ic character I entertained the opinion
I had so often publicly expressed. Accordingly I declined
to accept the office of President. My place was filled by
Joseph H. Choate, who discharged the duty, of course, very
much better than I could have done it.

Mr. James F. Rhodes in his able and most impartial history
of the United States, speaking of the events of the summer
of 1864 and the disintegrating and discouraging condition
of the Army of the Potomac, says:

"Circumstances seemed to indicate the bitterness of disappointment
at the failure of the high hopes and expectations which filled
the soul of Grant when he crossed the Rapidan. It was commonly
believed in the Army that his misfortune had driven him again
to drink, and on this account and others Butler with crafty
method acquired a hold on him which prevented him from acting
for the best interests of the service. It is not a grateful
task to relate the story of Butler using Grant as a tool to
accomplish his own ends. The picture of such a relation between
the two is repulsive, but it may be fraught with instruction
as men of the type of Butler are never absent from our political
life."*

[Footnote]
* Rhodes, "History," Vol. 4, p. 493.
[End of Footnote]

"Butler had some hold on the Commander of the Armies of the
United States and in the interview of July 9th showed his
hand."*

[Footnote]
* Rhodes, Ibid., Vol. 4, p.495.
[End of Footnote]

I do not suppose the secret of the hold which General Butler
had upon General Grant will ever be disclosed. Butler boasted
in the lobby of the House of Representatives that Grant would
not dare to refuse any request of his because he had in his
possession affidavits by which he could prove that Grant had
been drunk on seven different occasions. This statement was
repeated to Grant by a member of the House who told me of
the conversation. Grant replied without manifesting any indignation,
or belief or disbelief in the story: "I have refused his requests
several times." In the case of almost any other person than
President Grant such an answer would have been a confession
of the charge. But it ought not to be so taken in his case.
Unless he desired to take into his full confidence the person
who was speaking to him he was in the habit of receiving most
important communications with entire silence or with some
simple sentence which indicated his purpose to drop the subject.
My own belief is that at some time d