bitterness engendered by the war, and which had been left alive at its
closing, and which was not diminished to any appreciable extent during
President Johnson's term, was largely assuaged during President Grant's
Administration, and under that of President Hayes was further softened
and almost entirely dissipated.

It will be seen that President Grant in his papers dwelt especially
upon the duty of paying the national debt in gold and returning to
specie payments; that he urged upon Congress a proposition to annex
Santo Domingo; that during his Administration the "Quaker Peace
Commission" was appointed to deal with the Indians, the fifteenth
amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proclaimed, the
treaty of Washington was negotiated, and, with a subsequent arbitration
at Geneva, a settlement was provided of the difficulties relating to the
Alabama claims and the fisheries; that in 1870 and frequently afterwards
he urged upon Congress the need of reform in the civil service. His
appeals secured the passage of the law of March 3, 1871, under which
he appointed a civil service commission. This commission framed rules,
which were approved by the President. They provided for open competitive
examination, and went into effect January 1, 1872; and out of these grew
the present civil-service rules. One of his most important papers was
the message vetoing the "inflation bill."

The closing months of his public life covered the stormy and exciting
period following the Presidential election of 1876, when the result as
between Mr. Tilden and Mr. Hayes was so long in doubt. There is very
little, however, in any Presidential paper of that period to indicate
the great peril to the country and the severe strain to which our
institutions were subjected in that memorable contest.