He was very angry,
and bided his time. They had an altercation over the bill
to protect the rights of the freedmen in the South, the story
of which I tell in speaking of Grant. But as the end of the
Congress approached, Butler endeavored to get up an alliance
between the Democrats and what were called the "Revenue Reformers."
There was a large number of Northwestern Republicans who were
disposed to break away from the party because of its policy
of high protection. This included representatives of a good
many States that afterward were the most loyal supporters
of the tariff policy. Butler showed me one day a call he
had prepared, saying: "How do you think something like this
would answer?" It was a call for a caucus of all persons
who desired a reform in the tariff to meet to nominate a
candidate for Speaker. I was never in Butler's confidence,
and I suppose he showed me the paper with the expectation
that I should tell Blaine. Blaine circumvented the movement
by giving assurances to the friends of revenue reform that
he would make up a Committee of Ways and Means with a majority
of persons of their way of thinking.
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