"I may have erred in not carrying out Mr. Blair's request by putting into my Cabinet Morton, Andrew, and Greeley. I do not say I should have done so had I my career to go over again, for it would have been hard to have put out Seward and Welles, who had served satisfactorily under the greatest man of all. Morton would have been a tower of strength, however, and so would Andrew. No senator would have dared to vote for impeachment with those two men in my Cabinet. Grant was untrue. He meant well for the first two years, and much that I did that was denounced was through his advice. He was the strongest man of all in the support of my policy for a long while and did the best he could for nearly two years in strengthening my hands against the adversaries of constitutional government. But Grant saw the radical handwriting on the wall and heeded it. I did not see it, or, if seeing it, did not heed it. Grant did the proper thing to save Grant, but it pretty nearly ruined me. I might have done the same thing under the same circumstances. At any rate, most men would.... Grant had come out of the war the greatest of all. It is true that the rebels were on their last legs and that the Southern ports were pretty effectually blockaded, and that Grant was furnished with all the men that were needed, or could be spared, after he took command of the Army of the Potomac. But Grant helped more than any one else to bring about this condition. His great victories at Donelson, Vicksburg, and Missionary Ridge all contributed to Appomattox." (_Century Magazine_, January, 1913.) [104] Rhodes, _History of the United States_, VI, 104. [105] McPherson, _Reconstruction_, p. 307. [106] _Diary of Gideon Welles_, III, 335. [107] _Diary of Gideon Welles_, III, 355. [108] _Diary of Gideon Welles_, III, 358. [109] This fact is mentioned in Dunning's _Reconstruction_, p. 107, on the authority of ex-senator Henderson. The latter verbally made the same statement to me. [110] _Century Magazine_, January, 1913. [111] _History of the United States_, VI, 156. [112] _Cong. Globe_, 1869, p. 113. CHAPTER XXI THE McCARDLE CASE--GRANT'S CABINET--THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT