appointment; but his provision was struck out and the grade was left
open for General Sherman. It was then abolished, leaving to Sheridan
the command of the Army as Lieutenant-General (after the retirement of
General Sherman), and to his successor with the rank of Major-General,
--thus ultimately establishing the command as it had existed before the
war. The Act under which General Grant received his highest rank
authorized the President "whenever he shall deem it expedient, to
appoint a General of the Army of the United States." This Act passed
July 25, 1866, and General Grant was immediately promoted. A year and
a half later, when General Grant had broken all personal relations with
President Johnson, there is little doubt that the latter would have
interposed his discretion and failed to "deem it expedient to appoint
a General of the Army of the United States." Fortunately his
disposition at the time was friendly to General Grant, and led him to
do with gladness what the loyal people so unanimously desired for the
first soldier of the Nation.

The Forty-first Congress was the second to organize under the new law
--March 4th 1869.(1) In the House James G. Blaine of Maine was elected
Speaker, receiving 135 votes to 57 cast for Michael C. Kerr of Indiana.
Of the two hundred and forty-three representatives on the roll, only
ninety-eight had served in the preceding Congress. Among the one
hundred and forty-five new members were some men who afterwards became
widely and favorably known to the country.

--William A. Wheeler, who had been a member of the Thirty-seventh
Congress, now returned from his native district, the most northerly of
New York. He possessed admirable traits for a legislator; being a
conscientious worker, intelligent in the business of the House, and
implicitly trusted by his fellow-members. He was a lawyer and a man of
affairs,--engaged at one time in banking, and for many years president
of an important railroad company. He was well trained for legislative
duty,--having served with distinction in both branches of the New-York
Legislature and having been a member of the State Constitutional
Convention of 1867. Not prominent as a debater, he yet spoke with
directness and fluency, and was always listened to by the House. In
all respects he was an admirable representative, watchfully caring
for the public interests.

--His Democratic colleague, Clarkson Nott Potter, from the Westchester
distr