Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet An Autobiography.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THREE MONTHS IN EUROPE. Short Session of Congress Convened March 4, 1867--I Become Chairman of the Committee on Finance, Succeeding Senator Fessenden--Departure for Europe--Winning a Wager from a Sea Captain--Congressman Kasson's Pistol--Under Surveillance by English Officers--Impressions of John Bright, Disraeli and Other Prominent Englishmen--Visit to France, Belgium, Holland and Germany--An Audience with Bismarck--His Sympathy with the Union Cause--Wonders of the Paris Exposition--Life in Paris--Presented to the Emperor Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie --A Dinner at the Tuileries--My Return Home--International Money Commission in Session at Paris--Correspondence with Commissioner Ruggles--His Report--Failure to Unify the Coinage of Nations-- Relative Value of Gold and Silver.