rsation that the President was a
contractionist. His remark struck across us like a wet blanket."

The error of Fisk and Gould and their associates, from the beginning to
the end of the contest, was in the supposition that the President was
taking any part in the operations of the Treasury concerning the price
of gold. If he expressed any opinions outside in conversation, there
were no acts on his part in harmony with or in antagonism to the views
he entertained. As a matter of fact, with the exception of the letter
from the city of New York, he had no conference or correspondence with
me up to the 22d day of September, when I called upon him, and gave
him a statement of the price of gold in the city of New York, and of
the nature and character of the combination that existed there, as far
as it was understood by me. Their policy was directed to two points:
first, to influence the President, if possible, to interfere in a way
to advance the price of gold; and, second, to satisfy their adherents
and opponents that the President either had so interfered or would so
interfere.

Even Fisk and Gould may at a period of time have rested in the belief
that the President either had interfered or that he would interfere.
Their confidence was in Mr. A. R. Corbin, a brother-in-law of the
President, who, under the influence of various considerations, which
appear to have been personal and pecuniary to a very large extent, lent
himself to the task of influencing the President. As a matter of fact,
his attempts were very feeble and misdirected and of no consequence
whatever. Indeed, such is my opinion of the President, and such my
belief as to his opinion concerning Mr. Corbin, that nothing which Mr.
Corbin did say, or could have said, did have or could have had the
least influence upon the President's opinion or conduct. It is,
however, also true that Fisk and Gould employed Corbin and gave him
consideration in their undertakings out of which he realized some
money. I received information, also, which may not have been true,
that they suggested to him that he might become president of the Tenth
National Bank, which had a very conspicuous part in the events which
culminated in Black Friday.

An attempt to strengthen the impression that it was the purpose of the
President to prevent the sale of gold was made through an article
prepared by Mr. Corbin, probably under the direction of Mr. Gould and
others, which appeared finall