to promote the comfort of his
party, and to enable its members to see whatever was most worth seeing.

The recipient of all this flattering attention bore himself with a
simple dignity that won the respect of the high and the low alike. He
was neither awed nor abashed among the great, nor was he haughty or
presuming among the common people. The nation at home followed his
progress with pride and gratification. When he landed in San Francisco,
he was welcomed as a favorite who had achieved new distinction for
himself and his land, and his leisurely way across the continent was
marked by a series of ovations all the way to New York. To complete his
itinerary, he soon made a tour of the West Indies and of Mexico,
visiting the scenes where he had won his first laurels, as Lieutenant
Grant, thirty years before. He was honored as the warrior whose
victories, besides uniting and exalting his native land, had delivered
Mexico from the imposition of an alien imperialism.

Unfortunately, this revived popularity of General Grant was taken
advantage of by a faction of the Republican party to urge again his
reelection to the presidency. New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois were
committed to his support by the influence of their powerful Republican
leaders; but not unanimously. The movement is supposed to have been
undertaken without consultation with Grant; but he did nothing to
discourage it, and to this extent he consented to it. The attempt
failed. Prudent people had no mind to have their hero's good name again
made opprobrious by fresh scandals, which they could not but dread.

CHAPTER XIX

REVERSES OF FORTUNE--ILL HEALTH--HIS LAST VICTORY--THE END

General Grant now made his home in the city of New York. He was not
wealthy, and he desired to be. The only persons he seemed to envy, and
particularly to court, were those who had great possessions. He coveted
a fortune that should place his family beyond any chance of poverty.
This weakness was his undoing. He became the private partner of an
unscrupulous schemer and robber, and intrusted to him all that he had,
and more, to be adventured in speculation. His name was dishonored in
Wall Street by association with a scoundrel whom prudent financiers
distrusted and shunned. He was warned, but would not heed the warnings.
The charitable view is that he was deceived by repayments which he was
told were profits. On May 6, 1884, a crisis came and Grant was ruined.

He gave u