left. This is the whole story. McClellan never acknowledged my call, and, of course, after he knew I had been at his headquarters I was bound to await his acknowledgment. I was older, had ranked him in the army, and could not hang around his head-quarters watching the men with the quills behind their ears. I went over to make a visit to an old army friend, Reynolds, and while there learned that Governor Yates, of Illinois, had made me a colonel of volunteers. Still I should like to have joined McClellan."

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"This pomp and ceremony," said the General, was com

mon at the beginning of the war. McClellan had three times as many men with quills behind their ears as I had ever found necessary at the head-quarters of a much larger command. Fremont had as much state as a sovereign, and was as difficult to approach. His head-quarters alone required as much transportation as a division of troops. I was under his command a part of the time, and remember how imposing was his manner of doing business. He sat in a room in full uniform, with his maps before him. When you went in, he would point out one line or another in a mysterious manner, never asking you to take a seat. You left without the least idea of what he meant or what he wanted you to do. Halleck had the same fondness

for mystery, but he was in addition a very able military man. Halleck had intellect, and great acquirements outside of his military education. He was at the head of the California bar when the war broke out, and his appointment to the majorgeneralcy was a gratification to all who knew the old army. When I was made Lieutenant-General, General Halleck became chief of staff to the army. He was very useful, and was loyal and industrious, sincerely anxious for the success of the country, and without any feeling of soreness at being superseded. In this respect Halleck was a contrast to other officers of equal ability, who felt that unless they had the commands they craved they were not needed. Halleck's immense knowledge of military science was of great use in the War Office to those of us in the field. His fault-and this prevented his being a successful commander in the field-was timidity in taking responsibilities. I do not mean timid personally, because no one ever doubted his courage, but timid in reaching conclusions. He would never take a chance in a battle. A general who will never take a chance in a battle will never fight one. When I was in the field, I had on two or three occasions to come to Washington to see that Halleck carried out my orders. I found that there was some panic about the rebels coming between our army and the capitol, and Halleck had changed or amended my orders to avoid some such danger. I would say, 'I don't care anything about that. I do not care if the rebels do get between my troops and Washington, so that they get into a place where I can find them.'"

A question was asked as to how the General ranked McClellan. In answer he said: " McClellan is to me one of the mysteries of the war. As a young man he was always a mystery. He had the way of inspiring you with the idea of immense capacity, if he would only have a chance. Then he is a man of unusual accomplishments, a student, and a well-read man. I have never studied his campaigns enough to make up my mind as to his military skill, but all my impressions are in his favor. I have entire confidence in McClellan's loyalty and patriotism. But the test which was applied to him would be terrible to any

man, being made a major-general at the beginning of the war. It has always seemed to me that the critics of McClellan do not consider this vast and cruel responsibility—the war, a new thing to all of us, the army new, everything to do from the outset, with a restless people and Congress. McClellan was a young man when this devolved upon him, and if he did not succeed, it was because the conditions of success were so trying. If McClellan had gone into the war as Sherman, Thomas, or Meade, had fought his way along and up, I have no reason to suppose that he would not have won as high a distinction as any of us. McClellan's main blunder was in allowing himself political sympathies, and in permitting himself to become the critic of the President, and in time his rival. This is shown in his letter to Mr. Lincoln on his return to Harrison's Landing, when he sat down and wrote out a policy for the government. He was forced into this by his associations, and that led to his nomination for the Presidency. I remember how disappointed I was about this letter, and also in his failure to destroy Lee at Antietam. His friends say that he failed because of the interference from Washington. I am afraid the interference from Washington was not from Mr. Lincoln so much as from the enemies of the administration, who believed they could carry their point through the army of the Potomac. My own experience with Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Stanton, both in the western and eastern armies, was the reverse. I was never

interfered with. I had the fullest support of the President and Secretary of War. No general could want better backing, for the President was a man of great wisdom and moderation, the Secretary a man of enormous character and will. Very often when Lincoln would want to say Yes, his Secretary would make him say No; and more frequently when the Secretary was driving on in a violent course, the President would check him. United, Lincoln and Stanton made about as perfect a combination as I believe could, by any possibility, govern a great nation in time of war."

HE principal topic of discussion during our leisure hours at Singapore was whether or not we should visit Siam. It was out of the regular route to China,

and the means of communication with Singapore were irregular, and none of us, I am afraid, took any special interest in Siam, our ostensible knowledge of the country being confined to school-day recollections of the once famous Siamese twins. Moreover and this fact I cannot as a conscientious historian suppress-there was a feeling of homesickness among some of the members of the party which found relief in studying the map and drawing the shortest lines between Singapore and San Francisco and Philadelphia. Any suggestion of a departure from these lines was received with gloom. At the same time, the burden of advice we met in Singapore was that a journey around the world would be in

complete unless it included Siam. Finally the American Consul at Singapore, Major Struder, who had met General Grant on his landing, came with a letter from the King of Siam, enclosed in an envelope of blue satin, inviting him to his capital. The text of this letter was as follows:

"THE GRAND PALACE, BANGKOK, 4th Feb., 1879.

"MY DEAR SIR: Having heard from my Minister for Foreign Affairs, on the authority of the United States Consul, that you are expected in Singapore on your way to Bangkok, I beg to express the pleasure I shall have in making your acquaintance. Possibly you may arrive in Bangkok during my absence at my country residence, Bang Pa In, in which case a steamer will be placed at your disposal to bring you to me. On arrival I beg you to communicate with His Excellency my Minister of Foreign Affairs, who will arrange for your reception and entertainment. Very truly yours,

"CHULAHLONGKORN, R. S.

TO GENERAL GRANT, late President of the United States."

This letter which the King had taken the trouble to send to Singapore, reinforced by an opinion expressed by the General, that when people really go around the world they might as well see what can be seen-decided the visit to Siam. Furthermore, a dispatch had been received from Captain Benham, commanding the "Richmond," that he would be at Galle on the 12th of April, and he estimated that he would be able to reach Singapore about the time we would return from Siam. This was a consideration, especially to the homesick members of our party, who felt that even in the tropics there would be compensation in meeting Americans, in being once more among fellow-citizens with whom you could talk intelligently on sensible subjects-Philadelphia butter, the depravity of the Democratic party, terrapin, green corn, saddle-rock oysters, and other themes to which the mind of the home-sick American always reverts in his lonely, moaning hours in far foreign lands.

A heavy tropical rain! How it rained, and rained, and rained, and swept over Singapore as we embarked on the small steamer "Kong-See" about nine in the morning of the 9th of April. Our friends-Colonel Anson, the Governor; Mr. Smith, the Colonial Secretary; Major Struder, the American Consul