with upon wise and simple principles which have
commanded general assent and in the main have resulted in
doing full justice both to the Government and to the claimant.

A disputed title to the Executive power which threatened
to bring on another civil war, and which would not have been
settled without bloodshed in any other country, has been peacefully
and quietly disposed of by the simple mechanism devised for
the occasion and by the enactment of a rule which will protect
the country against a like danger in the future.

With all these matters I have had something to do.

As to some of them my part has been a very humble one. As
to others I have had a part of considerable prominence. As
to all I have had full and intimate knowledge at the time
and have been in the intimate counsel of the men who were
responsible for the result.

Beside all these things there has been during a large part
of my public service, especially the part immediately following
the Civil War, a battle to maintain the purity of elections
and the purity of administration and government expenditure
against corruption. The attempt to get possession of the
forces of the Government for corrupt purposes assumed its
most dangerous form and had its most unscrupulous and dangerous
leader in Massachusetts. It was my fortune to have a good
deal to do with maintaining the ancient honor of the Commonwealth
and defending and vindicating the purity of her political
organization.

Upon all these matters I formed my opinions carefully in the
beginning. I have adhered to those opinions, and acted on
them throughout. I formed them in many cases when they were
shared by a few persons only. But they have made their way,
and prevail. They are the opinions upon which the majority
of the American people have acted, and the reasons which have
controlled that action, seem to me now, in looking backward,
to have been good reasons. I have no regret, and no desire
to blot out anything I have said or done, or to change any
vote I have given.

The duties of a Representative and Senator demand a large
correspondence. I have had always the aid of intelligent and
competent secretaries. Disposing of the day's mail, even
with such aid, is not infrequently a hard day's work, especially
for a man past three score and ten.

Political campaigns in Massachusetts with its small territory
and compact population are easy as compared with most of the
other States. B