veto it. With the
Republican National Convention directly ahead he is bound to veto it. It
must not be allowed to get to him; and you are the man to stop it. They
will listen to you and will not listen to me."

First of all, I went to the White House.

"Mr. President," I said, "I want you to authorize me to tell Curtin and
Slocum not to send the Fitz-John Porter bill to you."

"Why?" he answered.

"Because," said I, "you will have to veto it; and, with the
Frelinghuysens wild for it, as well as others of your nearest friends, I
am sure you don't want to be obliged to do that. With your word to me I
can stop it, and have it for the present at least held up."

His answer was, "Go ahead."

Then I went to the Capitol. Curtin and Slocum were in a state of mind.
It was hard to make them understand or believe what I told them.

"Now, gentlemen," I continued, "I don't mean to argue the case. It is
not debatable. I am just from the White House, and I am authorized by
the President to say that if you send this bill to him he will veto it."

That, of course, settled it. They held it up. But after the presidential
election it reached Arthur, and he did veto it. Not till Cleveland came
in did Porter obtain his restoration.

Curiously enough General Grant approved this. I had listened to the
debate in the House--especially the masterly speech of William Walter
Phelps--without attaining a clear understanding of the many points at
issue. I said as much to General Grant.

"Why," he replied, "the case is as simple as A, B, C. Let me show you."

Then, with a pencil he traced the Second Bull Run battlefield, the
location of troops, both Federal and Confederate, and the exact passage
in the action which had compromised General Porter.

"If Porter had done what he was ordered to do," he went on, "Pope and
his army would have been annihilated. In point of fact Porter saved
Pope's Army." Then he paused and added: "I did not at the outset know
this. I was for a time of a different opinion and on the other side. It
was Longstreet's testimony--which had not been before the first Court of
Inquiry that convicted Porter--which vindicated him and convinced me."

Chapter the Tenth

Of Liars and Lying--Woman Suffrage and Feminism--The Professional
Female--Parties, Politics, and Politicians in America

I

All is fair in love and war, the saying hath it. "Lord!" cried the most
delightful of liars, "How this world i