ject was thus undisposed of, I received a
message from the President which ended with a request that I should
accompany him to the Capitol. On the way he informed me that he
doubted the wisdom of a message and that he intended to so inform those
to whom he had given encouragement. At the interview which followed
several members who were present urged adherence to the original policy.
While the discussion was going on, the President returned to his
original opinion and wrote a message which was transmitted to the
Congress after one or two verbal changes that may have been suggested by
Secretary Fish or Secretary Robeson.

General Grant's sense of justice was exact and he did not spare himself
in his criticism. He said to me in conversation, what is indicated in
his Memoirs, that he assumed some responsibility upon himself for the
removal of General Warren at Five Forks. He had known that General
Warren was disqualified by natural defects from command in the field,
and hence that it was an error on his part that he had not assigned
Warren to duty at a station.

Again he said to me that his final campaign against Vicksburg was the
only one of his campaigns that he could not criticise adversely when
tested by reflection and experience.

During my term of service an appointment of some importance was made by
the collector of New York. The appointment was approved by me. In the
meantime some opponents of the appointee approached the President. Upon
his suggestion the appointment was suspended. After a delay I received
a letter from the President dated June 28th, 1869, in which he says:
"If it should still be the pleasure of Mr. Grinnell to confer the
appointment before tendered, let it be so, so far as I am concerned.
I am not willing knowingly to do anyone injustice as I now am led to
believe I may have done in the case of General Egan."

In the month of December, 1884, there were paragraphs in the newspapers
which justified the apprehension that General Grant was suffering from
a cancer. In the late days of the month, I called upon him at his
house in New York. He was then in good health, apparently. I found
him in his library engaged in the preparation of articles for the
_Century Magazine_. In the days of our more intimate acquaintance he
had said to me that it was his purpose to leave the history of his
campaigns to others. He referred to that remark and said that his
financial embarrassments had forced