mprehended their effects. Of New England in its Provincial
period he could narrate "the rise of religious sects, the manners of
successive generations, the revolutions in dress, in furniture, in
repasts, in public amusements," even more accurately than Macaulay
presented the same features of the same time in Old England. Mr. Hoar
has studied the era with a devout enthusiasm for the character of the
people,--a people from whom he is proud to claim his own descent, and
whose positive virtues (even with the spice of acridness which
distinguished them) are faithfully reproduced in his own person.

In truth Mr. Hoar is a Puritan, modified by the religious progress of
two centuries, but still a Puritan--in manners, in morals, in deep
earnestness, in untiring energy. He is independent without
self-assertion, courageous without bravado, conscientious without
Pharisaism. In intellectual power, amply developed and thoroughly
trained, in force as a debater, both forensic and Parliamentary, Mr.
Hoar is entitled to high rank. And his rank will steadily increase,
for his mind is of that type which broadens and strengthens by conflict
in the arena of discussion.

There was a feeling common to both sides of the House that a new
political era had begun with the inauguration of President Grant.
Perhaps no one could have accurately defined what was expected, but
every one knew that the peculiar conflicts and troubles which had
distinguished the years of Mr. Johnson's administration would not be
repeated. General Grant's tendencies were liberal and non-partisan,
though he recognized an honorable allegiance to the Republican party,
which had placed him in power. Many of his personal friends were among
the Democrats, and the first few months of his administration promised
peace and harmony throughout the country. General Grant had never
engaged in a partisan contention, had cast no vote since the outbreak
of the war, and was therefore free from the exasperating influence of
political controversy. The Democratic members of the House shared
fully in the kindly feeling towards the new President. They were in
a minority, but among them was a large proportion of able men--men of
experience and great skill in debate. It is seldom that the opposition
party has such a list of champions as appeared on the Democratic side
of the House in the Forty-first Congress. Beck of Kentucky, Randall
and Woodward of Pennsylvania, Marshall of Illinois