A certain seaboard State contained in its Congressional delegation one of the most influential men in the Senate, and one of the most influential men in the lower house.

These two men had been worse than lukewarm about building up the navy, and had scoffed at the idea of there ever being any danger from any foreign power.

With the advent of war the feelings of their constituents, and therefore their own feelings, suffered an immediate change, and they demanded that a ship be anchored in the harbor of their city as a protection.

Getting no comfort from me, they went "higher up," and became a kind of permanent committee in attendance upon the President.

They were very influential men in the Houses, with whom it was important for the Administration to keep on good terms; and, moreover, they possessed a pertinacity as great as the widow who won her case from the unjust judge.