nce
of the country, and passed the homestead laws, are on that
side, and in general they give and will hereafter give direction
to its counsels. On the other hand their antagonist has been,
is, and for an indefinite time to come will be, controlled
by the foreign population and the criminal classes of our
great cities, by Tammany Hall, and by the leaders of the solid
South.

I entered the House of Representatives of the United States
at the spring session which began March 4, 1869, at the beginning
of Grant's Administration. It then contained a very interesting
and important group of men, the most brilliant and conspicuous
of whom was, undoubtedly, Mr. James G. Blaine. The public,
friends and foes, judged of him by a few striking and picturesque
qualities. There has probably never been a man in our history
upon whom so few people looked with indifference. He was
born to be loved or hated. Nobody occupied a middle ground
as to him. In addition to the striking qualities which caught
the public eye, he was a man of profound knowledge of our
political history, of a sure literary taste, and of great
capacity as an orator. He studied and worked out for himself
very abstruse questions, on which he formed his own opinions,
usually with great sagacity. How far he was affected in his
position by the desire for public favor I will not undertake
to say. I think the constitution of his mind was such that
matters were apt to strike him in much the same way as they
were apt to strike the majority of the people of the North,
especially of the Northwest, where he was always exceedingly
popular. He maintained very friendly personal relations with
some of the more intelligent Southerners, especially with
Lamar. One incident in his relations with Butler was intensely
amusing. They were never on very friendly terms, though each
of them found it wise not to break with the other. When Blaine
was a candidate for Speaker, to which office he was chosen
in the spring session of 1869, his principal competitor was
Henry L. Dawes. Dawes's chances were considered excellent
until Butler, who had great influence with the Southern Republican
members of the House, declared himself for Blaine. Butler
was exceedingly anxious to be Chairman of the Committee of
Appropriations. This would have been an offence in the nostrils
of a large portion of the Republican Party. Mr. Dawes, learning
Butler's proposed defection, was beforehand with