass the examination. And all that came of it was a trip to West Point for the potential cadet, a breakfast at Couzzen's Hotel, 'with as much pomp and ceremony as any white cadet would have had shown him,' a courteous treatment by the authorities — and the dream was over.3

VII

United on negro suffrage, the dominant party was seriously disturbed when Grant dumped into the Senate hopper an amazing opéra-bouffe proposition — a treaty providing for the purchase of San Domingo for $1,500,000. Negotiated by General Orville E. Babcock, destined to much notoriety, signed by him as 'Aide-deCamp to his Excellency Ulysses S. Grant,' there had been no consultation with the Secretary of State. Just how the President became involved remains a mystery. Obsessed with a craving for territory, it is probable that speculators and gamblers financially interested managed to divert him from the thought of Cuba to the black republic. Behind the screen the project had been brewing for two years. A friend of Senator Grimes had asked his advice about investing and had been dissuaded. It was not until 1869 that Grant became interested, when a man-of-war was ordered to

1 New York Herald, April 8, 1870.

The Nation, June 9, 1870.

2 Ibid., June 1, 1870.

Grimes to Rich, Life of Grimes, 379.

the ports of the Dominican Republic to ascertain the views of the people there of all parties regarding annexation and the sale or lease of the Bay of Samana, or of territory adjacent thereto. In July, General Babcock set forth on his diplomatic mission and a warship was instructed to give him the moral support of its guns. This may have been necessary to support the tottering régime of President Baez during negotiations, but not for his persuasion, for he was eager to sell his country. It was not information as to popular sentiment that the gay Babcock was after, but a sale; and he soon returned with the protocol of a treaty in which Grant was pledged to exert all his power to secure a ratification of any agreement made.

Shocked and disgusted by the proceedings behind his back, Secretary Fish wished to resign, but was dissuaded, and Babcock returned with an adequate naval force to continue and close negotiations, with the consent of the State Department. This was speedily accomplished; and, pending the ratification, warships were hurried to Dominican waters for the protection of the man who sought to sell his country. So precarious was his hold on power, that in February, 1870, Admiral Poor made a demonstration at the Haytian capital and served notice that any attack on Baez would be considered a declaration of war against the United States.

In his Message in December, Grant had painted an extravagant picture of the resources and value of San Domingo; and in early January, Charles Sumner, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, dining with Forney and Poore, the journalists, was interrupted by the sound of Grant's voice in his hall. Hastening to him, Sumner ushered the President into the dining-room. The guests rose to leave. Grant waved them to their seats. No objection to discussing foreign relations with the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in the presence of the press. Or, was Sumner chairman of the Judiciary Committee? Grant had thus addressed him- but no matter. He sought an offhand assurance of Sumner's active support for ratification. Dumbfounded, and yet forgiving something to Grant's simplicity in such matters, Sumner responded, 'Mr. President, I am an Administration man, and whatever you do will always find in me the most careful and candid consideration.'