Grant never lost his hold
upon the hearts of the Northern people. Wherever there was
a contest in any State for political supremacy the least worthy
faction frequently got his ear and his confidence. He never
wavered in his attachment to the doctrines of his party--
protection, sound principles of finance and currency, honesty
in elections. But the old political leaders, whom the people
most trusted, were more and more strangers to his presence,
and ambitious and designing men, adventurers who had gone
South to make fortunes by holding office, men interested in
jobs and contracts, thronged the ante-chambers of the White
House. The political scandals, always likely to follow a
great war, seemed to be increasing rather than diminishing
during his second term of office.
I never though that the proper way to put an end to this
state of things was to abandon what I deem sound political
principles, or to abandon the party that was formed to establish
them. I should as soon have thought of turning Tory because
of like complaints in the Revolutionary War, or of asking
George III.
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