GRANT, HAYES, AND GARFIELD- 1871-1881 189 



at Cornell. I had then been most favorably impressed by 

 his large, sincere, manly way. On visiting Washington to 

 receive my instructions before going to Berlin, I saw him 

 several times, and at each meeting my respect for him was 

 increased. Driving to Arlington, walking among the sol 

 diers graves there, standing in the portico of General Lee s 

 former residence, and viewing from the terrace the Capitol 

 in the distance, he spoke very nobly of the history we had 

 both personally known, of the sacrifices it had required, 

 and of the duties which it now imposed. At his dinner- 

 table I heard him discuss with his Secretary of State, Mr. 

 Evarts, a very interesting question the advisability of 

 giving members of the cabinet seats in the Senate and 

 House of Kepresentatives, as had been arranged in the 

 constitution of the so-called Confederate States; but of 

 this I shall speak in another chapter. 



It should further be said regarding Mr. Hayes that, while 

 hardly any President was ever so systematically denounced 

 and depreciated, he was one of the truest and best men 

 who has ever held our Chief Magistracy. I remember, 

 just at the close of his administration, dining with an 

 eminent German statesman who said to me : &quot;I have 

 watched the course of your President with more and 

 more surprise. We have been seeing constantly in our 

 German newspapers extracts from American journals 

 holding up your President to contempt as an ignoramus, 

 but more and more I have seen that he is one of the most 

 substantial, honest, and capable Presidents that you have 

 had.&quot; 



This opinion was amply justified by what I saw of Mr. 

 Hayes after the close of his Presidency. Twice I met him 

 during conferences at Lake Mohonk, at which matters re 

 lating to the improvement of the freedmen and Indians 

 were discussed, and in each he took broad, strong, and 

 statesmanlike views based on thoughtful experience and 

 permeated by honesty. 



I also met him at a great public meeting at Cleveland, 

 where we addressed some four thousand people from the 



