But such things are not to be taken too seriously. I have
found in general that the men who deliver themselves with
most bitterness and fury on political questions are the men
who change their minds most easily, and are in general the
most placable, and not uncommonly are the most friendly and
pleasant men in the world in private intercourse. I account
it my great good fortune that, although I have never flinched
from uttering whatever I thought, and acting according to
my own conviction of public duty, that, as I am approaching
four score years, I have, almost without an exception, the
good will of my countrymen, certainly if I may trust what
they tell me when I meet in private intercourse men from different
parts of the country, or what they are saying of me just now
in the press. But it is quite possible that I may say or
do something before I get through which will change all that.
So whether my sunset, which is to come very soon, is to be
clear or under a cloud, it is impossible even to guess.
During this period I have taken a leading part in all questions
affecting the security of the right of suffrage conferred
by the Constitution of the United States on the colored people,
of honesty in elections, of questions affecting disputed titles
to seats in the Senate, and the extension of suffrage to women.
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