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tions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of the Government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.' In his first annual message to Congress, the same views are forcibly presented, and are again urged in his eighth

message.

"I repeat that the adoption of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution completes the greatest civil change and constitutes the most important event that has occurred since the nation came into life. The change will be beneficial in proportion to the heed that is given to the urgent recommendations of Washington. If these recommendations were important then, with a population of but a few millions, how much more important now, with a population of forty millions, and increasing in a rapid ratio.

"I would, therefore, call upon Congress to take all means within their constitutional powers to promote and encourage popular education throughout the country; and upon the people everywhere to see to it that all who possess and exercise political rights shall have the opportunity to acquire the knowledge which will make their share in the government a blessing and not a danger."

GRANT'S APPOINTMENTS OF COLORED MEN TO OFFICE.

An inquiry into the appointments of colored men to office under General Grant, gives results more satisfactory than I anticipated. No records, so far

as I learn, appear to be kept of the color of the appointees.

I can only ascertain facts by my own personal knowledge, and from the personal knowledge of others acquainted with the appointees. It is impossible for me to fix the exact number, but I find them in all Departments of the Civil Service. Two have been appointed foreign ministers; several collectors of customs; some assessors of Internal Revenue; and so on down through all the various grades of the service-as route agents, post-masters, clerks, messengers, etc., according to the intelligence of the applicants.

I should have been glad to have obtained the exact number of colored appointees. In one Department at Washington, I found 249, and many more. holding important positions in its service in different parts of the country. In other Departments, the facts ascertained were correspondingly gratifying, as as I pursued the inquiry (continues the writer), meeting some new man at every step, and left it satisfied, as I think any colored man would be, that there has been a hearty disposition to disregard all past prejudices, and treat us in the matter of appointments according to our merits. The appointments to West Point, as overcoming the army prejudices, are well known, and too significant to be overlooked. Indeed, I closed the inquiry thoroughly satisfied, and believe that any man of my race could be with the same facts before him, that, with General Grant at

the head of the Administration of the country, we are assured in due time, not only of all our rights, but of all our privileges.

GRANT TO THE CIVIL RIGHTS CONVENTION.

In view of the foregoing facts, the following excellent letter should be added:

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

WASHINGTON, D. C., May 9, 1872.

Gentlemen: I am in receipt of your invitation extended to me to attend a mass meeting to be held for the purpose of aiding in securing civil rights for the colored citizens of our country. Iegret that a previous engagement will detain me at the Executive Mansion, and that I shall not be able to participate with you in person in your efforts to further the cause in which you are laboring. I beg to assure you, however, that I sympathize most cordially in any effort to secure for all our people of whatever race, nativity, or color, the exercise of those rights to which every citizen should be entitled. I am, very respectfully,

U. S. GRANT.

Here the communication of the colored citizen ends. It is by no means exhaustive of the facts showing the absence from General Grant's mind of any sentiment except a kindly one for the negro race. His interference in behalf of the colored troops during the campaign before Richmond, for instance, had the effect to save thousands of them from being put to work by the Rebels like galley slaves upon the fortifications. Learning that colored soldiers were being used in this manner whenever captured by the Rebels, General Grant immediately issued orders for the employment of an equal number of Confederate prisoners upon the Dutch Gap canal. He of course notified General Lee of this retaliatory measure, and the notification

had the desired effect. It brought an order for the relief of the colored Union prisoners, and an explanatory letter from Lee to Grant, to which the following is Grant's reply:

HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED States,
October 29, 1864.

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"General: Understanding from your letter of the 19th, that the colored prisoners, who are employed at work in the trenches near Fort Gilmer, have been withdrawn, I have directed the withdrawal of the Confederate prisoners employed in the Dutch Gap canal.

"I shall always regret the necessity of retaliating for wrongs done our soldiers; but regard it my duty to protect all persons received into the army of the United States, regardless of color or nationality. When acknowledged soldiers of the Government are captured they must be treated as prisoners of war, or such treatment as they receive will be inflicted upon an equal number of prisoners held by us.

"I have nothing to do with the discussion of the slavery question; therefore decline answering the arguments adduced to show the right to return to former owners such negroes as are captured from our army.

"In answer to the question at the conclusion of your letter, I have to state that all prisoners of war falling into,my hands shall receive the kindest treatment possible, consistent with securing them, unless I have good authority for believing any number of our men are being treated otherwise. Then, painful as it may be to me, I shall inflict like treatment on an equal number of Confederate prisoners.

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Hoping that it may never become my duty to order retaliation upon any man held as a prisoner of war, I have the honer to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant General.”

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CHAPTER XVII.

THE SO-CALLED LIBERAL MOVEMENT.

How and When it Originated-The Grand Hobby-Attempt to Split the Republican Party in 1868-Trumbull's Backbone Stiffened-A Regular Siege-Approaching the Citadel by Parallels-Sumner's Grievance-His Ejection from the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee-A General Misunderstanding-How it Happened-The Civil Service Purists-The Bee in Trumbull's Bonnet-The Newspaper Ring-"We Four and No More:"

It is a great mistake to suppose that the schism created and engineered by a dozen individuals, and dignified by the name of the "Great Liberal Movement,” originated in any disaffection growing out of the administration of the government by President Grant. The movement had its origin before ever Grant was nominated for President by the Chicago Convention of 1868. Its germ was the theory of Free Trade, which so disturbed some of its more ardent advocates in the early Spring of 1868, that they would then have been very glad to disrupt the Republican party and scatter to the four winds the glorious record of that patriotic

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