E 
 
 664 
 
 C&Ge 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Judge Sherrill Holbert 
 

 ROSCOE CONKLING VINDICATED 
 
 1HS 0>NTK<>YEK>y WITH MK. BLAiNK 1866; HIS RESIGNATION 
 THE SENATE AND THE CAUSES THAT LED TO IT 1881. 
 
 BY 
 
 GEO. C. GORHAM 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 1888. 
 
GIFT 
 

 JUSTICE TO CONKLING 
 
 To THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD: 
 
 Few men ever lived the estimate of whose char 
 acter, when dead, could be as safel.- le t to the con 
 siderate judgment of mankind as that of Koscoe 
 Conkling. During his long and brilliaut public 
 career and ever afterward his name was on all men s 
 tongues as the synouym of iateprity. His fidelity 
 to any cause he espoused was equalled only by the 
 courage and ability with which he wrought in its 
 behalf. His chivalrous attachment to friends was 
 one of his strongest characteristics, and gratitude 
 for the slighest kindly act or intention wa< a pas 
 sion with him. His upright soul and splendid intel 
 lect inhabited a majestic bodv 
 
 A combination and a form indeed. 
 "Where every god did seem to set his seal, 
 To give tlie world assurance of a luau. 
 Yet high as was inn general estimate of him, two epi 
 sodes in his life were always misrepresented, and 
 therefore misunderstood. These were, fmrt, his en 
 counter with Mr. Blaine in the House of Representa 
 tives in ISM, and. second, his resignation from the 
 Senate in 1*M. His enemies said of the tirst that 
 lie had been worsted by Mr. Blaine, and had never 
 been able to forgive his victorious antagonist; and, 
 of the second, that he throw down the Seuatorship 
 without good reason and then urged his friends to 
 secure his re-election. 
 
 Upon these two statements, neither of which is 
 true either in for ja or subs ance, hang all the ad 
 verse criticisms of Mr. Conkliug s public career. 
 They cons itute the only counts in an indictment 
 framed by diligent and skilful foes. They do not 
 touch his honor at all, but I ki.ow that he desired 
 the triiih concerning them to ue understood by his 
 countrymen, to whose honest censure he 
 was exceedingly sensitive, and whose good 
 opinion, fairly bestowed upon full knowledge of 
 the case, he greatly valued. He would not him 
 self make any effort to correct the erroneous pub 
 lic impressions referred to, but on many occasions 
 I have told him that u was inv intention to do so. 
 I thought to have done it while he was yet among 
 the living, but postponed it from time to time, be- 
 cau-e it was difficult for any friend to speak oa such 
 a subject wi hout seeming, to speak far him, and he 
 had an aversion to even seeming to attract attention 
 to himselt or to say or do anything that might indi 
 cate a desire io re-enter public life. But I need de 
 lay it no longer. The cruel hand of death has laid 
 him low. and I should be recreant to the strong tie 
 of friendship which bound me to him and false to 
 the promises I made him if I failed to give his ex 
 planation of the two matters concerning which he 
 felt that he had been misjudged. In doing this cen 
 sure must fall on some, for the truths that alone 
 can set him ri^ ht ronvic others, o out a^e and 
 wron . 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 
 TUB ORIGINAL CONTROVERSY \\ I I H Ml!. II.A1NK. 
 
 For twenty-two years, up to and including the 
 morning after Mr. Coukliug s death, the world has 
 been told at ireqnent intervals and with systematic 
 reiteration that on a certain day in lv;r. MI-. Blaine 
 rose in the House of liepresentatives and so chas 
 tised him with words that he never recovered from 
 it, and that he relentlessly pursued Mr. Blaiue 
 forever after to be revenged on him. 
 
 The journals friendly to Mr. Blaine have never in 
 formed their readers why he felt moved t> such ex 
 pressions of wrath, nor what blows he Had then 
 already received from Mr. t onkling. 
 
 The record of Congressional debates shows that 
 the whole affair was most discreditable to Mr. 
 Blaine and that he was rebuked and humiliated by 
 the House, to which he had appealed, b/ a vote 
 wanting only four to make it unanimous. To that 
 record, after presenting some extracts, I refer the 
 reader. 
 
 I. 
 
 THK RECORD. 
 
 The controversy commenced on the 24th of April, 
 1866 (see Congressional Gtohe, part 3, nr^t session. 
 Thirty-ninth Congress, page 2.151). Tho bill for the 
 reorganization of the army being then under con 
 sideration in the House of Representatives, Mr. 
 Conkling moved to strike out the section which pro 
 vided for the continuance of the Provost Marshal s 
 Bureau and the office of Provost Marshal General. 
 In explanation of his motion he said that his ob 
 jection to this section was that it created "an un 
 necessary office for an undeserving public servant." 
 He said bis constituents and other constituents 
 remembered "wrongs done them too great for for- 
 getfulness and almost for belief by the creatures of 
 this bureau and of its head." The man sent to the 
 western division of New York as assistant provost 
 marshal general and those who accompanied him 
 thitber he accused of most corrupt practices. "By 
 acts of their own," said he, "And by acts done by 
 their superior at Washington they turned the busi 
 ness of recruiting and drafting iuta one carnival of 
 corrupt disorder, into a paradise of coxcombs and 
 thieves. Officers of this bureau who sought to stem 
 the tide of fraud were removed without warning, and 
 the whole machinery of the government was sub 
 jected to miscreants and robbers." tie told of his 
 own employment by the government to prosecute 
 the perpetrators of some of these frauds and >aid: 
 
 I tried this assistant provost marshal general, who 
 had been justified in ail the outrages he committed 
 and in all the ac s by which millions ere stolen 
 from the people of New York, who was justified by 
 his superior officer down to the time when ihe sen- 
 tt iu-f was published, and afterward f understand. 
 he was accused and convicted of the basest forms 
 of official atrocity; the most monstrous acts of 
 
JUSTICE TO CONKLING. 
 
 bribery, oppression and wrong were charged against 
 him and proved against him. And although he dis 
 gorged some $200,000, I see it stated in a newspaper 
 that the other day he purchased iu the city of Phila 
 delphia an establishment for which he paid down 
 $71,000. He was utterly poor when he entered this 
 bureau. * * * And this was not an isolated case; 
 far from it. * * * There never has been in 
 human history a greater mockery and a greater 
 burlesque upon honest administration than the con 
 duct of this bureau taking the whole country to 
 gether. It will turn out that of the seven or eight 
 hundred thousand men for whom, not to whom, 
 enormous bounties were paid, not to exceed three 
 hundred thousand, I believe not two hundred thou 
 sand, ever reached the front. 
 
 This terrible arraignment brought Mr. Blaino to his 
 feet, not to move an investigation in order that justice 
 might be done to the public interest if Mr. Conk- 
 ling s charges were sustained, but for the purpose 
 of discrediting the accusation and ascribing personal 
 and unworthy motives to the accuser. He warmly 
 espoused the cause of Provost Marshal General Fry, 
 and declared that he was "a most ellicient officer, a 
 high toned gentleman whose character was without 
 spot or blemish," &c. He asserted that Mr. Conkling 
 had had "quarrels", with General Fry at the War 
 Department, in which it was "uuderdtoovl he came 
 out second best." He said that General Fry had 
 been "traduced where he had no opportunity to be 
 heard." 
 
 Mr. ConkhuK replied that what he had said there 
 he was ready to avow anywhere. He had "stated 
 facts for which he was willing to be held responsi 
 ble at all tiines and places." This included, of 
 course, any military tribunal before which General 
 Fry might seek vindication. "I say further," he 
 added, "that the statement made by the gentleman 
 from Maine with regard to myself personally and 
 my quarrels with General Fry and their result is 
 false." He had had no quarrels with General Fry. 
 He said: 
 
 I could not remain silent when I knew that in my 
 own district and elsewhere men who stood up hon 
 estly and attempted to resist bounty junipers and 
 thieves were stricken down and trodden under foot 
 by General Fry. 1 affirm that the only way to a.- (U.t, 
 him of venality is to convict him ot the most incred 
 ible incompetency. 
 
 After some further debate tno motion of Mr. 
 Conkling, so amended, with hi* concurrence, as to 
 give the bureau time to close up its business, was 
 adopted without a division. Thus the establishment 
 denounced by Mr. Conkling as corrupt and defended 
 by Mr. Blaine was abolished, not having friends 
 enough in the House to call for the ayes and noes. 
 
 Certainly Mr. Conkliug was not vanquished on 
 that occasion. 
 
 Six days later viz., on the 30th of April -Mr. 
 Blaine caused to be read at the Clerk s desk iu the 
 House a most vituperative and calumnious attack 
 upon Mr. Conkling, addressed to him (Mr. Blame) 
 and. signed by General .tames B. Fry. This letter is 
 on page 2,293 of the { <n><irt *si >nl <;i<>h, , Part 3. first 
 session, Thirty-ninth Congress. It gave full vent to 
 the vengeful feelings of the officer so soon to be be 
 headed as the result of Mr. Conkliug s statement in 
 the House. 
 
 Mr. Conkling immediately replied, giving an ac 
 count of his prosecution of General Fry s subordi 
 nate, under the direction of Secretary Stanton. and 
 General Fry s interference in his behalf, and fully 
 answering all of that officer s acctisatious and 
 imputations. In conclusion he asked one of his 
 colleagues "to move that a committee be appointed 
 by the House to investigate the doings of the pro 
 vost marshal s bureau, and let us see whether a 
 
 man, however humble he may be, who rises here 
 to denounce what he knows to be a public wrong is 
 to be shuffled off by newspaper effects or effects to 
 be produced by sending here to bu read such a com 
 munication as lies before us. If ihis man and his 
 trusted agents are innocent he and they should have 
 a full and thorough investigation of all the prac 
 tices of which they stand accused." 
 
 Mr. Conkling s friend so framed the resolution 
 by his desire as to include also an inquiry into every 
 injurious statement made concerning him in General 
 Fry s letter to Mr. Blaine. 
 
 During the debate on this resolution Mr. Blaine 
 took occasion to repeat, in an offensive manner, one 
 of General Fry s charges, which Mr. Conkling had 
 denied and the truth of which was to be one of the 
 subjects of inquiry by the committee. The charge 
 was that, in violation of the law forbidding any per 
 son to draw pay for two offices at one time, Mr. 
 Conkling had acted as a Judge Advocate in prose 
 cuting General Fry s assistant after he had been 
 elected to Congress, in 1864. The charge was found 
 by the committee and by the House to be untrue. 
 Mr. Conkliug, after again denying the charge with 
 much particularity, said: "Now, Mr. Speaker, one 
 thins further. If the member from Maine had the 
 least idea how profoundly indifferent I am to his 
 opinion upon the subject which he has been discuss 
 ing, or upon any other subject personal to me, 1 
 think he would hardly take the trouble to rise here 
 and express his opinion." 
 
 Mr. Blaine, after again reiterating the twice con 
 tradicted charge against Mr. Conkling, re erred to 
 his "cruel sarcasm" and said: 
 
 "His haughty disdain, his grandiloquent swell, bis 
 majestic, supereminent, overpowering, turkey gob 
 bler strut, has been so crushing to myself and all the 
 members of this House that I know it WMB an act of 
 the greatest temerity for me to venture upon a con 
 troversy with him." He then referred to a remark 
 in a New York paper coupling the name of Mr. Conk- 
 ling with that of Henry Winter Davis, who h%d 
 died shortly before that time. "The resem 
 blance," said he, "is great. Hyperion to a satyr, 
 Thersites to Hercules, mud to marble, dunghill to 
 diamond, a singed cat to a Bengal tiger, a whining 
 puppy to a roaring lion." 
 
 This closed the debate, and Mr. Conkling moved 
 the previous question. 
 
 Only the injudicious friends of Mr. Blaine would 
 claim for him that he won any laurels by the utter 
 ance of the words above quoted. Certainly he can 
 not read them now with any feeling of satisfaction. 
 If they injured anybody it was only himself, for 
 they were not within the liaits either of parliamen 
 tary rules or of common decency. Their coarseness 
 relieved them entirely of all severity, and they are 
 here produced to show the re.ider that they could 
 not by any pos ability have aroused in Mr. Conkling 
 any lejiing of resentment toward Mr. Blain . The 
 wrong done by Mr. Blaiue was the reading and 
 adopting as his own ot the false accusation- bj 
 General Fry. 
 
 The committee appointed to investigate were Shel- 
 labarger, of Ohio; Windom, of Minnesota; Bojd, of 
 Pennsylvania; Cook, of Illinois, and Warner, of 
 Connection:. 
 
 II. 
 
 RETOnT OF THK COMMIT I I K. 
 
 Their report was a unanimous one in support of 
 Mr. Conkling, condemnation of Ganeral Fry and 
 censure of Mr. Blame. The censure of Mr. Blaine 
 
IMIFIELD S DUPLICITY SHOWN. 
 
 5 
 
 was by inference, Tor the reason stated by the com 
 mittee that they were not instructed to report con 
 cerning him. The report was made on the 19th of 
 July, 1KCC. and commences on page 3,935 of part 5 of 
 the ( iiiti/ns-t iiKil <itl, first session Thirty-ninth 
 Congress. It covers seven and a half closely printed 
 pastes. It explicitly declares that every charge and 
 innuendo against Mr. Coukliug was false, and that 
 General Fry did uot believe any one of them to be 
 true when he made them. It reprehended the pr;ic- 
 tice of the reading of personal and malicious attacks 
 in Congress against members made by outside par 
 ties because of necessary references in debate to 
 their official acts. It suggested that the House 
 would have to deal with Mr. Blame s action in the 
 matter, as the committee had been given no au 
 thority. 
 
 The following extracts will suffice. The conclu 
 sions are sustained by a mass of evidence, docu 
 mentary and otherwise. General Fry had able 
 counsel during the hearing. The report says: 
 
 The select committee appointed April :JO. IKC.r,, to 
 investigate the statements and charges made by 
 Hon. Koscoe Coukling, in his place, against Provost 
 Marshal General Fry and his bureau, whether any 
 frauds had been perpetrated in his office in connec 
 tion with the recruiting service; also to examine 
 into the statements made bv General Fr\ in his 
 communication to Hou. Mr. Blaine. read iu the 
 House, having completed their labors as to one 
 branch of their investigation, submit the following 
 report: 
 
 When your committee was about to enter upon 
 the performance of the duties enjoined upon it by 
 the orders o the House it became apparent that 
 full investigation of all matters embraced within the 
 scope of iis authority could not be completed during 
 the present session of Congress. In view of the 
 time, labor . nd public expense necessarily involved 
 iu the performance of the work jour committee had 
 under consideration the propriety of making a pre 
 liminary report to tue House, setting forth the mag 
 nitude of the task assigned to it and asking for 
 further instructions in tue premises. But in con 
 sideration of the fac: that the character of a member 
 of tue House of Representatives had been publicly 
 assailed with serious charges in a letter emanat 
 ing from the head of an important bureau of 
 the government, addressed to another member 
 of the House of Representatives and by him 
 caused to be read to the House, and thus made 
 a part of the published and permanent record of 
 its proceedings, we deemed that it was the privilege 
 of the member thus gravely charged, and due also 
 to the House itself, that your committee should pro 
 ceed without delay to the investigation of at least 
 that branch of the case which relates to the charges 
 preferred by Provost Marshal General Fry against 
 Hon. Roscoe Conkling. Your committee did this the 
 more readily as the member thus charged pleaded 
 and insisted upon his privilege to have an early in 
 vestigation of that branch of the case, and no objec 
 tion was interposed by any party to its separate con 
 sideration and prompt decision, leaving the remain 
 ing branch of the investigation relating to the con 
 duct of ihe Bureau of the Provost Marshal General 
 to the future ac;ion of the committee. 
 
 Your committee, therefore, as will appear in the 
 journal of its proceedings, have thus far coutined 
 their investigation to the charges against Mr. Conk- 
 ling contained iu the letter of General Fry to Mr. 
 Blaiue and excluded all testimouv bearing upon ttie 
 conduct of General Fry as Provost Marshal General, 
 except so far as that was deemed necessary to a full 
 investigation of the charges against Mr. Coukliug. 
 The testimony touching the Hoboken credits and the 
 disposal of the $54,000 bounty money arising there 
 from was admitted to show, as \\as alleged, a settled 
 purpose on the part of General Fry to injure Mr. 
 Coukliug, dating back long anterior to the Blaiue 
 letter, and evinced h his alleged attempt to procure 
 by a corrupt bargain testimony to be used auaiust 
 Mr. Conkliug in relation to certain alleged frauds in 
 the Utica district of the State of New York. Your 
 committee deemed it a legitimate subject of inquiry 
 to investigate to that extent ihe motive of General 
 Fry and its connection, if any, with the animus 
 which prompted tne letter to Mr. Blaiue. Both par 
 ties were therefore allowed full opportunity to intro 
 duce testimony relating to that point. 
 
 Then follows a report on each separate charge 
 made by General Fry, one of which brought out 
 many official documents touching the payment by 
 :al Fry of -Inint of $54,000 to a 
 
 bounty broker named Allen, who tea ified that pend 
 ing the decision on his claim (i-nn-a 1 / /</ ><* him to 
 
 tfiat would imjilt- 
 //-. Cuni! inn in // (</.." and he would order the 
 
 III , It ll /" I I "I I " /I till. 
 
 The conclusions of the report are as follows: 
 The question M whether the House would be in 
 clined or ought to adopt any further proceedings 
 against Gnu r.il Fry touching this violation of its 
 privilege- 1 , <-./ / u itt* tl- ij-mmniitmn -./ 
 
 Mi: Btaine t relation* r. The latter is 
 
 wholly outside or the powers of your committee. 
 
 ides, all of the facts, and also the couclusionn 
 of law and tact derived therefrom which bear upon 
 the question of the propriety of an;. 
 i it i^ ii ii /n mi tin* breach </ it< />rtrii,-i/ t .<, are by your 
 ciimmitiee here submitted t tin- Ooute; and hence 
 the House will have no difficulty in deciding what 
 its action should be in this regard, and would not 
 be assisted by any mere opinion or recommendation 
 of the committee upon a question lying so peculiarly 
 within the limits of the discretion of the House and 
 to be determined by its sense of fitness. 
 
 The execution of that part of the order of the 
 House in relation to the charges against General 
 Fry and his bureau will involve an enormous 
 amount of labor and of expense, and can be prop 
 erly performed only by a committee having a com 
 petent clerk and phonographic reporter, and hav 
 ing leave to sit at the places \\here the witnesses 
 reside, and during tne sessions of the House, and 
 also during the recess of Congress. Whether, now 
 that the war is over, the public good to be attained 
 by these investigations will compensate for the 
 large expense they will involve is a consideration 
 which should receive the attention of the House. 
 
 MK. CONKLING VINDICATED. 
 
 Your committee, having fully and carefully con 
 sidered the charges against Hon. Roscoe Conkliug 
 contained in the letter of General Fry, are unaui- 
 moii-ly of opinion that none of the charges in the 
 letter, whether made directly aud openly or indi 
 rectly and covertly, have any foundation in truth, 
 aud that the <<<,/,/ ,// Mr. Conkling in relation to fii-lt. 
 of l/i iimt.i-r* iitrrstiftated by thf. committee has been 
 iili ii-- r> i>r<>ni;h, and that no circumstances sufficient 
 to excite reasonable suspicion have arisen which 
 could justify or excuse the attack made upon him 
 in the letter of General Fry. 
 
 The several charges against Hon. Roscoe Conk- 
 ling contained in the letter of General Fry being 
 unsupported by the testimony in any one material 
 particular although ample opportunity was afforded, 
 at the cost of much time and expense, to enable the 
 writer of that letter to furnish his proofs, the com 
 mittee ought not to refrain from the expression of 
 their condemnation of the deliberate act of a public 
 functionary in traducing the official as well as the 
 personal character o a member of the House of 
 Representatives of the Unned States by the publica 
 tion of a libel which he was so illy prepared 
 to sustain. Indignities offered to the character 
 or proceedings of the national legislature by 
 libellous assaults have been resented and pun 
 ished both iu England and the Uuit.nl States as 
 breaches ot privilege; and such assaults upon the 
 official character of members have been held pun 
 ishable as indignities committed against the House 
 itself. The reason for this rests upon the same 
 ground as that which justifies the exercise of simi 
 lar authority to punish fo,r at empts bv personal vio 
 lence, menace or bribes to influence thw conduct of 
 members in their official capacity. 
 
 MK. ULAINE REBUKED. 
 
 Y our committee deem it proper most earnestly to 
 protest against the practice which has obtained to 
 some extent cf causing letters from persons not 
 members of the Hou -e to be read as a part of a per 
 sonal explanation in which the motives o members 
 are criticised, their conduct censured and they are 
 called to answer for words spoken in debate. Such 
 n/" n intiitlt--rs, nia le in t/<> J/i it.<-- itself aud pub 
 lished in its proceedings and scattered broadcast to 
 the world at the expense of the goverumen , are, in 
 the opinion ot your committee, an improper check 
 upon the freedom of debate, u violation of the prici- 
 l"j-< n>l nit infraction <>f the i.liyni y of trte House. 
 
 Your committee submit for the consideration of 
 the House the following resolutions ana recommend 
 their adoption: 
 
JUSTICE TO CONK LING. 
 
 Resolved, That all the statements contained in the 
 letter of General James B. Fry to Hon. Jamea G. 
 Blaine, a member of this House, bearing date the 
 27th ot April, A. I>. 1HG6. and which was read in this 
 House on the 3uth of April, A. D. 18G6, in so lar as 
 such statements impute to the Hon. Roscue Conk- 
 ling, a member ot this House, any criminal, illegal, 
 unpatriotic or otherwise improper conduct or mo 
 tives, either as to the matter of his procuring him 
 self lo be employed by the government of the United 
 States in the prosecution of military offences iu the 
 State of New York, in the management ot such pros 
 ecutions, in taking compensation therefor, or iu any 
 other charge, are wholly without foundation in truth; 
 and for their publication there were, in the judg 
 ment of this House, no facts connected with said 
 prosecutions furnishing either a palliation or an ex 
 cuse. 
 
 BLAINE S FJUKND DENOUNCED. 
 
 Resolved, That General Fry, an officer of the gov 
 ernment of the United States and head of one of its 
 military bureaus, in writing and publisuing the?e 
 accusations named in the preceding resolution and 
 which, owing to the crimes and wrongs which they 
 impute to a member of this body, are or a nature 
 deeply injurious to the official and personal charac 
 ter, influence and privileges of such member, and 
 their publication oriyiiuiiiny, as in the judgment 
 ot the House they did, <>i nu </.-/</" < " Hxionx ot Jact*, 
 but in tt e resentment and passion of their author, 
 was guilty of a gross violation of the privileges of 
 such member and of this House, and his conduct in 
 that r.egard merits and receives its unqualified dis 
 approbation. 
 
 S. SHELLABARGER, Chairman, 
 
 W. W1NDOM, 
 
 B. M. BUYER, 
 
 B. C. COOK, 
 
 SAMUEL L. WARNER. 
 
 These resolutions, reported unanimously by the 
 committee, were adopted by the House with but 
 four dissenting votes. 
 
 III. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 This was the only occasion on which Mr. Conkling 
 and Mr. Blaine ever had any controversy. They 
 never afterward spoke or communicated with each 
 other. Mr. Conkling was wholly within the line of 
 his duty as a Representative when he called the atten 
 tion of the House to abuses and corruption in a gov 
 ernment bureau. Mr. Blaine would have done bet 
 ter to demand an investigation than merely to deny 
 the truth of Mr. Coukling s charges, concerning 
 which he knew nothing. He had no right to accuse 
 him of beiug actuated by personal motives In the 
 performance ot a public duty. When his friend, 
 General Fry, ins ead of demanding a court of in 
 quiry, preferred to commit his rage to writing, Mr. 
 Blaine violated all rules which should guide a 
 Representative by making it his own and causing it 
 to be read in the House. Thad. Stevens told Mr. 
 Conkiing, while it was being read, that it was the 
 greatest breach of the privileges of a parliamentary 
 body he had ever seen or heard of. 
 
 Air. Blaine thus made himself the carrier of a 
 sc.:rrilous attack upou Mr. Conkling, every word of 
 which the House, upou full inquiry, and with but 
 four dissouiing votes, declared originated "in no 
 /;(/>-(//" /"//-/"// "/ fm-. s, which was the equiva 
 lent of saving that it was known by its author to be 
 lalse. Tliix oil in- Mr. < <>nlJ ni never / <//-/ "< ami 
 tfiis //.-<</ calked i ,/;///// <v. Mr. Blaine never ex 
 pressed the slightest regret for what he had done. 
 Mr. Conkling never made any further allusion to it. 
 He was entirely satisfied with his vindication by the 
 House of Representatives and the rebuke adminis 
 tered to Mr. Llaine. 
 
 The above narrative, taken faithfullv from the 
 official debates in Congress : \vill demonstrate to all 
 who read it how false and frivolous is the pretence 
 that Mr. Blaine incurred Mr. Coukling s displeasure 
 by the angry outburst of coarse vulgarity above 
 quoted. Mr/Blaine s sole offence was that he made 
 
 himself the indorser of calumnies uttered by an 
 other in retaliation for charges ot grave official de 
 linquencies made by Mr. Conkling on his responsi 
 bility as a Representative, and that when the charges 
 he had thus spread on the pages of the debate and 
 through the press of the country were proven to be 
 false, and their author denounced as a wilful 
 calumniator by all but four of the votes in the 
 House of Representatives, Mr. Blame never made 
 the slightest amends for the outrage he had perpe 
 trated. 
 
 As nothing but humiliation befell him at any stage 
 of the controversy it is not strange that his reference 
 to what he termed Mr. Conkling s "strut" is all that 
 his journalistic friends -have been willing to remem 
 ber about it. 
 
 PART SECOND. 
 
 CONKLING AND HIS ENKMIES IN 1880-81. 
 Nothing in the life of Mr. Conkling is less under 
 stood than the causes which led to his resignation 
 from the Senate on the Kith of May, 1881. Tuat our 
 greatest party leader .should voluntarily go into 
 eclipse at the beginning of an administration which, 
 after his party had named its candidates, he con 
 tributed more than any other man to bring into 
 power, was well calculated to confound all political 
 estimates aud to cause exciting debate as to the 
 sufficiency of his reasons therefor. To make those 
 rea-ous understood it will be necessary to present a 
 review of the controversies of which the resignation 
 was the culmination. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE RESIDENTIAL NOMINATION <>K 1S80. 
 
 The choice of delegates througuout the country in 
 1880 resulted in the election of a fair majority iu the 
 National Convention com.ini.ted to the nomination 
 of General Grant. The republican conventions of 
 Pennsylvania and New York were held early, and 
 the delegates therefrom, cnoseu iu the usual man 
 ner, were ins rue ted to vote for him. The unit rule 
 was not in the least degree s>ential, so far as the 
 New York delegates were concerned, for they were 
 chosen upon their own assurances, or acquiescence 
 in those made for them by friends, that they would 
 support him at Chicago. No man could have been 
 elected a delegate who was deemed doubtful on the 
 question. 
 
 Shortly after the Pennsylvania and New York State 
 conventions had been held and the delegates from 
 those Sta os chosen it \\as announced that certain 
 delegates in both Sta:e.s would not regard pledges or 
 instructions, but would vote lor Mr. Biaiue. Enough 
 others similarly situated followed their example to 
 change the majority in the National Convention 
 away from General Grant. In that Convention thirty- 
 five ballots were taken without reaching a result. 
 
 Wnen the struggle was near its highe.si stage of in 
 tensity Mr. Conkling was offered from the opposi 
 tion more than enough support when added to the 
 invincible stalwart column to make nim :he nomi 
 nee. His reply to them, as 1 had it from his own 
 lip.--, was: "i could not be nominated iu any event, 
 for if I were to receive every other voie in the Con 
 vention my own would still be lacking, aud that I 
 would not give. I am here to support General 
 Grant to the end." 
 
 Had he then intimated to any one friend iu 
 Chicago that, with General Grant s approval, he 
 would enter the lists when hopes for the nomination 
 of his chief had ceased, that approval would un 
 doubtedly have been received as soon as the wires 
 could have exchanged the messages; but his loyalt/ 
 was not of that make. He would have felt degraded 
 to have borne off an honor for wnich he had con 
 tended in behalf of another, and so h> battled stead 
 fastly to the end. 
 
 When it was evident that General Grant could not 
 be defeated by Mr. Blaiue, and doubtful it he could 
 bi beaten at all, a slow movement toward Garlield 
 was followed by an increasing vote, which soon de 
 veloped into a prearranged stampede, aud the Sher 
 man men (ailing into line by Sherman s own bidding 
 by telegraph, tho thirty-sixth ballot resulted in Gar- 
 neld s nomination. 
 
 The stalwart 300 voted aa cheerfully for General 
 Grant during the last ballot as they had on any 
 other. When it was manifest that Garlield had been 
 nominated, they stood firmly by their colors; not 
 one changing his vote over to the victor. An exhi 
 bition of unwavering lo . alty ne\er before witnessed 
 in a political battle. JO the sturdy fidelity of each 
 delegate was mainly due the solid front thus pre 
 sented, but it is not detracting from them to say 
 that their pride in the unrivalled leadership of Roa- 
 
GA.BFIELDS DUPLICITY SHOWN. 
 
 coe Coukling made their well organized ranks proof 
 against panic, false movements, or flual surrender 
 until after Oarfield bad been actually declared tin- 
 nominee, and then, on motion of Senator Conkling, 
 the nomination was maue unanimous. 
 
 No sooner had Garfield been nominated than Ins 
 Bunporters were demoralized and panic stricken. 
 They saw that most dangerously they had prevailed. 
 Governor Denis. >n, o; Ohio, was deputed 10 request 
 Senator Conklim: to indicate a preference in the 
 nomination yt to be made for the Vico 1 r- s d.-ncy. 
 Ho sternly refused to make any suggestion. Th-n 
 the XHW York delegation was requested to present a 
 name and the Convention took a recess. The dele 
 gates conferred, and designated Chester A. Arthur. 
 Although Mr. Conkling withheld bia approval Gen 
 eral Aivhur consented to the use of his name, and 
 was nominated. 
 
 II. 
 
 THK GARFIELD fAMl AION. 
 
 The nomination of Garfield was for a few hours 
 thj subject of elation and rejoicing among the 
 enemies of General Grant, and the nominee was 
 accompanied on his journey back to Ohio by a 
 group of effervescent friend". Twice on the way his 
 chief lieutenant publicly thanked God for having de 
 livered the country from Grant. The well organized 
 anti-Grant proas belched out in concert its delight 
 that at last the republican party had been emanci 
 pated from the baneful influence of Grant and Conk- 
 ling and their stalwart supporters. The contest in 
 the National Convention was treated by them as 
 though it had been a war of extermina ion between 
 the two factions, in which tlie victory of the one was 
 to be followed bv the casting of the other into outer 
 darkness, where there should be weeping and wailing 
 and gnashing of teeth. Henceforth only those who 
 bad been opposed to General Grant were to be re 
 garded as republicans, and the republican party, 
 having prevailed in live successive Presidential elec 
 tions, was expected to be none the less invincible 
 now with the stalwarts eliminated. 
 
 But while these joyful thoughts were yet animat 
 ing the ranks of those who had oy devious methods 
 controlled the Convention, the party was confronted 
 in the democratic press with the damaging record of 
 its candidate, copied iroiu the tiles of leading re 
 publican newspapers in 1873. Even the most foolish 
 of his friends began to see that for once a republi 
 can nomination was not equivalent to an election. 
 
 Meanwhile the silence of the stalwarts was becom 
 ing oppressive. The "Ohio idea" of 1880 was that, 
 while the Grant men were to be read out of he 
 p.irty, and to have no further part in its manage 
 ment, they were not thereby relieved from their 
 duty to shout and vote for the nominees. Senator 
 Conkling was the object of unsparing de 
 nunciation, through the din of which he was 
 expected to shout, "Great is Garfield!" His 
 bearing at this time was full or dignity and com 
 posure. He neither replied (o his enemies nor in 
 truded into their counsels. They were in charge of 
 the campaign, and he put no impediment in their 
 way either by favoring or opposing them. If they 
 were hincere in what they said of hiaa, his support 
 of General Garfield would in their view have been 
 an injury to the cause. He waited for this tempest 
 ot fohy to subside. 
 
 General Garrteld verv soon saw his peril, and has 
 tened to repair some of the blunders of his clumsy 
 supporters. He visited Washington the same month 
 (June), while Congress was still in session, and re 
 ceived the adulation of those who pay court to all 
 who may by any possibility obtain official power. 
 He sought a private interview at that tirna with 
 Senator Conkling. who neither refused not- 
 granted it. but simplv evaded it. 1 learned 
 subsequently from the Senator that his 
 reason for evading a meeting with General Garneld 
 was that he was unwilling to trust to the latter s im 
 perfect memory ot a private conversation, ho. -ever 
 unimportant. There was. he thought, no pressing 
 necessity for any private conference, a* there could 
 be nothing between them that required secrecy. He 
 knew tuat the eager partisans of both were desirous 
 that an opportunity should be given for a free con 
 ference as to their future relations. He had no de 
 mands to make, no favors to ask, no terms to pro 
 pose. His party actions were never based on ad 
 vantages to himself, and therefore no meeting with 
 General Garneld would Hasten or delay his entrance 
 to the campaign. So far as any assurances were con 
 cerned that the appointing power of the President 
 would not be used for the purpose of crippling or 
 controlling the party in New York, as it had been 
 under Hayes, he wanted none. He despised pledges 
 
 because from the true they were unnecessary and 
 from the false they were worthless. 
 
 The celebrated Fifth avenue conference in August 
 was contrived for the purpose r gi vin<r General Gar 
 field a pretext for visiting New York, when it was 
 thought Mr. Cuukliug could not avoid a meeting 
 with him. Hut the .stalwart leader saw the trap and 
 absented himself from the city. Never were Gar- 
 held and Coukling alone together for a single mo 
 ment at any time until more than three months 
 after the election, and never did they have any com 
 munication with each other, directly or indirectly, 
 on the subject of appointments to office in New 
 York until sixteen days after General Garneld n 
 inauguration as President, and then the con 
 versation was wholly or the latter s seeking. 
 Wuen Senator Conkling met General Garneld at 
 Mentor on the day of the Warren meeting there 
 was not a word of private conversation, and no 
 opportunity afforded for one by the former. When 
 at one time it st-enied that they were about to be left 
 together Senator t. onkling requested a faithful per 
 sonal friend, not in public life, who accompanied 
 him, to remain by his side, which he did. There 
 was no "treaty at Mentor" or elsewhere, and all 
 statements to that effect are the merest fables of 
 fancy and utterly without foundation in fact. I have 
 dwelt at length upon this branch of the subject for 
 the purpose of giving my testimony, based upon Mr. 
 Conkling s personal assurances to me, that the 
 meanness sometimes attributed to him of dickering 
 for places for his followers as the price or condition 
 of his support of General Garneld was of a piece 
 with the other slander* of his enemies. 
 
 As Maine was tne theatre of the earliest State elec 
 tion all the energies of the new leaders of the party 
 were concentrated on that con est. Mr. Blame was, 
 of course, in chief command, and had unlimited 
 means placed at his disposal, as well as every stump 
 speaker he saw tit to invite. The result was a demo 
 cratic victory in September. 
 
 The party "was now in utter despair, and the demo 
 crats were jubilant over tLe anticipation of certain 
 victory. Garneld was wrought up toanajonv of 
 excitement, because, as he said, if he was defeated 
 it would be under charges ot official misconduct, 
 and such a result would be much more serious in 
 its effects upon him than would the loss of a strictly 
 political contest. 
 
 It was known of all men that Senator Coukliug 
 alone could save the party, and to him all eyes were 
 turned. He had long before assured General Arthur 
 that the State Central Committee ot New York could 
 command his service- for a given time, to speak at 
 any places in the country they might designate, as 
 soon as he could free himself from pro essioual en 
 gagements. To retrieve the unlocked for disaster in 
 Maine would require no common effort. Indiana 
 and Ohio were to hold State elec ions in October, 
 ana unless they could both be carried the cause was 
 lost. 
 
 Senator Conkling now prepared himself to bear his 
 share of the burden. He had first to buy back from 
 his clients the services he had engaged to perform 
 for them. To do this he actually returned to them 
 $18,000 which he had received as retainers. This 
 was his contribution in money to the Garfield cam- 
 pait- U. I had this statement irom him personally. 
 
 General Arthur had consulted with General Gar- 
 field as to the places at which meetings should be 
 held to be addressed by Senator Coukling and Gen 
 eral Grant, for the latter had meanwhile overcome 
 his well known reluctance to speak, and had con 
 sented to accompany Mr. Conkling on the tour. 
 General Garfield selected Warren, Cleveland and 
 Cincinnati as the places for meetings in Ohio. After 
 addressing a monster meeting at the Academy of 
 Music in New York, on the 17th of September. Sena 
 tor Coukling travelled west to keep the appointments 
 made for him in that region. General Grant was to 
 meet him at Warren. The history of politics in this 
 country records no instmce where, within a 
 like period, the speeches of one man pro 
 duced such an effect as did those of Senator 
 Conkling in that month of September. Never before 
 were such multitudes assembled together. Never 
 before were great popular assemblages so swayed by 
 any man if Mr. Clay be alone excep 1. The party 
 was aroused as it had not been since th war. Hope 
 succeeded to despair. The tide of battle was turned, 
 and when the great New Yorker had spoken at 
 Warren, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indiauapoiis and 
 Lafayette he had saved the day. General Grant s 
 presence and his brief and striking addresses, espe 
 cially the model one at Warren, were most im 
 portant elements in this unrivalled campaign, but 
 the ma chieas eloquence of Coukling touched the 
 
JUSTICE TO CONKLING. 
 
 popular heart and brought out the reserves of the 
 party for the result which they alone could insure. 
 
 The election of Governor Porter in Indiana in Oc 
 tober made republican success possible in New York, 
 but that result was only finally assured by the 
 triumphal march of Grant andConkling through the 
 State on iheir return from the Went to New York 
 city. Who will pretend that but for the exertions 
 of these two patriotic men and faithful republicans 
 there was the least chance for Garfield to carry In 
 diana or New York or to be elected President? 
 
 The election of Garlield and Arthur was, as we 
 have seen, made apparently impossible by the loss 
 of Maine under Blaine s leadership in September. It 
 was made again possible by the work ot General 
 Grant and Senator Conkling in Ohio and Indiana in 
 October, and made certain by their final efforts in 
 New York. The effect this result had upon the men 
 named in this paragraph is one of the strangest 
 stories in human history. To that I now invite the 
 reader s attention. 
 
 Ill- 
 
 THK GARFIELD CABINET. 
 
 After the election General Garfiold visited Wash 
 ington, and the discovery was soon made that he 
 had decided to disappoint the expectations of the 
 friends of Levi P. Mor.on, who had been assured 
 that he would be tendered the Treasury Depart 
 ment. Mr. Morton s position among the bankers of 
 New York was such that, being told that if Garlield 
 was elected he would be made Secretary of tlie 
 Treasury, they took an unusual interest in the cam 
 paign and contributed very largely to the campaign 
 fund. His appointment would have given confi 
 dence to the country and peace to the republican 
 party in New York. But he was too faithlul a friend 
 to Grant and Conkling to be eligible for the place. 
 
 Mr. Blaine had taken no conspicuous part in the 
 campaign after the humiliating disaster at the 
 September eleciiou in his own State. His term a* 
 Senator was to expire in 1SH3 and the prospect for 
 his re-election was no. encouraging. It was well 
 known that the democratic victory in September was 
 the result of republican revolt Irom his leadership. 
 Garlield had been his lieutenant in the House of 
 representatives, but now exhibited a desire to take 
 command himself in fact as well as in name. A 
 place in the Cabinet seemed the only refuge for him, 
 and to the securing of that he now bent all his 
 energies. I know of supporters of Grant one a 
 Senator and another a Representative to whom he 
 personally applied for letters to Garfield recom 
 mending his appointment as Secretary of State. It 
 is fair to presume hat there were other stalwarts of 
 whom he requested assistance at that time. 
 
 He wrote a letter to Garfield himself promising to 
 support him for a second term, and desperately 
 arguing that the strength he had shown in two 
 national conventions ought to be sufficient evidence 
 that the bargain would be most advantageous to 
 Garfield. This letter subsequently found its way 
 into print. 
 
 It is known that up to the last week before inaugu 
 ration Mr. lUaine was still in doubt whether he 
 would be appointed. Garlield had said that "a man 
 elected to the Presidency had no recourse but to go 
 through bankruptcy." These were ominous words 
 for his political creditors, for they showed that he 
 had incurred liabilities far in excess of his as -els. 
 But Mr. Blaine was made a preferred creditor and 
 became Secretary of State. 
 
 Meanwhile Mr. Conkling pursued the even tenor 
 of his way. having no pledges to be redeemed and 
 claiming no voice in the incoming administration, 
 which would >o largelv owe its e isteuce to the 
 inagnaniinitv of General Grant and himself. 
 
 Late in February he received a letter ! ronr Gar- 
 field requesting his presence at Mentor. It was nu- 
 pr. >sivi :iy inystHnoua concealed within several 
 envelopes, and the inner one bore some legend 
 which bespoke everlasting secrecy. Very soon after 
 Mr. Conkling had received it a friend came in and 
 said, "You are going, are yon not?" showing that 
 the President elect had taken the precaution to 
 notify a mutual friend of this invitation, the 
 receipt and contents of which Mr. Conkling 
 was never to divulge. He immediately star ed to 
 Mentor, arriving there February 10, and leaving the 
 evening of that day. Upon his return he told me 
 that he had, at Garfield s request, stopped at Albany 
 and delivered an inviiation to Judge Folder to visit 
 Mentor. He sai I, so ^ar as he could judge from 
 what Garfield had said, the Treasury Department 
 would be ottered ei her t>> that gentleman or i 
 Timothy O. Howe, of Wisconsin. Judge Folger wont 
 
 ship, which he promptly declined. Mr. Morton had 
 been tendered the Navy Depar.ment in December 
 and had declined it. 
 
 When the day arrived for nominating the Cabinet 
 the Empire State was given .he appointment of 
 Thomas L. James, theu Postmaster at New York, as 
 Postmaster General. MacYeagh was made Attorney 
 General. 
 
 James F. Wilson was denied the Secretaryship of 
 the Treasury after its tender to him, and Mr. 
 Allison was thought to be sure of the place up to 
 midnight of the 3d of March. He was then set 
 aside and Mr. Windom was selected, Iowa being 
 given the Interior Department for Mr. Kirkwooil. 
 The appoininient of Mr. Lincoln as Secretary of 
 War was deemed a fair offering to the stalwarts, and 
 as he had favored the nomination of General Grant 
 the recognition that he was a republican at all 
 seemed quite a show of liberality. Mr. limit s main 
 qualification for the Navy Department \\as that ho 
 was a Southerner, and though not an offensive 
 partisan, nevertheless nominally a republican. 
 IV. 
 
 THK SKNATK. 
 
 While the Cabinet was thus kept free from any 
 element through which Mr. Coukliug might inter- 
 ten with the plans for overthrowing his leader.-hip 
 in New York, the President elect had not slumbered 
 in the matter of having the support, of a majority in 
 the Senate. Being at Indianapolis on the day of the 
 Presidential elec ion. General Garfield request* ! m 
 to stop and see him on my way from thence to New 
 Yi.rk. This took me to Mentor within two or three 
 days af.er the election. Jle expressed a strong de 
 sire to secure a republican majority iu the Senate. 
 The only doub ful Sena or among those already 
 elected was GeneivJ M.ihone, of Virginia, who had 
 been chosen in opposition to the regular democratic 
 candidate by the aiu of republican votes. He could 
 make a tie in the Senate by acting with the republi 
 cans. He could give the demo. -rats a majority of 
 two by acting with them. 
 
 I said to General Garfield that General Mahone 
 would naturally be with us if he was not driven oft , 
 b.it that he (Garfield) had been reported in .some 
 newspaper since the election as having alluded to 
 him as a "repuuiator." He detiied with energy that 
 he had made anv remark whatever unfriendly to or 
 disparaging of Mahone, and authorized me to siy .so 
 to him. He approved the idea of endeavoring to 
 secure his co-operation with the republican aide of 
 the Sena e. 
 
 He then opened the subject of the approaching 
 Senatorial election iu the State or New York, and 
 said that in that connection I could render him very 
 essential service. HH declared with much positive- 
 ness of words and manner that he should not at any 
 time nor in any manner attempt to exert any influ 
 ence upon that election. But he said that whatever 
 he did or omitted to do, he expected to be accused 
 of such interference, and he wante 1 me to know in 
 advance that such charges would be unfounded. 
 lie tho ight thit I would know whether 
 or not he was being understood by my friends 
 as interfering, and hoped 1 would let him 
 know if for any reason they should at any 
 time suspect him of bad taith. I u as struck 
 with the animation with which he defended himself 
 against charges formed only in his own mind, and 
 promised to let him know if at any time tho appear- 
 ances should be against him. Subsequent events left 
 no room to doubt that he \\as at that very time bent 
 on Mr. Conklinu s political overthrow, and that he was 
 endeavoring to make the task an easy one by cr.u ty 
 and insincere pro.essioiis of non-interteronc e. The 
 Denver /> > />iti,/ii;in in -May, issl, published the 
 statement that "soon after the election < .overnor 
 Foster, of Ohio, wrote a letter to Whitehtw Keid, of 
 tin- New York Trtbunf, in which he s;ated that Mr. 
 (iartield desired the New York Legislature organi/ed 
 against Conkling, and t.,at an anti-Conkliug man bo 
 sent to the Senaie." 
 
 Mr. Conkiing \\ as told of a letter from Mr. Koid to 
 General Garfield, written immediately at er ihe elec 
 tion, advising unrelenting \\ar upoii him i onkling), 
 to which Garfield had favorably responded. 
 
 This war upon Mr. Coukling was formally opened 
 in the New York Tnbunr on the :til of January, 1-1, 
 in a double leaded editorial by Mr. Keid, in which he 
 said: 
 
 "The time seems fit for at least one statement 
 about the approaching administration of President 
 Garlield. It is not to be used as a make weight iu 
 pending Senatorial contests, whether in New \ork or 
 elsewhere. We are fully authorized to aay this, and 
 
GAKFIKLD S DUPLICITY SHOWN. 
 
 9 
 
 "It is proper further to say that the incoming ad 
 ministration will see to it that the men from N- -w . 
 York and from other States who had the courage at 
 Cbicaeo to obey the wishes of tln-ir district* in the 
 Oallotiugs for J . and who thus finally von d 
 
 for Gartield, shall not Hiitt rr tor it nor lo,<> by it." 
 
 The object of this was clear. It was an offensive 
 assumption that an unauthorized effort would be 
 made to use the name and power of the incoming 
 administration "as a makeweight in pending - 
 torial elections" in behalf of ib"-t> to whom the 
 Ti ibtii.f was opposed. Jt was a --ciiii-othcial proclama 
 tion bv tho President elect that he leared false rep 
 resentations would be made of his riendline>s to 
 the men who had supported Grant at Chicago. And 
 finally it was a blustering and quarrelsome an 
 nouncement that the Senator 10 be elected would be 
 expected to obey the wisner- of the new President in 
 the matter of rewarding with federal appointments 
 "the men from New York and from other States" 
 who had violated both their pledges and their instruc 
 tions when tiiey deserted Grant to vote, first lor 
 Blaine and then for Garh eld, at Chi 
 
 Mr. Keid appeared on the scene at Albany soon 
 after tnis, and as some of the newspapers said. 
 with written credentials from Jay Gould as to his 
 mission. Mr. Gould had been exirem -ly liberal dur 
 ing the campaign, and it was an open secret that 
 General Garh eld had in return given a testimonial 
 in writing, and xigneu with his own name, into the 
 bands of Keid, to be safely kept by him as Gould s 
 (security that his generosity should not go unre 
 warded. The promise said to have been contained 
 in that document was redeemed when Gartield be 
 came President. It related to the | erfoncance of 
 an official ac r of the highest iuipor.ance, and the 
 sum said to have been paid for it in advance during 
 the campaign was f luo.wn. The possession of this 
 letter by Reid suggests an explanation of the free 
 dom with which he gave advice to Garh eld and the 
 alacrity with which it was followed. 
 
 The NEW \ < UK HEKALU published long afterward 
 the following telegram sent by Jay Gould to White- 
 law Reid while the latter was at Albany engineering 
 the Senatorial election. It was dated Jaur.arv TJ, 
 1881: 
 
 I quite asrree with you as to our choice. If 
 Depew is out o the field which ought to be known 
 in the morning I think th"u it would be well for 
 you to get pledge from Platt and elect him if pos 
 sible. How would it do for you to wire Depew and 
 get his view of his own chances first? "J. G." 
 
 The whole number of members of the Legislature 
 wa< 160. Of these lor, were republicans si votes 
 were necessary to elect a Senator. If twenty-seven 
 republicans could have been induced to remain out 
 of the caucus and could have secured the fifty-four 
 democratic members to vote with them for Depew it 
 would undoubtedly have been done. But the Reid- 
 Administration -Gould-Depew faction in the Legisla 
 ture numbered then only thirteen. They were 
 powerless for any other purpose than to decide the 
 contes*; in the republican caucus between the two 
 stalwart candidates Crowley and Platt. They voted 
 for Platt, who was nominated January i;t. and after 
 ward dulv elected. 
 
 The administration was more powerful in Penn 
 sylvania. There the Legislature consis ed of 2~<o 
 members; of these !.">:{ were repubiic.ms. On the 
 same night that Platt was nominated by the repub 
 lican Senatorial caucus in New York H. K. Oliver 
 was nomin tied by the republican Senatorial caujus 
 in Pennsylvania. He received two more than a 
 majority of all the republican votes, but the Biaine- 
 Gartield faction absented themselves in numbers 
 sufficient, if joined with the democrats, to prevent 
 the election of the republican candidate. This 
 minority of the republican members made a dead 
 lock which lasted just forty days, when the major 
 ity, unwilling to peril the political complexion of 
 the United Scales Senate, surrendered and joined in 
 the election of Mr. Mitchell, another republican 
 more agreeable to the minority. 
 
 GABFIELD S COUNTER COALITIONS WITH VAHONE AND 
 
 BEN HILL. 
 
 While these factious proceedings were going on 
 in the two great States of New York and Pennsyl 
 vania General Gartield was forming an alliance wi th 
 General Mahoue on the basis of a fusion between 
 the readj listers and the republicans at the next fall 
 election in Virginia, and another alliance with Sen 
 ator Ben Hill and other Southern leaders against 
 Mahone, and all other Southern independents not 
 acceptable to them. 
 
 AS these extraordinary movements in opposite di 
 rections have a direct bearing on. and were indeed a 
 part of, the tactics in the war made upon Mr < 
 an/, a brief account of them is necessarv at this 
 time. Tne story will be new to most reader?-. 
 
 As before stated. General Garfield Bent by me to 
 General Mahone a friendly message immediately after 
 the election, assuring him that he had i. 
 an unfriendly remirk attributed to him in some 
 new>| ral -Mahoi;e had told me during the 
 
 spring of i>vvi that he should never again affiliate 
 wilh the democratic organization of Virginia. Ho 
 would probably have supported General Gr.tnt had 
 he been nominated. He gave his p >werful aid to 
 Gram s friends in the. choice of a solid delegation 
 from Virginia for his nomination at Chicago. But 
 ior him it would have been for Sherman, not for 
 Blaine, who had then fe:v, if any, republican follow 
 ers in the State. He did not support Garh eld, tor if 
 he had it would have disbanded L is readjuster 
 party. But the electors who cast tho vote 
 of Virginia for Hancock received no support from 
 the readjusters. The latter polled m.Wui votes tor an 
 independent electoral ticket pledged to Hancock. 
 General Mahoue said that his followers could carry 
 the s:ate in 1H81 for free elections and equal ru-ht~- 
 if reinforced by the republicans, but that he feared 
 a general disbandmeut of his party if at that time 
 an effort should be made to marshal them under 
 the republic in name. He favored a fusion, and 
 said if it co Id be accomplished he would be justi 
 fied in giving the administration his support in the 
 Senate. I told him a fusion could doubtless be 
 made if he would aavise with the leaders of our 
 party with reference to th Virginia debt 
 question; that his scheme jarred on the 
 Northern ear and was not properly understood. 
 He expiesseu a desire and intention to keep within 
 the rules recognized everywhere as governing the 
 settlement of disputed questions as to public debts, 
 and was anxious to be heard on the subject. An 
 interview followed, at which were present Senators 
 Allison and Don Cameron; Representative L. P. 
 Morton, Charles E. Smith, of the Philadelphia / 
 Frank A. Burr and myself. Riddleberger and Wise, 
 of Virginia, were also present. Three or four 
 hours were occupied in listening to General 
 Ivlahoue s statement, and explanations of the same 
 in response to questions. All present highly ap 
 proved his views. He demonstrated that Vir 
 ginia was being robbed by a false state 
 ment of the public debt in a funding act 
 passed in her Legislature several years before 
 by notoriously corrupt means. It was agreed 
 that he should reduce what he had said to writ ng, 
 and that before it was printed the Northern men 
 present would ail go to Mentor and present it to 
 General Gartield for his opinion. When it was 
 ready Senator Allison and Mr. Morton were unable 
 to go. but both requested me to express to Gartield 
 iheir hearty and unqualified approval of the views 
 it contained, and to .-ay that the republican party 
 could well afford to go before the country in support 
 of the measure for the settlement of the Virginia 
 debt advocated by General Mahone. 
 
 At Mentor I read the paper to General Garheld, at 
 his request, in the presence of the other gentlemen 
 named to wit, Don Cameron, Charles E. Smith and 
 Frank A. Burr. 
 
 His comment upon it was in these words: "As 
 suming the facts to be as stated in that paper, and I 
 do not mean by that remark to call them in ques 
 tion I merely use that form of expression assum 
 ing the facts to be correct, it is an honest docu 
 ment." Then followed an explanation of the pro 
 posed fusion, which he favored if the parties could 
 agree upon it. He then explicitly authorized Senator 
 amerou to assure General Mahone of his political 
 fellowship, and to tell him that he should at all 
 times give the same consideration to his views an I 
 advice concerning the affairs of his State as he ac 
 corded to other administration Senators. This con 
 versation took place on the 30th of December. 
 I presented General Mahone to him after the 
 inauguration, and they advised together in my 
 presence as to the best method of forming the ^ ir- 
 gmia coalition. Mahoue favored the elec ion f del 
 egates to one convention by all votes favorable to 
 the coalition. Garfield advised the separate election 
 of delegates to two conventions (republican and re- 
 adjuster), and then a fusion of those bodies. The 
 President was deferred to and the latter course 
 adopted. >. 
 
 This latter conversation was in March, and yet 
 more than a month before this and more than a 
 month after his message from Mentor to Mahone by 
 Don C-imeron General Garneld penned the following 
 
io 
 
 JUSTICE TO CONKLING. 
 
 lines to D. H. Chamberlain, ex-Governor of South 
 Carolina: 
 
 "I agree with you in regarding the action of the 
 national administration in all Southern appoint 
 ments as deserving more care and stricter principle 
 than seem to have marked some past administra 
 tions, and I am ready to say explicitly that I agree 
 fully wish you in your vie;\s of Mahoue and his 
 party." 
 
 The views of Chamberlain thus indorsed by Gar- 
 field were contained in a letter the latter was then 
 answering and were in the following words: 
 
 "The basis of Mahone s party is repudiation. 
 Now to countenance Mahone under any 
 stress of so-called political ail vantage or necessity, 
 as I believe Mr. Jewell and Mr. Gorham did in the 
 last campaign, and as some prominent republicans 
 an- now advising, is to betray and dishonor our 
 party and the cause of good government, which is 
 above all parties. Better by far aid tin; regular de 
 mocracy of Virginia, who on this issue are compara 
 tively honorable. Suppose Mahoue does say be is 
 in favor of giving the republicans their rights. He 
 la only in favor ot this provided he can gain greater 
 political power thereby for himself and his faction." 
 
 This letter of Chamberlain s was dated January 
 J4, 1*81. The answer was dated February a. They 
 did not come to light tor more than two years after 
 ward, when they appeared in the Washington ( a/,- 
 t/al of October 7, 1883. General Gartield cou:inued 
 to be the professed friend of the Virginia coalition 
 up to the last, so far as General Mahone and his 
 friends knew, but in his action he secretly carried 
 out his assurance to Chamberlain that he agreed 
 fully wi.h him that it uas "better by far" to"aid 
 the regular democracy of Virginia." 
 
 At sjine period between the election and inaugu- 
 ra ion Senator Ben Hill, of Georgia, favored Garfield 
 with his advice, and found him as apt and complying 
 a pupil as he had been to Chamberlain. Hill related 
 the story to Colonel Frank A. Burr after Garneld s 
 death. He said lie was animated by a desire to 
 head oil Mahone, whoso example was contagious, 
 and, if supplemented by the approval and support of 
 the administration, would result in disaster and 
 ruin to the democratic party. Hill sang to Gartield 
 tin- same tune with Chamberlain viz., that oulv 
 "good men" must be appointed to office in the 
 South, and not any of those vile coalitionists who 
 were pursuing the only tae ics that could endanger 
 the democratic solidity of the South. Gartield fully 
 committed himself to Uili s projects, and a memo 
 randum of their agreement was made and ratified at 
 a meeting of Southerners, called together by the 
 latter for that purpose. 
 
 PART THIHD. 
 
 THE ASSAULT ON CONKLING. 
 
 Garfield s coalition with Mahone came in collision 
 with his coalition with Ben Hili at the very outset. 
 \Vhen Mahone announced in the Senate his purpose 
 to co-operate with the republicans a stormy debate en 
 sued, in which high words were exchanged be. ween 
 him and Hill. Friends of the President, ignorant of 
 his conflicting arrangements with both sides, ranged 
 themselves on the side of the Virginian by whoso 
 vote they were about to appoint the committees of the 
 Senate. Mrs. Gartield, innocent of the mischief she 
 was doing, sent a bouquet from the White House 
 conservatory the next morning to be placed on Gen 
 eral Mahone s desk. The republican caucus formed 
 its list of standing committees, and upon the ques 
 tion of appointing them the Senate was tied, Mahone 
 voting with the republicans. Vice President Arthur 
 gave the casting vote in the aflirmative, and there- 
 publicans prevailed. This was on Frida , the IHth of 
 March. Tlie Senate then adjourned until Moiulav, 
 the Jl>t. 
 
 The 1 resiucnt was wholly unaware that his alli 
 ance with Hill and the Southerners had been dis 
 turbed by his rounter alliance with Mahone. He 
 only \\anted to use the latter to secure the com 
 mittees of the Senate for his political friends, and 
 he would then be ready to consult, with Hill as to 
 the benefits to be mutually derived from their anti- 
 Mahone alliance. He had now no fur. her IIM> for 
 a republican Senate; indeed, a republican Senate, 
 with party lines tightly drawn, would obstruct th o 
 purpose he had in view viz., ihe discom h ture of 
 Senator Conkling and the proscription ot the sup- 
 por ers ot General Grpnt. He now wanted demo 
 cratic votes enough in the Senate to make him in 
 dependent of all republicans who might protest 
 against his proposed assault upon Conkling, He 
 
 believed his arrangements with Hill and others for 
 that purpose were complete, and accordingly com 
 menced operations. 
 
 THi: (iARFIELD-CONKLING INTERVIEW. 
 
 His first move was to invite Mr. Conkling to the 
 White House on the L uth of March. The interview 
 then had continued for three hours, iind Mr. Conk 
 ling said to me, "If it had been with General Grant 
 it could not have been more agreeable." Never was 
 an irritating word spoken by either side Not a re 
 quest was preferred by Mr. Conkling nor a recom 
 mendation made. His opinion concerning various 
 applicants for places in New York was asked and 
 frankly given. President Garneld remarked that he 
 would be expected to do something bv wav of recog 
 nizing some of the New York delegate! who had 
 voiei for him at Chicago. The name of William H 
 Robertson was discussed, but not for any place of 
 leading importance. The District Attorneyship was 
 mentioned by the President. Mr. Coukliuji said. 
 "I do not think he would want that, as he has not 
 been in the habit of arguing eases." To this the 
 President seemed to assent, and other places were 
 discussed. Mr. Conkliug advised the President to 
 place Mr. Robertson in no place where a want of 
 integrity could operate inj r.riously to the government 
 This was said in good faith, and not for the purpose 
 Of giving offence, and w.is so accepted. He suggested 
 the Consul Generalship at Montreal and several 
 other lucrative places. The President asked him if 
 he would not make up a li-t of what could properly 
 and agreeably to him and his friends be done for 
 some of tho (iarheld delegates from New York at 
 Chicago. The Senator replied that he would much 
 rather have General Arthur s judgment than his 
 own in such a matter, as he thought that gentleman 
 had a better faculty than he had for filing men to 
 suitable places. The President then requested him 
 in connection with General Arthur to "prepare a 
 proyef lor this purpose and give it to him. 
 
 Senator fonkliug was so favorably impressed 
 with the President s apparently amicable intentions 
 that he asked him what he thougnt 01 doing about 
 the New York Custom House, lie realized that re 
 publican ascendancy in the State might be endan 
 gered by any repeti ion or efforts like tho e of Mr. 
 Haves to control the party by the nse of federal 
 spoils against its natural tendencies. 
 
 To Mr. Conkling s inquiry the President responded 
 that, as General Merrir, the incumbent Collector, 
 had but a year more to serve, he thought be would 
 make no change until the end ot his term. This was 
 a mistake, and Mr. Conkliug corrected it 
 informing the President that GeLeral Her- 
 ritt was not commissioned until 1879, and 
 that his term would not expire for two 
 years viz.. in 1H8:5. This the President said would, 
 of course, make a difference, but that be would not 
 be able to take the matter up for a considerable 
 time not until "the mob" arouu I him had dis 
 persed. He said that whenever he was ready to con 
 sider the subject he would notit v tho Senator, and 
 asked him to have in readiness for such an occasion 
 all recommendations or other papers he might re 
 ceive meanwhile, and they would advise together 
 freely. He expressly and unequivocally assured 
 Senator Conkling that he would take no action what 
 ever concerning the New York Collectorsbip without 
 lirst in-ely and fully consulting wi h him. This as 
 surance was entirely voluntary. The interview ter 
 minated in the mosr friendly manner, and tne next 
 day Mr. CoriKling received a plea^unt note from ihe 
 President reminding him of his promise to attend to 
 a certain matter in which he felt an interest. 
 
 II. 
 
 ROHKUTSON XOMINAT1 1> 1 < >K NEW YORK COLLECTOR- 
 SHU . 
 
 Two days afterward, on the 22d. a number of N u- 
 York appointments were sent in, the ,,,ost of which 
 were taksn from among Mr. Conkling s friends, but. 
 as before stated, not at his re|iie>t. Having thus 
 prepared the public mind to believe that the ad- 
 ministration was friendly to Mr. Conkling. first by 
 the interview and second by nominating some of 
 bib irieiula to othces of no political importance, the 
 President on the following day dealt him the blow 
 vhich he believed would lead to his political over 
 throw. On Wednesday, the -j:fd of March, the Pi 
 dent s private secretary entered the Chamber \\ith 
 a ni ^-a^e from the President. Amon<_ tho names 
 it contained was that of William H. Kobertson to be 
 Collector of New York the man who bad been the 
 ringleader at Chicago of the betrayers of Grant. 
 
GARFIELD S DITLK IT\ 
 
 11 
 
 Not only was this the violatlou of a voluntary 
 promise made to >.-n;it..r ( oukliug, but it was also. 
 as General Arthur informed me. a violation of the 
 piedge voluntarily made to him at New Yor,, 
 vious to the election. Similar assurances had been 
 given Senator Halt. It was manifest that it ua> the 
 President s intmi. ion t f..rce Mr. < nlJin^ int. an 
 attitude of hostility to ir.m and lo make h.m appear 
 the aggressor, lie told a distinu Ui-he.d I. . n -an 
 officer of tin- Trea-ur\ I>epar:ment that he had 
 "Conkliut: tn light anyhow, and ho tnought he might 
 an well bring it on at the beginning of hi-^ tern:." 
 
 Mr. Conkling met tin- crisis with stoic*! com 
 posure. 1 saw him alouo iuimediatel v upon tin- ad 
 journment of the, Semite, and asked him what the 
 nomination of Robertson meant. Ho replied, with 
 out excitement, "1 don t know. All we ask is to be 
 allowed to win in Ne.v York, and it is hard enough to 
 do at the best." Notanothcr worddid he inter on the 
 subject, although the conversation continued on 
 Other ma ters. 1 was then editing the .\iiiiniinl A < - 
 jnitilii - in, and he knew where my footings would be 
 it he should make an i.-.stic with the i 
 dent on this appointment. But he made neither 
 request nor suggestion. I mention this to show the 
 baseness of his enemies in immediately causing it 
 to be stated in tbe press throughout the country 
 that he was in a great rage, acd was 
 threatening ttie administration. This was done to 
 prevent any peaceable .solution of the matter. 
 These falsehoods were coined at the Capitol, and 
 went out simultaneously witii the announcement of 
 Robertson s nomination. The effect of them was, 
 M& intended, to make it difficult lor ihe President to 
 reconsider the act and withdraw the nomination 
 while under such alleged menaces. The course pur 
 sued by the No* York Senators and Vice President 
 Arthur was free from offence, and such as to render 
 the worn of peace making eas> . 
 
 Robert.-on was serenaded on the evening of the 
 day he was appointed and responded in a sueech, in 
 which he claimed that his nomination was intended 
 by the President as a "reward" for having aided in 
 "matting his uotuiua ion possible at Chicago." TLis 
 appeared in the New York Trilmii>- of Thursday, the 
 U-tth, in a despatch from Alb.; 
 
 The New York Senators ret using to quarrel, Mr. E. 
 V. Smalley, a Staff correspondent" of the T>H un>; 
 writing directly from the White House, where he 
 was allowed to nly his trade, made an official an 
 nouncement on "behalf of the President that Robert- 
 son had been appointed to the Collectorship that he 
 might use the Custom House as ".i political agency" 
 in the work of nominating Gartield tor re-election in 
 1884. Here are his words as they appeared m the 
 Tribune of Saturday, March _>(: 
 
 self-presfrvatio u is the lirst la \v of nature, and 
 no administration can be expected to put a snai p 
 knife in the hands of a man who has taken a vow to 
 cut its throat at the end ot < (.< tir.f term." 
 
 Here was the clear avowal of a design upon a sec- 
 ontl tn-iii, and an admission that the federal officers 
 WNIV the sharp knives to be used in the contest tor 
 it. Again: 
 
 "In tilling an office which might be made a pow 
 erful political agency be prefers one of his old 
 friends to one of his new ones." 
 
 This could only mean that the "old friend" was to 
 make the Collectorship "a powerful political a-jem-y." 
 Auaiu ; 
 
 "The President prefers a man for Collector at New 
 York who was his friend at Chicago, and the friend 
 of the cause he represents.- 
 
 If he represented a "cause" at Chicago which did 
 not embrace the whole party, then General Grant s 
 supporters had been led blindfolded into a fight 
 against themselves. 
 
 The utterances above quoted arc important in view 
 of the fact that, when criticised, they were repro 
 duced and reasserted presumably after consulta 
 tion with the President as a "policy of harmony 
 and fair play." 
 
 Senator Platt proceeded to New York to confer 
 with members ot the party upon the situation and 
 to take advice. He must have acted with effect, for 
 WhiteUrw Reid deemed it necessary the next day to 
 send the following vehement protest ayt 
 M J wttMrcnooJ by I 
 
 III. 
 WHITELAW REID S MIDNIGHT i>K-r.vTOH TO .TOHX HAT. 
 
 "New YOKK. March 27 Midnight. 
 "Following points should reach President Monday 
 morning. Would telegraph direct, but that it seems 
 surer for you to present them in person : 
 
 "Senator Platt came here Saturday very an/: 
 reported talking 10 all comers with extreme : 
 ne.*s. He would have natuiall.\ c<-mo to se n,,-, as 
 UMial, but ho diil not, and I did not think r 
 yoi to show anxiety by going to see him. 1 
 .-amo reason both ,li. 
 Dept-A decided not 10 <> to .-e h:m. 
 
 Iftj he declared th< l !e~].i.nt ;. 
 withdraw nomination of Robertson. n> n-_a 
 under circumstances under which itwa 
 in.stilt to himself, Conkling and .I.im--, and 11 
 be atoned for or Pre.-ident must expert war !) 
 distiuc Iy admitted tha Kiself und- i 
 
 IIM- p;i!ge to vote for Ko! 
 
 given IM tore his own election, but held Uiai i 
 which Robertson was appointed rel aseil him 
 I loin ha obligation. From this talK and oti 
 dicatious here an I at Albany we have concluded that 
 the Conkiing plan is: 1-irst, to make tremendous 
 
 ire on the President for wiihdra 
 
 ertson s name, under threat from Conkling and 
 persuasions from James; second, if tnu fails, then 
 ke their indignation useful by extorting Ir-m 
 President, as a means of placating them, tne 
 Surveyorshipand Naval Office. With theso two they 
 thifik theycoald largely neutrali/.e Roberts n. 
 
 nells cmdidate for Surveyor is , \\n<, is 
 
 a bad lot. Cornell is not so vmh-nt a- 1 1 tt 
 
 in fact, uilling to acquiesce in Robertson, hoping to 
 
 get the other offices. 
 
 "1 wish to say to the President in my judgment 
 th:s is the turning point of his whole administra 
 tion the crisis of his fate. If he surrenders no* 
 Coukling is President for the rest of the term and 
 Gartield becomes a laughing stock. On the other 
 hand, he has only to stand nrm to succeed. Witu 
 the unanimous action of the New York Legislature 
 Conklm- cannot make an effectual light. That ac 
 tion came solely from the belief that Garlieid, un 
 like Hayes, meant to defend his ojvu auministr i 
 
 , if merwkelming Conkling, but they did 
 not dare go on the records against Robertson .o lonti 
 a> they thought the adnunittru cm 
 
 Whenever the time comes Platt can 
 either be foiced to support Robert-on or 
 badly damaged by producing the proof 
 of his pledge-. Then c.v <:nn ,-u/v/v ,,,i tnouuit d>,,i- 
 <>crati<- .sv tin .;- tn offtet anything < <>,, .. iu 
 
 one word, there is no safe or honorable \\ay out 
 now but to go straight on. Robertson should be 
 held firm, and if a change is made in the Surveyor- 
 shiy the new man should suit Robertson. Merritt 
 would do perfectly for that place, since ne is a good 
 subordinate, or some other good man could be 
 found. Bui it is indispensable that the Survtyvi- 
 s/i<i> f/iitulU l>e kept in our on-n Immls. 
 
 "Boldness and tenacity now insure victory not 
 mt it- iy for thii year, but for ihe whole term. The 
 le .st wavering would be fatal. Whenever pressure 
 ou Platt or James ii wanted let us know. Beware 
 ot James soft, insinuating way. He is again wholly 
 under Conkling s influence, but stern, sharp admo 
 nition will bring him instantly to his bearings. He 
 ought to have had tnat the morning a ter his sere- 
 peecli. "WHITELAW REID." 
 
 This document was first published to the world in 
 the NEW YORK HEPALD January G, ls8 The 7V.fr- 
 ii)t> .< only reply \\ as to loudly charge that it had 
 been stolen, instead of having been furnished to the 
 HERALD S contributor by Garneld. To prove thi^ it 
 publibhed the following letter to Whitelaw Reid 
 from John Hay, the person to whom it had been 
 originally sent: 
 
 "No. 506 EUCLID AY KM 
 CLEVELAND. Ohio, Jan. 7. i- 
 "I write in haste to let you know that yn:. 
 ppatch to me must have been stolen from the \\ires. 
 1 have it here under lock and kev . Nobody has ever 
 but myself, not even Garlieid. 1 took ii over 
 to him and read it to him. He never saw it except 
 in my handsnever touched it with his. It has been 
 nnuer lock and key ever since. You may pi 
 on this with absolute confidence. It was either stolen 
 from your own copy in New York, or stolen from the 
 wires. I repeat, no human being except myselt has 
 ever seen it after it left the telegraph office in W 
 iugton. I read it to Garlieid, and you i> member 
 what he at once said about withdrawing 1> 
 nomination: They may take him out of 
 Senate head lirst or feet lirst; I will never withdraw 
 him. I have only a minute to catch this mail. 
 Yours, very truly, "JoHN HAY ." 
 
1-2 
 
 JUSTICE TO CONKLING. 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE CONSPIRATORS AND THEIR WORK. 
 
 Reid s despatch and Hay s letter plainly show that 
 Garfield was not trusted by them or their principal. 
 Hay was then a subordinate of Mr. Blaiue, and "the 
 State Department was deemed safer for the pur 
 poses of Robertson than was the White House. WLv 
 did it seem "surer" to Reid for Hay to 
 present his telegram to the President, 
 than to send it directly to the latter? 
 It was not that he feared any clerk 
 orsecretary would suppress or delay it, for in that 
 case Hay would have delivered it into Garlield s 
 hands when he went to him with it Monday morn 
 ing. Bin Hay over arid again assures Reid that hu 
 held on to it tightly all the time, read it to Garneld 
 and then took it, away with him. The conclusion is 
 irresistible that the conspirators in New York and 
 their co-conspirators at the State Department were 
 distrustful of Garneld, hence the service of notice 
 on him by rea ling it to him instead of delivering it 
 into his hands iu the usual and natural manner. 
 Who were the conspirators? In New York, as clearly 
 shown by the midnight despatch to Hay, they were 
 Robertson, Depew and Reid. They kept away 
 from Platt, because, they "did not think it 
 wiso yet to show anxiety by going to 
 see him." But they kept posted as to 
 what he was urging on "those who did" go to see 
 him. Who were the co-conspirators in Washington? 
 Was- Mr. Hav acting without the knowledge of his 
 principal, Mr. Blaine, when he read to the Presi 
 dent the despatch from Reid, which he would not 
 trust in his keeping, lest he might afterward show 
 the pressure under which he had been acting? Was 
 Roberts on the tool of Blaine or of Garlield? Which 
 of them had captured him, immediately after his 
 election as a delegate, with the promise of the 
 collectorship? In \\hose interest did he act? 
 Reid, Robertson and Depew were the hench 
 men of Blaine, and not of Garneld. Hay was 
 confidential with Blaine, and not with Garneld. 
 Garl n ld was as jealous of Blaine as he was 
 of Coukliug, and would as quickly have resented vis 
 ible attempts by him to control his election. The 
 art of Mr. isiaine was that he kept out of sight 
 and used men like Reid, Depew, Robertson and Hay 
 to hold Garh eld up to the assault upon Mr. Conk- 
 ling which he himself had planned. To such a con 
 test he was related as lago was to that between 
 Cassio and Roaerigo 
 
 Now whether lie kill Cassio. 
 Or Cassio him. or each do kill the other, 
 hvery way makes my gain. 
 
 On the day that Garneld was thus held up to his 
 work Whuelaw Reid telegraphed to John Hay as fol 
 lows : 
 
 MARCH js, 1SS1. If this nonsense is not stopped 
 by Saturday I will have the screws put on Platt in a 
 manner to make Rome howl. w. H." 
 
 Later on Reid telegraphed to Hay as follows: 
 
 "We are strongly inclined to accept your view and 
 that of tin Si i-ri lnri/ as to the action of the Senate. 
 1 .still doubt whether the time IIMS just yet come for 
 such a course as you suggest. If, however, nothing 
 definite comes of the Senate between now and Mon 
 day we i eel disposed to take matters up as pro 
 posed. * * i .-\v. R." 
 
 What dreadful thing Hay and "the Secretary" 
 (Blaine) had proposed, which gave Reid and his 
 i rieuds Depew and Robertson pause, does not ap 
 pear. The midnight despatch said, "We can surely 
 got enough democratic Senators to ollset any tiling 
 C onkling can do." Perhaps the time was near at 
 hand for the trade with the democrats which was 
 tin ally made. 
 
 V. 
 
 THE SUBJUGATION OF THK SENATE. 
 
 While these ttnngs were ?oin* on among the cus- 
 touians of Garh eld the republicans in the Senate 
 were filled with anxiet. for the party. The republi 
 can majority in ihat bodv, although depending on 
 ihe casting vote of the Vice President, would have 
 been sufficient for any rightful party action. But it 
 was now apparent that the President was being 
 urged to a course which was to divide the Senate, 
 not politically, Lut upon the question of personal 
 antagonism to Mr. Conkling. The republicans met 
 in caucus and listened to a statement by Mr. Conk- 
 ling 01 the facts in the case, and to the reasons why 
 Robertson s nomination was unlit to be made. I 
 have been told that every member of that caucus 
 by a rising vote declareu his disapproval of the 
 President * action, and it was agreed that they 
 would all remonstrate with the President and urge 
 him to withdraw the obnoxious nomination. 
 
 The President met them all with angry words and 
 frowning looks. He said to some of them: "I am 
 determined 10 learn who are my friends, and such 
 as fail me will hereafter require a letter of introduc 
 tion. (Washington correspondent of Philadelphia 
 / /*.-, May 7.) The New York Tribune correspondent 
 wrote that "he (Garneld) said to a very prominent 
 republican Friday that the rotes of Senators upon 
 this que-tiou would be a test of personal and politi 
 cal friendliness. " ( J ribun>-, May 7.) The Tribune ot 
 May 11 said: 
 
 "It is said of the Senators who begged the Pres 
 ident to \\iibdraw Judge Robertson s name in the 
 interest o harmony that their motive was a purely 
 selfish one. Thev do not wish to antagonize the 
 administration and they do not wish to displease Mr. 
 Conkling. Jf the name is not withdrawn but is 
 brought to a vote, they will be obli-ied to take a 
 stand on one side or the other. It is a trying 
 situation. They u<<nit fxmrx ,,t tin Wlnte House and 
 they know it would be awkward to ask for them nf irr 
 o Xing aga&ul the adninittratioit. As an easy way out 
 they would like to see the President surrender. It is 
 modest of them to ask it and uncommonly queer in 
 the President to decline to do it. What is ho iu the 
 White House for except to make the able Senators 
 happy?" 
 
 Never before did Executive tyranny so flaunt its 
 power to punish disobedience. The President, with 
 out concealment, was personally threatening the 
 Senators who should dare to exercise their own 
 judgment on a confirmation, and making the sup 
 port of Robertson the price at which he would desist 
 trom fighting them with the federal appointments in 
 their own States. 
 
 It was suggested to him that he withdraw all the 
 New Vork appointments. His response w^s to with 
 draw all of them but Robertson. He gave as his 
 reas on for this obvious attempt at coercion that if 
 Robertson was defeated he should want the other 
 places with which to reward the men who voted for 
 him at Chicago. The civil service haa never been so 
 prostituted under any administration. Senators 
 said to Mr. Conkiing that they had been threatened 
 by the President that ho would follow them into 
 their homes if they dared to stand up against Rob 
 ertson s coufirma ion. It was a carnival of corrup 
 tion. 
 
 The friends of the President charged that Mr. 
 Coukling was making war upon him because he had 
 not been allowed to dictate the selec ion of a Col 
 lector. Nothing could have been further from the 
 truth. He did complain to senators of the Presi 
 dent s bad faith in violating his own voluntary 
 pledge not to act without consultation, and he pro 
 tested against the confirmation of Robertson, be 
 cause he had proven himself to be unworthy of any 
 trust. He believed, as everybody else did, that the 
 President s object \\ as to array against him every 
 man in New York by whom the Presidential favor 
 was deemed desirable. The federal appointments 
 were as yet all unbestowed. The "ins" wanted to 
 remain. The "oms" wanted to get in. And here 
 was a notice to both that the passport to federal 
 office was hostility to Mr. Conkling. But the Presi 
 dent had the constitutional right "to nominate." 
 When he had done that he had reached the limit of 
 his rightful power. He might nominate any man, 
 however Tile, and mi^lit even barter his nomina 
 tions for gold, or for the equally corrupt considera 
 tion of votes in a national republican convention, 
 which latter he openly and confessedly did, and 
 no.hing less than the exercise of the power of im 
 peachment bv the ili. use of Representatives could 
 check him. lint while he could nominate he could 
 not "appoint" without "the advice and consent of 
 the Senate." For him tc attempt, as he did, the 
 coercion of that body into submission to his will, 
 and the confirming of a nomination under duress, 
 through fear of his opposition or in hope of his fa 
 vor, was usurpation, and if successful was a sub 
 version "of constitutional government. The resist 
 ance made by Senator Conkling was worthy of the 
 be>t days of the Republic. The nomination made 
 March 23 still hung fire in the middle of May. 
 VI. 
 
 ULAINE SELLS VI1U.INIA TO THE DEMOCRATS AS THE 
 I HICE O^ VOTES "TO TEAK LiOWN CONKLINU." 
 
 The Pre-ideut was furious at the delay in the 
 Senate. He had nominated Robertson on the 
 strength of his alliance with Ben Hill, and not a 
 single democrat came to his rescue. He knew not 
 that the democrats had considered Mahone s vote 
 for the republican committees a release from their 
 bargain with him, and he waited impatiently for 
 them to end the contest in his favor. 
 
GARFIELD S DUPLICITY SHOWN. 
 
 13 
 
 The only thing now to be done was to ascertain 
 the price of the requisite democratic support. 
 Conkliug must be overpowered at whatever sacrifice. 
 What 1 am about to state is known to me with such 
 certainty that, without giving the source of my in- 
 lormation, I furnish it as a true chapter m the ins 
 tory of that time. A conference wa-* had in New 
 York between two of the couspira ors heretofore 
 named and a powortul democratic- leader, lie was 
 besought to come over to Washington and secure 
 democratic votes for Robertson s confirmation. To 
 this lie replied: "Not miicli. We don t intend to 
 help you tear down Conkliug in New York while von 
 are building up Mahone in Virginia." "(Hi, well," 
 said one of the others, "that can all be fixed. You 
 go over and see Blaine." "I ll do it," naid he. Ac 
 cordingly be took an early train for Washington. 
 
 It should be remembered that by "building tip 
 If fthone in Virginia" he meant that the administi-a- 
 tion was supposed to be favoring the fu>ion there 
 between the republicans and readjustees and that 
 in making appointments to office tho fu.sioni.sts 
 would be regarded as the administration party. 
 
 The democratic leader above referred to went 
 directly to Mr. Blaine s house and was met as 
 though he had been expected. Possibly ihe New 
 York conference with him had been suggested by 
 Mr. Elaine. "Well." said lie, "Blaiue, I understand 
 you want to see meV" "I do," was the reply. "\\e 
 want your friends to help us out on Robertson." He 
 said as he had. at New York: "We don t intend to 
 help you tear down Conkliug in New York while 
 you are building up Mahoue in Virginia." Where- 
 iii> ii Mr. Blaiue agreed in the mosc positive terms 
 that if the democratic Senators would contribute 
 votes enough to confirm Robertson tae administra 
 tion would lend no aid to the party led by Mahone 
 in Virginia, even though it should be merged, by a 
 fusion, with the republican part/ of that state. 
 "Y ou will have to say that to others than me," said 
 the practical democratic chief. "All right," said the 
 trading republican secre ary. "And you will have 
 to get the consent of your associates." "All right," 
 again said the republican "Premier." They then 
 separated to meet tho next day. At the appointed 
 time Mr. H aine reported that his bargain with the 
 democratic side had been ratified by a majority of 
 his Cabinet associates. Two democratic Senators 
 were then brought to him, to whom, in the 
 presence of the negotiator, he bound -himself 
 and the administration that no recommendation 
 for office by Mahone should be regarded, and 
 no appointment made in the interest of the fusion 
 between the republicans and Mahone s independent 
 followers, which was then a foregone conclusion, 
 andtohich Garneldwas solemnly pledged. The 
 bargain was faithfully kept, and Mr. blaine con 
 tinued to be the enemv of the republican party in 
 Virginia until his nomination for the Presidency in 
 1884. 
 
 PART FOURTH. 
 
 THE TERMINATION OF MB. CONKLING s PUBLIC 
 CABEBft. 
 
 The bargain made by Mr. Blaine for the surrender 
 of Virginia back to tho "solid South," from which 
 Wahone and his friends had, with republican help, 
 rescued it, brought in democrats enough to form a 
 majority of the Senate. The fruits of the magnifi 
 cent republican victory of ISH) were thrown away, 
 and Garfield and Blaine stood at the bead of an un 
 natural and illicit combination for the sorry pur 
 pose of overturning the unrivalled leadershio of 
 Roscoe Coukhng in New YorK. 
 I. 
 
 THE RESIGNATION OF MIC. cnXkMNG. 
 
 At this juncture Senators Conkliug and Platt re- 
 Pinned their sea s. May Hi. issi. Robertson was 
 shortly after confirmed according to the agreement 
 above stated, without democratic opposition. 
 
 In transmitting their resignation* to the Governor 
 of their Sta e the New York Senators gave a history 
 of their communications with the President and of 
 the ac s of his which had foliowe I. 
 
 The cause of their resignation was then directly 
 presented as follows: 
 
 "We find ourselves confronted bv tho question 
 whether we shall surrender tue plain ri, ht and the 
 sworn duty of Senators by consenting to what e 
 believe to be vicious and hurtful, or be assigned the 
 position of disloyal. y to an administration which we 
 helped to bring in and the success of winch we ear 
 nestly wish, for every reason and mo ive which can 
 enter into the case." 
 
 After asserting the rights and duties of Senators 
 to act on nominations without Executive pressure, 
 Uiev say : 
 
 "In ihis instance such prominence has been given 
 to the subject and such distrust has been expressed 
 of the correctness of our position that we think ii 
 right and dutiful to submit the matter to the power 
 tn \\hich alone we are bound and ever ready to bow. 
 
 The Legislature is ill session. It has a republican 
 majority, and New York abounds in iions <iuite as 
 /ible as we to bear her mes-age and < -oinim-sie,u in 
 . nate of the United States. We hold It respect- 
 ful and becoming to make room for those who may 
 correct all errors we have made and interpret aright 
 all duties we have misconceived." 
 
 Thsre was no pettiness or petulance in this. It 
 was no ebullition of temper. It was a grand and 
 stately act, as shown bv the reasons assigned ior it. 
 
 \ republican Executive, intoxicated with his new 
 experience in the possession of power and operated 
 upi-n by marplots and knaves, had made the votes 
 ot Senators upon a single nomination the test of 
 personal and political relations with him. To secure 
 the votes of enough Senators from the democratic 
 side to carry out his will in this, against the judg 
 ment of his own party, he had made a foul bargain 
 through Mr. Blame, his Secretary of State, for the 
 delivery of the State of Virginia back into thu 
 political slavery of the solid South n-oin which she 
 had just escaped. 
 
 Mr. Conkling believed this nomination to be a most 
 unworthy one. and the means openly adopted b. the 
 President to force it through to be subversive of the 
 freedom of tho Senate. His refusal to obey the 
 mandate of the President was complained of by a 
 portion of his party. He would not surrender "his 
 manhood nor abdicate the power, while holding the 
 office of Senator. On the other hand he was un 
 willing to remain in the Senate unless his attitude 
 on the grave issue now so sharply made between 
 Executive pow r mid Senatorial duty was approved 
 by the party which had so long and so generously 
 supported him and honored him with its leader-hip. 
 If these views were correct and who can gainsiy 
 them? no other course was open to him but to re 
 sign, and thus "submit the matter," as he said, "to 
 the power to which alone he was bound and ever 
 ready to bow." 
 
 II. 
 
 THE SENATORIAL STRUGGLE AT ALBANY. 
 
 When Mr. Conkling decided to "submit the mat 
 ter" of his conduct and that of the President 10 "the 
 power" that could alone control, he referred, of 
 course, to the Legislature of his State, then in ses 
 sion. There was no expression by him either of a 
 desire or an unwillingness to be returned. The fair 
 inference trom the letter to Governor Cornell was 
 that if the Legislature should see fit to re-elect him, 
 he would understand it to be his warrant to con 
 tinue in opposition to Executive encroachments 
 upon and atteuip;ed dictation to the Senate. If, on 
 the other hand, that body should manifest a desire 
 to have New York represented by Sena ors who would 
 merely obey the President instead of honestly ad- 
 vi>ing him, as required by the constitution, and 
 who would give their "consent" under duress in a 
 direction contrary to their "advice," then he would 
 bow to tneir decision, but ^vould say that he could 
 not serve as a Senator 011 such terras nor under 
 such conditions. He could not fawn that thri t 
 might follow. This majesty of manhood was his by 
 the gift of his Crea or. and he could uoc have abdi 
 cated it if he would. As a Senator he must wear 
 the toga or leave the body. He would as soon have 
 driven the President s coach or served as his kitchen 
 scullion as 10 have worn the Execu:ive livery in the 
 Smate Chamber. 
 
 I know from him that it was his intention to re 
 main in Washington until the vacancy caused bv his 
 resignation was filled. I know too that he alwa\s 
 regretted that ho allowed himself to be swerved 
 from this purpose by the importunity of friends. 
 Resolute as he was, and strong as was his will, those 
 who knew him best will bear me out in saying that, 
 except on questions of right and wrong, he did not 
 claim tho right to be the sole judge of tho best 
 course to pursue iu matters which touched the inter 
 ests of friends as well as his own. He had the sup 
 port of the great body of his party, but he recog- 
 nized that much of this was due to the generous 
 efforts ot prominent individuals throughout the 
 state, and he conceded their right to a voice in ail 
 serious political movements of his own. 
 
 I have already stated that in the case under dis 
 cussion he desired to remain in Washington while 
 his successor was being elected. Th 3 choice of an- 
 
u 
 
 JUSTICE TO CONKLIXG. 
 
 other, by ordinary party methods, would have satis 
 fied him that the requirements of political life were 
 not such as, with his views, he could honorably com 
 ply with, and after stating his position in one speech 
 in New York he would have returned to private life 
 without a regret. But his friends demanded that he 
 should go to New York city for consultation, and 
 he weut. 
 
 The resignation of the Senators reached Governor 
 Cornell at Albany OH Monday May 10. If cominuut- 
 cated to the Legislature that day the voting for 
 Senators to nil the vacancies would commence on 
 the second Tuesday thereafter viz., May 24. The 
 Governor at once sent his secretary with a message 
 to each house announcing the resignation. It was 
 received by the House, but the Senate, by a pal 
 pable trick, subsequently boasted of, was irregularly 
 adjourned while the secretary of the Governor was 
 approaching the entrance, and its delivery \\as thus 
 made impossible on that day, 
 
 The, question was now raised by the friends of the 
 President whether, under the federal law governing 
 Senatorial election-, the Legislature had been legally 
 notified by a communication to one branch thereof. 
 Mr. Conkling believed it had. Governor Cornell 
 acted upon the idea tuat it had not, and on Thurs 
 day, the i .lth, again sent the announcement to the 
 Senate. The Robertson trick, supplemented by the 
 Governor s action, gave the administration an addi 
 tional week in which to debauch members of the 
 Legislature. 
 
 Mr. Conkling went from Washington to New 
 York at the end of the week. He found his 
 friends eager for him to enter the contest for 
 re-election. They insisted that he should go to 
 Albany to make his position better understood 
 by his iriends in the Legislature, who hud 
 been confused by the gross misrepresentations of 
 portions of the pres-. lit strongly objected. It was 
 one thing for him to remain passive and leave the 
 I, gislature to decide between Executive dictation 
 and Senatorial duty, and quite another lor him to 
 struggle for vote< or to even appear, by nis pi. s- 
 once, to do so. He believed it to be his privilege to 
 state to the people the causes which had impelled 
 him to resign his seat, and to that end he requested 
 his friends to engage a suitable place in New York 
 in \\hich he could deliver the one speech which 
 burned within him, but which it was his fate never 
 to be permitted to make. It was his absoroing de 
 sire to tell the country to \\hat depths ot dishonor 
 and servility the President was endeavoring to drag 
 the Senate and to arou-e the people from the dan 
 gerous indifference and timid compliance with which 
 his insolent encroachments upon the powers of that 
 body were being met. He would have summoned 
 the people or New York to a contest for the preser 
 vation of the proper limits of Executive power, which 
 the Pie-ideut. in his blind rage, was trampling down. 
 And, finally, he would have unmasked and exposed 
 Mr. Blaine as the remorseless taskmaster; for whose 
 personal gratification both lor aggrandizement and 
 revenue the President was required to thus disturb 
 the peace of the land and to wreck the party which 
 had just borne him into power. 
 
 But Mr. Conkling s loftv attitude was not deemed 
 wise by the "practical" politicians around him. 
 They threw obstacles in the way of the proposed 
 public meeting, and, powerless to carry out his wish 
 unaided, he abandoned it. 
 
 He was then vehemently urged to go to Albany. 
 His mere presence there, they said, would insure a 
 general acquiescence in his re-election. He said it 
 would degrade him to go to the capital and beseech 
 members to vote for him, and he would scorn to do 
 it. He did not wish to be made a candidate, out 
 wanted to await, with becoming patience and dig 
 nity, the decision of the Legislature. This was 
 .-coated. "It would be a base desertion of friends," 
 paid one of them, if he did not allow them to use 
 his name, for they could not rallv their strength 
 around any other. They answered his objection by 
 saNin*. that they would not ask him to solicit votes, 
 but only to make such \pianations to individual 
 members as he had intended to make in a public 
 speech. I pon this condition, but > et most unwill 
 ingly, and only at the bidding of friends to whom he 
 felt under great obligations, he went to Albany. 
 
 Amid all the dillieult positions in which he was 
 I in those days, this \\as his only mistake. It 
 \\as a not a mistake in judgment; it was a mistake 
 in surrendering his judgment 0111 ot exce-sive loMiitv 
 to trends. It was a mistaken estimates of what 
 trit-nds had a right to demand of him. It was not a 
 mistake in the sense of operating injuriously upon 
 his chances for re-election, but it was a mistake in 
 that it made an incorrect and unfavorable impres 
 
 sion upon the public mind as to the real temper in 
 which he went. His friends wanted him there, 
 thinking it would promote his election. He wanted 
 members to act, without pressure from him, upon a 
 clear knowledge of the issue between him and the 
 President. To impart such knowledge and to re 
 frain from solicitation would be easy for him, 
 for truth would ^iiide him in the one case and 
 pride in the other. But to make the public under 
 stand this was impossible. He never ceased to re 
 gret this one mistake. 
 
 Before he went to Albany the following steps had 
 already been taken by the administration forces 
 there. They are given on the authority of the New 
 York Ti-iiniin: and fully corroborate the statements 
 of its editor, made in the midnight despatch" 
 herein quoted, that "the Assembly" was overwhelm 
 ingly Conkliug, and that "the administration meant 
 business." 
 
 The first "business" in hand was to prevent as 
 many republicans as possible from going" into cau 
 cus. If 11 out of the lot; republican members could be 
 kept out, they would, with the 54 democrats, consti 
 tute a majority of the wholo Legislature. Seventy- 
 nine repub leans would be powerless against the 
 remaining 21 in such a combination. 
 
 The caucus must be broken and majority rule 
 within the party subverted, or Conkliug was sure to 
 be re-elected. 
 
 i>n the l*th of May, the second day affer the resig 
 nation of Mr. Conkling, the following-despatch WM 
 sent from Albany to the New York Tribnm : 
 
 "The (jrartield men still avow their intention of 
 not attending the republican caucus. There is ev.-ry 
 likelihood of their persisting in this determination 
 and bringing about a deadlock." 
 
 An Albany despatch of May 1 .) to the New York 
 Tril,i,ii, said:-- 
 
 "The announcement of the administration men 
 that they would not attend the republican Sena 
 torial caucus has embarrassed the action of the 
 Conkling men all the week. A confidence that in a 
 joint legislative caucus he could easily be renomi- 
 uated seems to have been the basis of Mr. Conkling s 
 idea that he could easily be re-elected bv *he repub 
 lican Legislature. The declination of the adminis 
 tration men to put their thumbs under the caucus 
 screws at once dispelled this hope. Without their 
 presence and acquiescence in the caucus determina 
 tion a major! t> vote could not be secured hi tin 
 I.-,/ .x ntitri . All through the week, therefore, the 
 Conkling men have been attempting to persuade the 
 administration men to change their minds. The at 
 tempt thus far has not succeeded." 
 
 It was asserted in another despatch of May 20 that 
 forty members had signed an ironclad pledge never 
 to vote for ConkLng or Platt. The whole number 
 of republican members of the Legislature was Intl. 
 
 An Albany despatch to tin /-. f nin;/ / us o; May 20 
 said: 
 
 "The Garneld men stand strong in their deter 
 mination against the re-election of the ex-Senators, 
 and still insist thai they will not attend any caucus." 
 
 Collector Robertson, in an interview with a repre 
 sentative of the New York Tiilnnr Mav 22, being 
 a-ked how many republican members of the New 
 York Legislature would stay out of the caucus, re 
 plied, "Forty-live." 
 
 The New York Triliu if of May 24 had a shouting 
 editorial, from which the following is an extract: 
 
 "To go into the caucus or not to go is the issue 
 upon which the whole contest is now shaping Itself. 
 Tin folli ii iT* nl CutiL-liiii/ IKII-I- iniiliinlitiill i/ i inujorihi of 
 
 tin n i>ni>i ii iin* ni . /. Legislature, Eighty-one votes ate 
 necessary to elect a Scnat >r. There are l"t! repub 
 licans in the Legi-latuie. If the Conkling fac 
 tion can induce eighty-one men to go into their 
 caucus they will not caro in the least whether all of 
 them vote for Conkling and Platt in tne caucus or 
 not. A majority would undoubtedly do so. It would 
 be claimed, of course, that all the participants in the 
 caucus were bound by the action of the majority. 
 On the other hand, the friends of the administration 
 think ihat they can show that republicans are under 
 no moral obligation to enter such a caucus, and that 
 it is for the good of the party as well as their own 
 that tbey should remain ind pendent of it. It only 
 twenty six republicans refuse to enter the caucus 
 and refuse to vote for Conkling and Platt, the twin 
 candidates will have but eighty vote- and cannot be 
 t li-c cil \}\ republican - and a-< republicans. 
 
 The above will n-pay a second perusal. It is the 
 explicit declaration of the N-w York / ///.//, eight 
 days after the resignation of the Senators, that "the 
 followers of Cockling* had //.//(///(/ ,i //i./y</ <_</ 
 of the republican* of the Legislature." This explains 
 why ".he Conkling faction" could only be got rid of 
 
GARFIELDS Dri LICITY SHOWN 
 
 by annihilating tde caucus svstem ami having a 
 scrub race tor the Senatorship. \Vheu a faction i> 
 in the minority it can be outvoted, and if it is made 
 up of mere machine politicians it will fall in line. 
 But when a faction is in the uiajorit , .1- the. / 
 i-aid was the cas.- in I" 1 *!, and when the inin..ruy i 
 made up of good men like Wood in, >-->i"ns and 
 Itobertson. who an- not politicians, the only remedy 
 lies in a change of political methods, wh.-r.-by the 
 minority may rule. This change, so n. c*-sary in 
 ixnl. actually took place. The Garrield minority re 
 frained from attending a caucus with ihc Coupling 
 majority. 
 
 On the 25ih of May t)ie Senate Committee on 
 Caucus refused to Join the As^embh Caucus Com 
 mittee in me usual cull for a joint Senatorial caucus. 
 Their communication was siened by George 11. Fos 
 ter. L\ McCarthy and Mr. Rockwell. 
 
 On the 2Gth iht: administration members held a 
 conference and decided not to go into caucus, but to 
 vote for candidates of their os\u. 
 
 On the 30th the Assembly Caucus Committee called 
 a caucus of republican members of the Assembly. 
 The administration members refused to attend, but 
 held a meeting of their own and pledged themselves 
 against Conkliug and Platt. 
 
 cm the :Jlst or May the balloting for Senator* be 
 gan ami continued until July 2^, wlien Judge i.tp 
 ham was elected to succeed Mr. Conklmg. \\ arm -r 
 Miller had been elected to succeed Mr. Platt on the 
 16th of that month. 
 
 I Hiring the balloting an administration Senator 
 offered a sialwart Assemblyman J J.UUU if he would 
 break away from Coukling. He took the mone\ as 
 evidence of the crime and immediately deposited 
 it with the Speaker of the Assembly. The Senator 
 was indicted for bribery. His trial was Ion.; de 
 ferred, and he was finally acquitted. The result of 
 the struggle was, a* allrneii kuo\v, produced by most 
 corrupt means, employed by the agents of the ad 
 ministration. It bani-hed the foremost man in the 
 country from public life, but it placed no stain upon 
 him. 
 
 The heroic men who stood proof to all the blan 
 dishments of power and the anathemas of the press 
 it could command were designated by Mr. Conk- 
 ling as "the Spartan baud" aud by him publicly 
 assured of his gratitude and appreciation. 
 
 III. 
 
 THE EFFECT OF (it ITEAU s CRIME. 
 
 The result would undoubtedly have been different 
 but lor the as.-assiuation of the President by Gui- 
 teau, who had been his partisan in the war upon 
 Senator Conklinu. This occurred July 2. On that 
 day one of the President s secretaries furnished a 
 reporter of the Washington Republican the following 
 letter, which the President had some time before re 
 ceived Irom Guiteau: 
 
 i.i : i <.AKKIKI.II. 
 
 I regret the trouble tht you are having with 
 Senator Coukliug. } <>" 
 
 ,,,,!,! i " ;i/. */" 
 
 I would like an audience for a few mo 
 menta." 
 
 Altho igh this letter from the hands of ono or 
 field s 1 -y. and also ou 
 
 ill 4, published in the lt>-j,nl>li<;in and 
 dulv credited, it wa- not printed in the lilaine 
 organs, the columns or which teemed with lai 
 attempts to make the stalwarts appear to be in some 
 \\ay consenting to the. crime of Guiteau. 
 
 The shooting of Garheld was treated by his 
 noisiest advocates a> a sort of wind all, by which 
 they w re n t "iily to be enabled to gorge them 
 selves with spoils extorted from his successor, but 
 were at the same lime to glut their ire on the hated 
 s talwarts. 
 
 They sought to poison the excited public mind 
 with tua idea that whoever had been 
 Robertson s appointment must have been in favor of 
 the President s a-sassmation. 
 
 The death of Garrield sealed the lips of Mr. Conk- 
 ling. He bore with s lence tue wounds he had re- 
 !. and \\eut to his grave misunderstood by the 
 great majority, even of those who aumired aud re- 
 spec ed him. \V:th the exception of the let er to 
 Governor Cornell transmitting his resignation he 
 never made any public <:lluion whatever to the out 
 rages that had been committed against him, nor to the 
 desperate political gamester who had diie< ted :heni. 
 When .he Litter was made the republican candidate 
 for the Presidency in Is^-l he s;iil remained silent. 
 His feeling toward the republican party was that of 
 profound regret that its masses had neglected their 
 duty aud allowed it to fall under unworthy leader 
 ship. He refused to be a party to the elevation of 
 Mr. Blaine to the Presidency, and recent . 
 him to me show that had he lived hi> at trade tow 
 ard him would have remained unchanged. 
 
 IV. 
 CONCH -i. >N. 
 
 I have in an all too hasty and imperfect manner 
 fulfilled the promise 1 often made to Mr. Conkling 
 that I would at some time state the case as ne had 
 related it to me, and to others in my presence. In 
 doing this I have reached the limit marked out for 
 myself at the beginning. 
 
 The story of his life after the death of Garrield 
 would, if told, illustrate a favorite saying of his, 
 that "the strength of a man s character is proven 
 better by what he endures than by what he per 
 forms." GEORGE C. GORHAM. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., June 2. 1888. 
 
***N TO DESK FR^M m BORROWED 
 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 DECEIVED" 
 
 LOAN DEPT 
 
 ONILL 
 
 LD 2lA-60w.7, 66 
 (G4427slO)476B 
 
 .General Library 
 
 University of California 
 
 Berkeley