GRANT AND SANTO DOMINGO-1868-1871 157 



in securing Mr. Littlejohn's nomination, he soon after- 

 ward declined, and defeat followed in November. 



The only part which I continued to take in State politics 

 was in writing letters and in speaking, on sundry social 

 occasions of a political character, in behalf of harmony 

 between the two factions which were now becoming more 

 and more bitter. At first I seemed to have some success, 

 but before long it became clear that the current was too 

 strong and that the bitterness of faction was to prevail. I 

 am so constituted that factious thought and effort dis- 

 hearten and disgust me. At many periods of my life 

 I have acted as a " buffer" between conflicting cliques 

 and factions, generally to some purpose ; now it was other- 

 wise. But, as Kipling says, "that is another story." 



The hard work and serious responsibilities brought 

 upon me by the new university had greatly increased. 

 They had worn deeply upon me when, in the winter of 

 1870-71, came an event which drew me out of my uni- 

 versity life for a time and gave me a much needed change : 

 I was sent by the President as one of the three com- 

 missioners to Santo Domingo to study questions relating 

 to the annexation of the Spanish part of that island which 

 was then proposed, and to report thereupon to Congress. 



While in Washington at this time I saw much of Presi- 

 dent Grant, Mr. Sumner, and various other men who were 

 then leading in public affairs, but some account of them 

 will be given in my reminiscences of the Santo Domingo 

 expedition. 



I trust that it may be allowed me here to recall an inci- 

 dent which ought to have been given in a preceding chap- 

 ter. During one of my earlier visits to the National 

 Capital, I made the acquaintance of Senator McDougal. 

 His distorted genius had evidently so dazzled his fellow- 

 citizens of California that, in spite of his defects, they had 

 sent him to the highest council of the Nation. He was a 

 martyr to conviviality, and when more or less under 

 the sway of it, had strange ideas and quaint ways of ex- 

 pressing them. His talk recalled to me a time in my child- 



