Southern
men regard as having been settled forever by the tribunal of arms. I
was pleased to learn from the leading men whom I met that they not
only accepted the decision as final, but now that the smoke of battle
has cleared away and time has been given for reflection, that this
decision has been a fortunate one for the whole country." He suggested
that the Freedmen's Bureau be put under command of military officers in
the respective departments, thus saving the expense of a separate
organization. This would create a responsibility that would secure
uniformity of action throughout the South. His general
characterization of the Bureau was, that it tended to impress the
freedman with the idea that he would not be compelled to work, and that
in some way the lands of his former master were to be divided among
the colored persons.

The supporters of the Administration considered General Grant's report
a strong justification of their position towards the South, and they
used it with some effect throughout the country. The popularity of
the Lieutenant-General was boundless, and of course there was strong
temptation to make the most of whatever might be said by him. Mr.
Sumner immediately demanded the reading of the report of Mr. Schurz.
He likened the message of the President to the "whitewashing" message
of President Pierce with regard to the enormities in Kansas. "That,"
said he, "is its parallel." Mr. Doolittle criticized the use of the
word "whitewashing," and asked Mr. Sumner to qualify it, but the
Massachusetts senator declared that he had "nothing to modify, nothing
to qualify, nothing to retract. In former days there was one Kansas
that suffered under a local power. There are now eleven Kansases
suffering as one: therefore, as eleven is more than one so is the
enormity of the present time more than the enormity of the days of
President Pierce." Later in the debate, Mr. Sumner indirectly
qualified his harsh words, saying that he had no reflection to make on
the patriotism or the truth of the President of the United States.
"Never in public or in private," said he, "have I made such reflection
and I do not begin now. When I spoke I spoke of the document that had
been read at the desk. I characterized it as I though I ought to
characterize it." The distinction he sought to make was not clearly
apparent, the only importance attaching to it being that Mr. Sumner had
not yet concluded that a bitter political