se, or in securing recruits for the Administration from the ranks
of his fellow Republicans. To fail in that was to fail in every thing.
That he made a clever speech was not denied, for every intellectual
effort of Mr. Raymond exhibited cleverness. That he made the most of
a weak cause, and to some extent influenced public opinion, must also
be freely conceded. But his most partial friends were compelled to
admit that he had absolutely failed to influence Republican action in
Congress, and had only succeeded in making himself an apparent ally
of the Democratic party--a position in every way unwelcome and
distasteful to Mr. Raymond. His closing speech was marked by many
pointed interruptions from Mr. Shellabarger and was answered at some
length by Mr. Stevens. But nothing, beyond a few keen thrusts and
parries and some sharp wit at Mr. Raymond's expense, was added to the
debate.

Mr. Raymond never rallied from the defeat of January 9th. His talents
were acknowledged; his courteous manners, his wide intelligence, his
generous hospitality, gave him a large popularity; but his alliance
with President Johnson was fatal to his political fortunes. He had
placed himself in a position from which he could not with grace
retreat, and to go forward in which was still further to blight his
hopes of promotion in his party. It was an extremely mortifying fact
to Mr. Raymond that with the power of the Administration behind him
he could on a test question secure the support of only one Republican
member, and he a colleague who was bound to him by ties of personal
friendship.

The fate which befell Mr. Raymond, apart from the essential weakness
of the issue on which he staked his success, is not uncommon to men
who enter Congress with great reputation already attained. So much is
expected of them that their efforts on the floor are almost sure to
fall below the standard set up for them by their hearers. By natural
re-action the receive, in consequence, less credit than is their due.
Except in a few marked instances the House has always been led by men
whose reputation has been acquired in its service. Entering
unheralded, free from the requirements which expectation imposes, a
clever man is sure to receive more credit than is really his due when
his is so fortunate as to arrest the attention of members in his first
speech. Thenceforward, if he be discreet enough to move slowly and
modestly, he acquires a secure standing and