and always lived in poverty. The one clearly-marked policy of his eight years' reign was, that he "never intended to be poor any more."
In reviewing the history of this century it will be impossible to find a rule so barren of statesmanship, or of evidences of broad national policy, as Grant's has been. When we consider our foreign relations we can point only to the Samana speculation as an effort to extend our influence.
And when we turn to our domestic affairs, we see the sad spectacle of States overthrown and constitution and laws set aside by the man who had sworn to protect them, and all the rights of the people subordinated to the one prime object of placing a centralized power in the hands of him who was incapable of statesmanship broader than the bounds of his own personal convenience or pecuniary profit.
To this condition he strove to reduce us all, and first sought to secure the nomination by his party for a third presidential term. When that effort failed, he thought to possess, by fraud and force, the control of the government, and hoped to keep it till his life's end. Only a few months have passed since the people realized the danger in which we stood, and rose in their might and rebuked this usurper and scattered the power of his confederates.
Those who have believed in the capacity of our people for self-government, and who had begun to despair of the republic, now take heart again, and once more hope to enjoy the blessing of freedom.
Let not Grant misconstrue the recent honors paid him by the monarchical powers of Europe. They are but the tributes paid by those who owe their offices to force to the military prowess of him who has ever been ready to use force to perpetuate his power.
They only defer, they do not avert his ultimate destiny, and when he returns to his people he will soon pass, followed by their curses and contempt, to his native obscurity.
It is uncharitable and of little profit to speculate upon the remnant of his life left to him. But we may well believe "his days will be few and evil." Without taste for literary and intellectual pursuits, bereft of power and of influence, deserted by those who have hung about him for what he gave them; with a growing pro-
