England), and his announcement that the United States would take over the ownership of all the private claims and thus be nationally responsible for all demands against Great Britain.

The eagerness of England to make an end of the matter now became acute. Through Hamilton Fish-Grant's Secretary of State-and Sir John Rose, of England, was consummated the Treaty of Washington, an international agreement looking to the settlement of the Alabama claims and questions concerning

certain fisheries and boundaries. Still deferring to the Massachusetts Senator, the President sent Secretary Fish with a memorandum of the proposed Alabama clause to Sumner's house to obtain his approval. Sumner's reply was, that as a condition of settlement the withdrawal of the British flag from Canada could not

be abandoned, and added, "To make

the settlement complete, the withdrawal should be from this hemisphere, including provinces and islands."*

As this demand would virtually have stopped negotiations, General Grant, who had paid little attention to Sumner's per*Address by Charles Francis Adams, N. Y. Hist. Society, November 19, 1901.

sonal attacks, now made up his mind that the Senator's removal from his post of influence was not only desirable, but necessary. Being a military man, he did not hesitate to reduce, in any manner that might prove effective, a subordinate who impeded, and was likely to destroy, a measure of such manifest importance. On the 9th of March, 1871, in a Republican senatorial caucus, Charles Sumner was deposed from the chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations-a position he had held with honor for many years. The Treaty of Washington was concluded the Alabama Claims being finally arbitrated at Geneva, Switzerland, in the summer of 1872. For damages to American shipping England paid to the United States the sum of $15,500,000-an amicable adjustment, due to the combined efforts of President Grant, Secretary Fish, and Sir John Rose.

It will be seen from the foregoing how naturally Sumner -still the foremost statesman of the time-had been made leader of the anti-Grant senatorial faction of 1872. Carl Schurz, with grievances and ambitions of his own, espoused Sumner's cause and became his closest adherent and counsellor. Fenton, Trumbull, Tipton and oth

ers, each with his own axe to grind, rallied about them, rejoicing in the leadership of one who for a second time had been "struck down "-this time, as it was then declared, "because of his opposition to the San Domingo scheme "-a martyr to "military rule," a victim of the ruthless soldier, Grant.

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CHAPTER XXV

NAST AND CURTIS AND A CONFLICT OF POLICIES

Nast began the campaign of 1872 by dividing his attention chiefly between the Greeley movement in Printing House Square and those who waged war upon the President at the capital. Early in January he published a cartoon entitled "What I know about Greeley "-on the one hand, the "Sage of Chappaqua " in the "sacred old white hat and coat " offering bail to Jefferson Davis, and on the other, flinging mud at the imperturbable Grant. Later in the month there appeared a picture which made a most decided stir. Grant had been by no means deaf to the cry for Civil Service Reform. He was, in fact, the first President to show any interest in the theory. In his message he had declared for it in unmistakable terms. Perhaps this was not altogether a pleasant surprise for those who had been denouncing him as a military despot and spoilsman. Civil Service, after all, might not prove a savory broth to Senators long accustomed to arbitrary arbitrary appointments for services rendered. Nast's cartoon represents their disgust at being compelled to take the potion they had been so clamorously demanding.

The picture was a shot home and contained a humor which perhaps the disaffected Senators failed to see. They cried out against any such treatment of their dignified body. It also

brought a protest from Curtis, himself chairman of the Civil Service Commission at Washington, editing the Weekly at long range. Curtis was the intimate friend of most of the members of the anti-Grant cabal, especially of Sumner, for whom he

"If bad men have secured places, it has been the fault of the system established by law and custom for making appointments, or the fault of those who recommend for government positions persons not sufficiently well known to them personally, or who give letters indorsing the character of office-seekers without a proper sense of the grave responsibility which such a course devolves upon them. A civil service reform which can correct this abuse is much desired.-Grant's Message.

GRANT OFFERS THE CIVIL SERVICE BROTH TO SCHURZ, SUMNER, TRUMBULL, FENTON AND OTHERS. THIS PICTURE GREATLY DISTURBED MR. CURTIS

cherished an affection that found expression in a fine eulogy after the death of that statesman in 1874. Nevertheless, Curtis was at this period loyal to Grant and did not himself hesitate in his carefully worded editorials to mildly reprove the dissenting faction, hoping thereby to lead them step by step back into the fold. Already he had sought Nast's coöperation, in a pleasant and characteristic letter.

My Dear" Nephew":

Washington, Jan. 13, 1872.

I wrote to Mr. Harper a day or two ago about punching the Honorable Horace Greeley. Affairs are taking an aspect not exactly foreseen, and, in my opinion, there can be no doubt that it is not wise to hit any of those with whom we must finally coöperate. The President's friends" will perhaps be found firing on him by and by, for he is fully in earnest about the Civil Service, and they are bitterly hostile. You remember what I said some months ago about Sumner, Schurz and Greeley, and I am of the same mind. It is not with the President's differences with Republicans, but with the Ku-Klux Democracy, that we ought to deal in picture, because it is so much more powerful and unmanageable than writing.

I am an old gentleman and my faculties are doubtless clouded, but think of what I say, and of Your affectionate

"Uncle!"

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But the policy of fair words in no wise suited the resolute and aggressive temperament of Nast. He had little faith in the idea of conciliation and he cared not at all for vague and indirect possibilities. He saw in a straight line very clearly, and he struck accordingly. To him Sumner was simply a defamer of Grant, who had met a well-deserved fate. Greeley was an old humbug" who dressed for effect, and who had pledged a support which he now repudiated. The cartoon "Children Cry For It" was the "Nephew's " rather startling reply to the "Uncle's" request, and the shock was general. Curtis wrote immediately:

My Dear Nast:

I am confounded and chagrined by your picture of this week, in which my personal friends and those whom I asked you