General Grant sustained the policy of Congress during the long and bitter contest with President Johnson, and when he became President he accepted that policy without reserve in the case of the restoration of the States of Virginia, Georgia, Texas, and Mississippi. Upon this statement it appears that General Grant was a Republican, and that he became a Republican by processes that preclude the suggestion that his nomination for the Presidency wrought any change in his position upon questions of principle or policy in the affairs of government. Indeed, his nomination in 1868 was distasteful to him, as he then preferred to remain at the head of the army. It was in the nature of things, however, that he should have wished for re-election. He was re- elected, and at the end of his second term he accepted a return to private life as a relief from the cares and duties of office. The support which he received for the nomination in 1880 was not due to any effort on his part. Not even to his warmest supporters did he express a wish, or dictate or advise an act. His only utterance was a message to four of his friends at the Chicago Convention, that whatever they might do in the premises would be acceptable to him. His political career was marked by the same abstention from personal effort for personal advancement that distinguished him as an officer of the army. But he did not bring into civil affairs the habits of command that were the necessity of military life. Although by virtue of his position he was the recognized head of the Republican Party, he made no effort to control its action. Wherever he placed power, there he reposed trust. There was not in General Grant's nature any element of suspicion, and his confidence in his friends was free and full. Hence it happened that he had many occasions for regret. On no man in public life in this generation were there more frequent charges and insinuations of wrong-doing, and in this generation there has been no man in public life who was freer from all occasion for such insinuations and charges. When he heard that the Treasury Department was purchasing bullion of a company in which he was a stockholder, he sold his shares without delay, and without reference to the market price or to their real value. General Grant had no disposition to usurp power. He had no policy to impose upon the country against the popular will. This was shown in the treatment of the Santo Domingo question. General Grant was not indisposed to see the territories of the Republic extended, but his love of justice and fair dealing was such that he would have used only honorable means in his intercourse with other nations. Santo Domingo was a free offering, and he thought that its possession would be advantageous to the country.