ined the opinion that the decision operated as a limitation of
the constitutional powers of Congress and that its full and final
recognition might prove injurious to the country whenever all its
resources should be required. At the time of the reversal, the Chief
Justice did not conceal his dissatisfaction with his life and labors
on the bench, and at the interview last mentioned he said that he
should be glad to exchange positions with me, if it were possible to
make the exchange.

Various reasons have been assigned for the step which was taken by
President Grant in asking Judge Hoar to retire from the Cabinet. Some
have assumed that the President was no longer willing to tolerate the
presence of two members from the same State. That consideration had
been passed upon by the President at the outset, and he had overruled
it or set it aside. In my interview with Mr. Washburne the Sunday
before my nomination, I had said to him that Judge Hoar and I were not
only from the same State, but that we were residents of the same
county, and within twenty miles of each other. Moreover, any public
dissatisfaction which had existed at the beginning had disappeared.
In the meantime the President had become attached to Judge Hoar. Nor
is there any justifying foundation for the conjecture that a vacancy
was created for the purpose of giving a place in the Cabinet to another
person, or to another section of the country. General Grant's
attachment to his friends was near to a weakness, and the suggestion
that he sacrificed Judge Hoar to the low purpose of giving a place to
some other person is far away from any true view of his character.

Judge Hoar had had no administrative experience on the political side
of the government, and he underestimated the claims, and he undervalued
the rights, of members of Congress. As individuals the members of
Congress are of the Government, and in a final test the two Houses may
become the Government. More than elsewhere the seat of power is in the
Senate, and the Senate and Senators are careful to exact a recognition
of their rights. They claim, what from the beginning they have
enjoyed, the right to be heard by the President and the heads of
departments in their respective States. They do not claim to speak
authoritatively, but as members of the Government having a right to
advise, and under a certain responsibility to the people for what may
be done.

It was claimed by Senators that the