one of the most beautiful we have seen. The streets are arranged in Parisian style, and there was just a touch of Paris that was almost plaintive in the small cafés, before which the residents sat and drank beer. The management of the colony prosperous and yields a revenue to France.

is

N the 27th of April we left our moorings at Saigon, and reached the open sea at breakfast time. The heat was very severe, and we began-all of us, I think-to feel the effects of continued life in the tropics; but as we approached Hong-Kong a cool breeze from the north gave us great relief. An interesting feature of the trip was the opportunity of meeting that distinguished official in the Chinese service, the Honorable Robert Hart, Inspector of Customs in China. Mr. Hart, although a young man, has gained a world-wide fame, and is perhaps one of the best-informed Europeans living as to the resources of the Chinese Empire, and the manners and customs of the Chinese people. There were many conversations between General Grant and Mr. Hart about China, and we could not but be grateful for the advan

tage that befell us in the experience and ability of our friend and companion. Our trip to Hong-Kong took us the better part of four days. I will not dwell upon the incidents of sealife, because it was a calm, tranquil journey; but if my readers will permit me I will take advantage of our voyage to resume the summary of my conversations with General Grant. We were talking one evening of Mr. Stanton, the Secretary of War.

ter.

"The first time I saw Mr. Stanton," said General Grant, "was in the West. I had come from Cairo, had reached Indianapolis, changed cars for Louisville, and was just on the point of starting, when a messenger informed me that Mr. Stanton and Governor Brough of Ohio had just arrived at the station from another direction. Mr. Stanton immediately joined me, and we went on to Louisville together. He gave me my new command, to take the army and relieve Rosecrans. Stanton being a little fatigued went to bed, while I went to the theaAs I was strolling back messengers began to hail me. Stanton was anxious to see me as something terrible had happened. I hastened to the Secretary, not knowing what had taken place. On the way I reproached myself with having attended the theater, while there was no knowing what terrible things had happened in my absence. When I reached Stanton's room, I found the Secretary in his night garments in great distress. He had received a dispatch from the Assistant Secretary of War telling him that Rosecrans had given orders to his army to retreat, and that such a retreat would be disastrous not only to that campaign but to the Union. I saw the situation at once, and wrote several dispatches. My first was a dispatch to General Rosecrans relieving him of his command and taking command of the army myself. My second dispatch was to General Thomas, directing him to take command of the army until I reached head-quarters, and also ordering General Thomas to hold his position at any and all hazards against any force. A reply came from General Thomas that he would hold his position until he and his whole army starved. I hurried down to the front, and on my way at one of the stations met

Rosecrans. He was very cheerful, and seemed as though a great weight had been lifted off his mind, and showed none of the feeling which might have been expected in meeting the general who had been directed to supersede him. I remember he was very fluent and eager in telling me what I should do when I reached the army. When I arrived at head-quarters, I found the army in a sad condition. The men were badly fed and badly clothed. We had no communications open for supplies. Cattle had to be driven a long way over the mountains, and were so thin when they came into the lines that the soldiers used to call it beef dried on the hoof.' I opened communications with our supplies, or, as they called it, opened the 'cracker lines.' Rosecrans's plan, which was checked before put in execution by my order, would have been most disastrousnothing could have been more fatal. He would have lost his guns and his trains, and Bragg would have taken Nashville. By opening our lines, and feeding our men, and giving them good clothing, our army was put into good condition. Then, when Sherman reached me, I attacked Bragg, and out of that attack came Mission Ridge."

I recall many conversations with General Grant, in reference to the various officers who held high commands in our war, and the surprising changes of fortune in the way of reputation. "There were a few officers," said the General, "when the war broke out, to whom we who had been in the army looked for success and high rank-among them Rosecrans, Buckner, McClellan, Stone, McDowell, Buell. I felt sure that each of these men would gain the highest commands. Rosecrans was

a great disappointment to us all to me especially. Stone's case was always a mystery, and I think a great wrong was committed.

"I knew Stone at school. I have always regarded him as very good, a very able and a perfectly loyal man, but a man who has had three or four severe and surprising reverses of fortune. After the arrest of Stone, and his treatment, his military career in our war was destroyed. I believe if Stone had had a chance he would have made his mark in the war. Mc

Dowell was also the victim of what I suppose we should call ill luck. You will remember people called him a drunkard and a traitor. Well, he never drank a drop of liquor in his life, and a more loyal man never lived. I have the greatest respect for McDowell's accomplishments and character, and I was glad to make him major-general. The country owed him that, if only as an atonement for its injustice toward him. But McDowell never was what you would call a popular man. He

was never so in the army nor at West Point. Yet I could never understand it, for no one could know McDowell without liking him. His career is one of the surprising things in the war. So is Buell's. Buell does not like me, I am afraid, but I have always borne my testimony to his perfect loyalty and his ability. Buell is a man who would have carried out loyally every order he received, and I think he had genius enough for the highest commands; but, somehow, he fell under a cloud.

"The trouble with many of our generals in the beginning," said the General, "was that they did not believe in the war.

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