The gossips had much to say about the petition of the venerable ex- Senator Christiancy for a divorce from a young Washington woman, who was a clerk in the Treasury Department when he married her. The irascible, jealous old man magnified trifling circumstances into startling facts, and deliberately attempted to brand his young wife with infamy. She may have been foolish, she may have said or done what was not wise, but those who knew her well asserted that she had given no cause for the terrible accusations brought against her by the man who persuaded her to become his wife, and who proved the truth of the proverb, that "There is no fool like an old fool." His resignation of his seat in the Senate to accept a diplomatic appointment, that Mr. Zach. Chandler might return to it, was said to have been anything but creditable to him, although profitable.
Washington society was also kept in hot water by the young secretaries and attaches of foreign legations, who prided themselves on their success in breaking hearts. There were two classes of these foreign lady-killers. Those of the Castilian type had closely cropped, coal-black hair, smooth faces, with the exception of a moustache, and flashing eyes that betrayed an intriguing disposition. The Saxons (including the British, the Germans, and the Russians) were tall, slender fellows, with their hair parted in the middle, soft eyes, and downy side-whiskers. Both sets were exquisitely polite, courteous in their deportment, and very deferential to those with whom they conversed. They stigmatized a residence in Washington after their sojourn at the various capitals of Europe as unendurable; they intimated that the women of America were "incomplete" and "fastidious," but their criticisms were so courteous that no one could muster heart to contradict them. Every year or two, though, some poor girl was captivated by the glitter of their small talk, and got more or less scorched before she could be extricated.
[Facsimile] W. M. Evarts WILLIAM MAXWELL EVARTS was born at Boston, February 6th, 1818; was graduated at Yale College in 1837; studied in the Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the bar in New York in 1841; was Attorney- General of the United States, July 15th, 1868 - March 3d, 1869; was counsel for President Johnson on his trial upon his impeachment in 1868; was counsel for the United States before the Alabama Claims Tribunal at Geneva, Switzerland, in 1872; was counsel for President Hayes in behalf of the Republican party before the Electoral Commission; was Secretary of State of the United States, March 12th, 1877 - March 3d, 1881; and was a United States Senator from March 4th, 1885.
CHAPTER XXXII. LEADERS AND MEASURES.
Fourteen years after the surrender of Appomattox, the Republicans surrendered in the Capitol at Washington and passed into the minority. President Grant having failed in his severe Southern policy, President Hayes tried conciliation. Never did a President enter upon his duties with more sincere good-will for every section. There was displayed in every act of the incoming Administration a kindliness toward Southern men and Southern interests that almost aroused a jealousy in the North. It was not an affectation on the part of the President, but a true and honest sentiment. The good- will experiment was not quickly made. It took a long time to determine results, and even after the uncompromising spirit of the Southern Democrats had become apparent President Hayes was slow to pronounce the plan a failure. It had seemed to him the only hope of making the South peaceful and prosperous, and he had determined to give it a full trial.
It was evident that the Democrats would have in the Senate of the Forty-sixth Congress that majority that had passed from them in that body when many of its curule chairs were vacated by those who went into the Rebellion. The Democrats in the House of the Forty- fifth Congress, by refusing to make the necessary appropriation for the support of the army, rendered an extra session necessary. When Congress met, on the 18th of March, 1879, the Democrats had a majority of ten in the Senate, and over twenty in the House.
Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, was recognized by the Democrats in the Senate as their leader. He was a broad-shouldered, sturdily built man, with a large square head and ruddy complexion, gray hair and beard, and a positive manner that commanded respect. Earnest, outspoken, and free in his criticisms of men and manners, he would wave his red bandana pocket handkerchief like a guidon, give his nose a trumpet-blast, take a fresh pinch of snuff, and dash into the debate, dealing rough blows, and scattering the carefully prepared arguments of his adversaries like chaff. When he sat down he would signal to a Republican friend, and they would leave the Senate Chamber by different doors and meet in a committee-room, where there was a supply of old Bourbon whisky.
Senator Bayard, of Delaware, who was also prominent in the Democratic ranks, never forgot that he was the descendant of a long line of eminent statesmen. Tall and straight, his movements were graceful, and his cleanly shaven face and iron-gray hair were classic in beauty. Broad in intellect, he was patient and courteous in debate, rarely losing his dignity or his temper.
Senator Beck, of Kentucky, enjoyed the rare advantage of being ineligible to the Presidential chair, and he did not consequently feel hampered by what he might add in debate to his "record." He was a stalwart, farmer-like looking man, with that overcharged brain which made his tongue at times falter because he could not utter what his furious, fiery eloquence prompted. Entirely different in personal appearance and manner was Senator Pendleton, of Ohio, whose courteous deportment had won him the appellation of "Gentleman George," and who adorned every subject on which he spoke. Senator Saulsbury, of Delaware, a spare, grim, uncompromising bachelor, with a tall, slender figure like that of Thomas Jefferson, would have made a glorious Puritan leader, and Senator Pinckney Whyte, of Maryland, a gentleman by birth and education, was evidently restive at times under the political restraint of the party "bosses" in his State.
Senator Cockrell, of Missouri, was an able lawyer, who had the good sense not to parade his gallant services in the Confederate army, and who was ever on the watch for some extravagant appropriation. He, with Ransom, of North Carolina, and other Confederate brigadiers, saw opposite to them, as their equal, Senator Bruce, of Mississippi, round-faced, bright-eyed, and sepia-hued, the emancipated slave who had reached the full stature of citizenship through the flame of battle that discomfited them.