ple of the United States as peculiarly
auspicious.

For a man who had always been singularly reticent concerning himself,
both in public and private, the President gave free expression to what
he regarded as the mistreatment and abuse he had received from
political opponents. He looked forward, he said, "with the greatest
anxiety for release from responsibilities which at times are almost
overwhelming," and from which he had "scarcely had a respite since
the eventful firing on Fort Sumter, in April, 1861, to the present
day." "My services," said he, "were then tendered and accepted under
the first call for troops growing out of the event. I did not ask for
place or position, and was entirely without influence or the
acquaintance of persons of influence, but was resolved to perform my
part in a struggle threatening the very existence of the Nation. I
performed a conscientious duty without asking promotion or command,
and without a revengeful feeling towards any section or individual.
Notwithstanding this, throughout the war and from my candidacy for
my present office in 1868 to the close of the last Presidential
campaign, I have been the subject of abuse and slander scarcely ever
equaled in political history, which to-day I feel that I can afford to
disregard in view of your verdict which I gratefully accept as my
vindication."

Surprise was generally expressed at this manifestation of personal
feeling on the part of the President. He had undoubtedly been called
upon to confront many unpleasant things, as every incumbent of his
office must; but General Grant was surely in error in considering
himself defamed beyond the experience of his predecessors. The
obloquy encountered by Mr. Jefferson in 1800, by both Adams and Jackson
in 1828, and by Mr. Clay, as a candidate, for twenty years, far
exceeded in recklessness that from which the President had suffered.
A military education and an army life had not prepared General Grant
for the abandoned form of vituperation to which he was necessarily
subjected when he became a candidate for the Presidency. For this
reason, perhaps, he endured it less patiently than his predecessors,
who had been subjected to it in worse form and more intolerant spirit.
But General Grant had the good fortune, in great degree denied to his
predecessors, to see his political enemies withdraw their unfounded
aspersions during his lifetime, to see his calumniators become his
personal and offici