ioner
of Internal Revenue now, I know he would decline it, so I will not
appoint him."

And in this he was quite right. I would have declined the office,
not because I was offended at him, but because I would not accept
that or any other appointive office.

Not being quite certain that my memory served me correctly in
reference to this incident, I took occasion to ask Colonel Bluford
Wilson, who had called on me at Washington, to give me the facts,
which he later did in a long letter that sets forth the facts
somewhat more elaborately than I have given them, but presenting
the incident in an identical light.

While I would not say that General Grant was a failure as President,
certain it is that he added nothing to his great fame as a soldier.
Indeed, in the opinion of very many people, who were his friends
and well-wishers, when he retired from the White House he had
detracted rather than added to his name. It would probably have
been better if General Grant had been content with his military
success, and had entered neither politics nor business.

General Grant was one of the greatest soldiers of modern times;
indeed, if not of all time. Standing as he does the peer of
Frederick, Napoleon, Wellington, the time will come when the very
fact that he was President of the United States will be forgotten,
while he will be remembered only as one of the world's great
captains.

The last time I saw the General was about a month before he died.
I was in New York, with the select Committee on Interstate Commerce,
and on Sunday morning we learned that General Grant, General Arthur,
and ex-President Hayes were all in town, and that Grant and Arthur
were ill. We determined to call on each of them.

We first called on General Grant at his home, and found that his
son, General Frederick D. Grant, was with him. To him we sent our
cards and asked to see his father. He said he would ascertain,
and he came back directly and said that his father would be glad
to see us, but cautioned us not to permit him to talk too much, as
the trouble was in his throat. We went in and took seats for a
moment. He greeted us all very cordially, and seemed to be specially
interested in meeting Secretary Gorman. He wanted to talk, and
did talk so rapidly and so incessantly that, fearing it was injuring
him, we arose from our seats and told him that we had called simply
to pay our respects, and expressed our gratification that he was
so we