XXI.

The opening of the Forty-second Congress, on the 4th of March, 1871,
was disfigured by an act of grave injustice committed by the Senate of
the United States. Charles Sumner was deposed from the chairmanship
of the Committee on Foreign Relations,--a position he had held
continuously since the Republican party gained control of the Senate.
The cause of his displacement may be found in the angry contentions
to which the scheme of annexing San Domingo gave rise. Mr. Sumner's
opposition to that project was intense, and his words carried with them
what was construed as a personal affront to the President of the United
States,--though never so intended by the Massachusetts senator. When
the committees were announced from the Republican caucus on the 10th of
March, 1871, by Mr. Howe of Wisconsin, Mr. Cameron of Pennsylvania
appeared as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations and Mr.
Sumner was assigned to the chairmanship of a new committee,--Privileges
and Elections,--created for the exigency.(1)

The removal of Mr. Sumner from his place had been determined in a
caucus of Republican senators, and never was the power of the caucus
more wrongfully applied. Many senators were compelled, from their
sense of obedience to the decision of the majority, to commit an act
against their conceptions of right, against what they believed to be
justice to a political associate, against what they believed to be
sound public policy, against what they believed to be the interest of
the Republican party. The caucus is a convention in party organization
to determine the course to be pursued in matters of expediency which do
not involve questions of moral obligation or personal justice.
Rightfully employed, the caucus in not only useful but necessary in
the conduct and government of party interests. Wrongfully applied, it is a
weakness, an offense, a stumbling-block in the way of party prosperity.

Mr. Sumner's deposition from the place he had so long honored was not
accomplished, however, without protest and contest. Mr. Schurz made an
inquiry of Mr. Howe as to the grounds upon which the senator was to be
deposed; and the answer was that "the personal relations between the
senator from Massachusetts and the President of the United States and
the head of the State Department are such as preclude all social
intercourse between them." "In brief," said Mr. Howe, "I may say that
the information communicated to us was that the