this bill, sending a sound and manly message to
the House of Representatives; but Congress passed it over his veto by a
decided majority.

The regard for John Sherman's ability in Ohio was unbounded, and it was
generally supposed that in all financial affairs, as well as in many
others, he dominated Hayes. I shared that opinion until I learned
indirectly from John Hay, who was first assistant Secretary of State and
intimate in inner administration circles, that this was not true; that
Hayes had decided opinions of his own and did not hesitate to differ
with his Secretary of the Treasury. Nevertheless, not until John
Sherman's "Recollections" were published was it generally known, I
believe, that Sherman had a share in the Allison compromise, and did not
approve of the President's veto of the bill remonetizing silver.

The Federal control of congressional and presidential elections, being a
part of the Reconstruction legislation, was obnoxious to the Democrats,
and they attempted to abrogate it by "riders" attached to several
appropriation bills, especially that providing for the army. While the
Senate remained Republican, there was chance for an accommodation
between the President and the Senate on one side and the House on the
other. Two useful compromises were made, the Democrats yielding in one
case, the Republicans in the other. But in 1879, when both the House and
the Senate were Democratic, a sharp contest began between Congress and
the executive, the history of which is written in seven veto messages.
For lack of appropriations to carry on the government, the President
called an extra session of Congress in the first year of his
administration and another in 1879, which was a remarkable record of
extra sessions in a time of peace. The Democratic House passed a
resolution for the appointment of a committee to investigate Hayes's
title and aroused some alarm lest an effort might be made "to oust
President Hayes and inaugurate Tilden." Although this alarm was stilled
less than a month later by a decisive vote of the House, the action and
investigation were somewhat disquieting.

Thus Hayes encountered sharp opposition from the Democrats, who
frequently pointed their arguments by declaring that he held his place
by means of fraud. He received sympathy from hardly any of the leaders
of his own party in Congress, and met with open condemnation from the
Stalwarts; yet he pursued his course with steadiness and equanim