CARL SCHURZ'S POLITICAL CAREER
than to a living practical principle. Both old parties, he thought, had done their specific work, and the Republicans, if they wished to retain their cohesion, must assume the task of progressive reform, though the new issues were not yet clear and well-defined.
Such lax and speculative allegiance only confirmed the distrust with which Schurz was regarded by spoils-loving, domineering partisans. A number of causes had by the end of 1870 brought the President much under the influence of the men of this kind. Schurz's chivalrous and independent course in Missouri politics was not the only occasion of his being out of favor with Grant. Not a little had been contributed to this result by the Senator's course in connection with the President's famous attempt to annex Santo Domingo.
A protocol providing for the annexation of this petty republic was negotiated by the President's private secretary, General Babcock, when in Santo Domingo on other business in the summer of 1869. Babcock's proceedings were of a grossly irregular character. The Cabinet, when it learned that annexation had been arranged for, refused to indicate even tolerance for the project, and Mr. Fish, the Secretary of State, offered his resignation. Nevertheless Grant, with fearlessness not born of wisdom, took up the heavy task of compelling annexation. While otherwise ignoring the attitude of his Cabinet, he induced Secretary Fish, by cogent personal appeals, to remain in office and to take the necessary steps for giving formal regularity to Babcock's negotiation. As a result, a treaty was signed just before Congress met in December, 1869. The President then undertook to insure ratification by the Senate. One unique feature of Babcock's diplomacy had been a pledge in the original protocol that the President would privately use all his influence to make the idea of annexation
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