In consideration of his military record he was, at his entrance into Congress, put upon the Military Committee; but a session or two later, at his own request, he was assigned a place on the Committee of Ways and Means.  His reason for this request was, that he might have an opportunity of studying the question of finance, which he had sufficient foresight to perceive would one day be a great question, overshadowing all others.  He instantly set himself to a systematic and exhaustive study of this subject, and attained so thorough a knowledge of it that he was universally recognized as a high authority—­perhaps the highest in the department.  He made speech after speech on the finance question, and was a pronounced advocate of “Honest Money,” setting his face like a flint against those who advocated any measures calculated to lower the national credit or tarnish the national reputation for good faith.

“I am aware,” said he one day in debate, “that financial measures are dull and uninviting in comparison with those heroic themes which have absorbed the attention of Congress for the last five years.  To turn from the consideration of armies and navies, victories and defeats, to the array of figures which exhibits the debt, expenditure, taxation, and industry of the nation requires no little courage and self-denial; but to these questions we must come, and to their solution Congress and all thoughtful citizens must give their best efforts for many years to come.”

It was not only a wise but a bold thing to do, for among the members of his own party, in Ohio, financial heresies had crept in, and a party platform was adopted in 1867, looking to the payment of the bonds of the Government in greenbacks.  He was advised to say nothing on the subject lest it should cost him the nomination in the election just at hand; but he met the question boldly, and declared that the district could only have his services “on the ground of the honest payment of this debt, and these bonds in coin, according to the letter and spirit of the contract.”

Nevertheless he was renominated by acclamation.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE MAN FOR THE HOUR.

On the 15th day of April, 1865, the country was thrilled from end to end by the almost incredible report that President Lincoln had been assassinated the evening previous while witnessing a performance at Ford’s Theatre, in Washington.

The war was not yet over, but peace seemed close at hand.  All were anticipating its return with joy.  The immense sacrifices of loyal men seemed about to be rewarded when, like a clap of thunder in a clear sky, came the terrible tidings, which were flashed at once over the telegraphic wires to the remotest parts of the country.

The people at first were shocked and silent.  Then a mighty wave of wrath swept over the country—­a wrath that demanded victims, and seemed likely in the principal city of the country to precipitate scenes not unlike those witnessed in the “Reign of Terror” in France.