senator from
Massachusetts refused to hold personal intercourse with the Secretary
of State."

--Mr. Schurz, sitting near Mr. Sumner, immediately answered for that
senator that "he had not refused to enter into any official relations,
either with the President of the United States or with the Secretary
of State; and that upon inquiry being made of him, Mr. Sumner had
answered that he would receive Mr. Fish as an old friend, and would
not only be willing but would be glad to transact such matters and to
discuss such questions as might come up for consideration." And Mr.
Sumner added: "_In his own house_."

--Mr. Wilson, the colleague of Mr. Sumner, spoke with great earnestness
against the wrong contemplated by the act: "Sir," said he, "we saw
Stephen A. Douglas, on this floor, at the bidding of Mr. Buchanan's
administration, in obedience to the demands of the slave-holding
leaders and the all-conquering slave power, put down, disrated, from
his committee. We saw seeds then sown that blossomed and bore bitter
fruit at Charleston in 1860. Now we propose to try a similar
experiment. I hope and trust in God that we shall not witness similar
results. I love justice and fair play, and I think I know enough of
the American people to know that ninety-nine hundredths of the men who
elected this administration in 1868 will disapprove this act." Mr.
Trumbull, Mr. Logan and Mr. Tipton were the only Republican senators
who joined with Mr. Wilson in openly deprecating the decree of the
party caucus.

--Mr. Edmunds, who was one of the active promoters of Mr. Sumner's
deposition, declared that the question was "whether the Senate of the
United States and the Republican party are quite ready to sacrifice
their sense of duty to the whims of one single man, whether he comes
from New England, or from Missouri, or from Illinois, or from anywhere
else." He described the transaction as a business affair of changing
a member from one committee to another for the convenience of the
Senate, and said: "When I hear my friend from Massachusetts [Mr.
Wilson] and the senator from Missouri [Mr. Schurz] making these
displays about a mere matter of ordinary convenience, it reminds me
of the nursery story of the children who thought the sky was going to
fall, and it turned out in the end that it was only a rose-leaf that
had fallen from a bush to the ground."

--Senator Sherman defended the right of the caucus to make the
decision. "Whenever