He had no policy to impose upon the country against the popular will.

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.

He was deeply pained by the unjust attacks and groundless criticism of which he was the subject, but he accepted the adverse judgment of the Senate as a constitutional binding decision of the question, and of that decision he never…

I believe now, as I did then, that it was for the best interests of this country, for the people of Santo Domingo, and all concerned, that the proposition should be received favorably.

The people of the United States were embittered against the Government of Great Britain, and had General Grant chosen to seek redress by arms he would have been sustained throughout the North with substantial unanimity.

But General Grant was destitute of the war spirit, and he chose to exhaust all the powers of negotiation before he would advise a resort to force.

I would respect the rights of all nations, demanding equal respect for our own.

If others depart from this rule in their dealings with us, we may be compelled to follow their precedent.

These extracts from letters received previous to and during the crisis may lead to the conclusion that it is not safe to trust to persons engaged in large business and commercial transactions as guides for the administration of the…

Indeed, one may go still further, and say that it is not safe to trust the guidance of the Government in financial affairs to men whose life business it has been to convert information into gold.

The reference of the question at issue to the tribunal at Geneva was a conspicuous instance of the adjustment of a grave international dispute by peaceful methods.

He was so great that it was not a humiliation to acknowledge a change in opinion, or to admit an error in policy or purpose.

The spirit of philanthropy animated his politics, and the doctrines of peace controlled his public policy.

He was the possessor of an elastic spirit; he was always hopeful of the future and in adversity he saw or fancied that he saw, days of prosperity for himself, for his party, for the commonwealth and for the country.

His interest in the fortunes of the laboring classes was a permanent interest, and they are largely indebted to him for the passage of the eight-hour law by the Congress of the United States.

How sadly all our anticipations in regard to the war have failed us,--the insurrection of the blacks, the material deficiencies of the South, their want of men, and worst of all the friendship or the indifference of England.

We have now, or shall have by and by to do what we should have done at the start, rely upon ourselves and prepare for our work upon a scale proportionate to its magnitude.

I do not doubt in the slightest degree the success of the Government in the end, but it grieves me to see how slow we have been and still are in comprehension and preparation.

How many times I have spoken to you in the old Executive Chamber of the importance to the whole world of the possession of Mexico--and of the power it would infallibly give to this continent, as in Europe to those who possessed it.

This proposition, which would have been advantageous to the banks, in an increasing ratio as the value of money diminished, was defeated by the organized opposition of the banks through an effective lobby that was assembled in the city of…

He had weaknesses, and of some of them I may speak; but they do not qualify in any essential manner his claim to greatness in the particulars named.

A more effectual bar was in the reason on which the statutes rested, namely, that no man should be put in a situation to be a judge in his own cause.

Weed gave me information in regard to candidates for office in the State of New York, including their relations to the factions that existed--usually Seward and anti-Seward--and with as much fairness as he could have commanded if he had…

As to myself, I had never accepted the original decision as sound law under the Constitution, nor as a wise public policy, if there had been no Constitution.

My active radicalism had alienated the conservative Republicans.