d his action.

I had another exceedingly interesting conversation with the
President on my return from New Orleans. In the winter of
1875 I went to New Orleans, as Chairman of a Committee of
the House of Representatives, to investigate and to ascertain
which of the rival State governments had the true title. Louisiana
was in a terrible condition. Sheridan was in command of the
United States troops there, and it was only their presence
that prevented an armed and bloody revolution. The old rebel
element, as it was, had committed crimes against the freedmen
and the white Republicans which make one of the foulest and
bloodiest chapters in all history. Sheridan had much offended
the white people there by his vigorous enforcement of laws,
and especially by a letter in which he had spoken of them
as banditti. I stopped, during my stay in New Orleans, at
the St. Charles Hotel, where Sheridan also was a guest. When
he came into the crowded breakfast-room every morning, there
were loud hisses and groans from nearly the whole assembled
company. The morning papers teemed with abusive articles.
The guests would take these papers, underscore some specially
savage attack, and tell the waiter to take it to General Sheridan
as he sat at table at his breakfast. The General would glance
at it with an unruffled face, and bow and smile toward the
sender of the article. The whole thing made little impression
on him. No violence toward him personally was ventured upon.
The night before I started on my return to Washington, General
Sheridan called to take leave. I was much amused by the simplicity
and _naivete_ with which he discussed the situation. He
said, among other things: "What you want to do, Mr. Hoar,
when you get back to Washington, is to suspend the what-
do-you-call-it." He meant, of course, the _habeas corpus._
He knew there was some very uncomfortable thing which stood
in his way of promptly suppressing the crimes in Louisiana,
where he said more men had been murdered for their political
opinions than were slain in the Mexican War. When I got back
to Washington, the President sent for me and Mr. Frye of
Maine, a member of the committee, to come to the President's
room in the Capitol to report to him the result of our observations.
During the conversation, Grant expressed what he had often
expressed on other occasions, his great admiration for Sheridan.
He said: "I believe General Sheridan has no superior as a