independent organization, _in the name of
Heaven let us raise our voice for it!_ Shall this earnest cry for
peace be stifled at the bidding of a host of fanatical and cowardly
editors, aided by an army of greedy contractors and public leeches,
stimulating an ignorant mob to denounce and attack us as traitors and
secessionists?" . . .

"You and I are citizens of Delaware. _To her laws and government we
owe allegiance. Through our state we owe allegiance to the Federal
Government_, of which she is a member. But as State officials can
command us to no duty unknown to State laws, neither can a Federal
officer claim any authority over us in matters not within his
constitutional and legal control. _A palpable infraction of our
written charter of government_ by our rulers, justifies disobedience
upon the part of a citizen as much as lawful orders are entitled to
loyal compliance."

{But who, as Mr. Webster had asked Mr. Hayne thirty years before, was
to judge of "the palpable infraction of our written charter of
government?" Was it the Judicial department of that government? Or
was it Mr. Bayard and his disloyal associates in Delaware to whom he
was addressing words of hostility to the National Administration and
of infidelity to the Union of the States? It is significant that Mr.
Bayard acknowledged allegiance to the National Government _only as he
owed it through the State_. This was the rank heresy upon which the
leaders of the Southern rebellion sought their justification.}]

[(2) The full text of the Amendment to the Tenure-of-office Act will be
found in Appendix B.]

CHAPTER XIX.

The chief interest in the events of General Grant's first term was
divided between questions of a diplomatic character and those arising
from the condition of the South after Reconstruction had been
completed. The first issue that enlisted popular attention was in
regard to the annexation of the Dominican Republic. It was the
earliest decisive step of General Grant's policy that attracted the
observation of the people. The negotiation was opened on the request
of the authorities of San Domingo, and it began about three months
after the President's inauguration. In July General O. E. Babcock, one
of the President's private secretaries, was dispatched to San Domingo
upon an errand of which the public knew nothing. He bore a letter of
introduction from Secretary Fish, apparently limiting the mission to an
inquiry into the c