The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1885-09-02
GRANT AND SUMNER.
p-~-~ the Ill-FeeIing, Originating i'm a Misun-
ESAa -derstanding. Was Intensified.
TBen Percy Poore in the Boston Budget


ben Percy Poore in the Boston Budget
WGeneral Grants difficulty with Mr.. SUM
ner began when the President Iii not con-
suit the Senator about the formation of his
Cabinet. The breach was gradually widened,
and in. time the Senator became completely
eStranged from his old friend and associate
in the Senate, Secretary Fish. When Mr.
Motley was removed from the English mis-
sion he insisted upon regarding it as per-
sonal insult which he sought to repay by his
opposition 10 the acquisition of san Dom
lingo. General Grant endeavored to appease
the offended Senator, and on the evening of
the day on which the San Domingo treaty
was sent TO the Senate he called at Mr. SUM
Ier's house,
General Grant found the Senator at his
dinner table with Colonel FOrney and the
writer, and was invited to take seat with
them. After some preliminary conversation
General Grant began to talk about san Do
mingo but he did not have the treaty or any
memorandum of it with him. He dwelt
especially upon the expenditures of General
BabcOck at San Domingo of Il large sum
taken from a secret service fund for pronOt-
ing intercourse with tine West India Islands.
of which Mr.. Seward, when Secretary of
state, had prevailed on Representative Thad
stevens to have inserted in an appropriation
bill during the war, and the President inn
pressed Mr.. Sumner with the idea that he
feared an attack in Congress on the way much
OF that money had teen spent.
Mr. Sumner unuuestiOnably thought that
General Grant had come to enlist his services
in defending the expenditure of General
BabcOck OF 100000 in cash and so, 900 i'm a
light battery purchased nj New York. The
President meant. rs Colonel FOrnev and the
writer thought. the treaty for the acquisition
Of the Dominican Republic. The President
and the Senator misunderstood each
other. After while General Grant
promised to send General Babeock 10
call on the Senator the next day with copies
of the papers and left. AS Mr.. Sumner es-
corted him TO the door he told him that he
was Republican, and supported by Il Re
publican administration, and that he should
sustain the administration in its course if he
possibly could after he had examined The
papers. He meant the expenditure of Bah
cock, but the President meant the treaty
The next morning General Babcock called
on Senator Sumner with copy of the treaty,
which ne began to read, but he had not got
ten beyond the preamble, in which Babcock
was styled ''aid-de-camp of his Excellency,
General L. ;. Grant, before Mr.. Sumner
showed signs of disappointment. When
General Babcock proceeded and read the
stipulation that Ills Excellency General
Grant, President OF the United States prom
ises perfectly to use all his influence in or
der that the idea of annexing the Dominican
Republic to the United States may acquire
such degree of popularity among the
members of Congress rs will he necessary
for its accomplishment Senator Sumner
became the enemy of the whole scheme.
He did not believe that the President
of the United States should be made
lobbyist to bring about annexation by Con-
greSs. Some of Mr.. Summers friends used
To tell him that he should have gone ut
once to General Grant and have told him
that he should oppose the treaty, and that
he had declared his hostility to it to General
liabcock in unmistaken terms.
This was the time when well-meaning
friends of both OF these great men might have
secured satisfactory mutual explanation al
though no living power could have made
senator Sumner supporter of the acquisition
Of the port of Samanai in San Domingo. In
the Senate sycoPhants who carried water
on both shoulders" and men who always de-
! light in fornenting quarrels embittered Mr..
Summer against the President. One had
served his country we'll i'm the camp. while
the other had performed equally invaluable
services in the Senate; one was a statesman,
the other was a soldier What did not
appear to be wrong TO the General, the Sem
atOr regarded ~ criminal. Conscious OF the
value of his services in saving the Union.
General Grant accepted with gratitude the
voluntary offerings of grateful citizens; but
Senator sumner. who had seen too
much of political life and of politicians,
knew too we'll that those who make gifts to
public men expect favor in return. and that
every public man should be inhexibly OPP
posed to the reception OF presents. Remarks
by him about the President and remarks by
the President about him were carried TO and
fro by mischief-makers like the shuttle of
loom, and he found himself placed az the
head of clique of disappointed Republicans
who were determined to prevent. il possible,
the reelection OF General Grant to the Presi-
dency.
Henry Wilson, then Vice President of the
limited States QudQavOrpI IN restore bar-
mony, and said in letter to General Grant:
"Ioar administration is menaced by great
opposition, and 1t needs possess q unity