The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-06-30

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Cameron's Device for Keeping Pennsyl-
vania steady for Hartrsnft-The Agree
ment with New York
tIrl i[From the New York Tribune. ".n
At the hour when the convention met
on the last day, no combination against
Mr.. Blaine had been formed. At the
meetings of the opposing leaders during
the night, the fact was fully recognized
that the only result of an attempted
combination would be the nomination of
Mr.. Blaine. The moment delegates
from States which had candidates of
their own should be relieved from their
delegations, Mr.. Blaine would gather
from them and from wavering delega-
tons from other parts of the country
sufficient votes to give him a majority.
The only agreement, therefore, that
could be reached was that made between
Secretary Cameron and the Conkling
leaders that the New York and Pennsyl-
vania delegations should be kept undi-
vided If possible until after several bal
lots had been cast, and further policy
could be determined upon. But the
Blaine men in the Pennsylvania delega-
ton were in majority, and the impor-
tant question which arose was how they
should be prevented from DESERVING Gov.
Hartranft ON the third or fourth ballot,
and, by casting thirty or forty votes for
Mr.. Blaine, turn the tide in his favor
and cause his nomination. The plan
decided upon was as follows Gov.
Hartranft had no strength outside of his
own State, but the Conkling leaders had
succeeded, either in the State Conventions
or since coming to Cincinnati, in captur-
ing a few stray votes from the Southern
States. 1t was agreed that some of these
should be transferred to Gov. Hartranft,
in order that when the Pennsylvania
Blaine men proposed to break away
from the instructions given by their
State Convention, Mr.. Cameron could
point to these Southern votes and ap-
peal to them not to desert the candidate
whose name they presented while he was
receiving support from other States, and
while he was making gains, however
small, on each succeeding ballot. How
successfully this plan was carried out
may be seen by a reference to the record
of the convention.
On the first ballot Gov. Hartranft re-
ceived only the fifty-eight votes cast by
his own State. On the second ballot he
received four from Nevada and five from
North Carolina, three of the latter hav-
ing been transferred directly from the
Conkling column. On the third ballot
Gov. Hartranft still gained three votes,
and the fourth three more, making his
total vote on that ballot eighty-one. To
defeat this policy the Blaine men made
their demonstration on the second ballot.
-, ~ vao Tho IL,
and in obtaining from the convention
an official declaration that each delegate
was at liberty to vote as he pleased. in
spite of the instructions of the State
Convention, was looked upon as a great
victory for Mr.. Blaine, and his nomina-
ton on the third ballot was confidently
expected. The transfer of the three adj
ditional votes in the North Carolina dele
CATION to Hartranft, on the third ballot,
furnished to Mr.. Cameron the basis for
new appeal to the entire Pennsylvania
delegation to stand by the Governor o
their State, at least as long as he con-
tinued to gain. This was the most crit
ical time for Mr.. Blaine. The thirty
four men in the Pennsylvania delegation
who subsequently voted for the ex-
Speaker then had it in their power to lift
him over the bar on which he was
grounding, but they listened to Mr..
Cameron's appeal and allowed the oppor
tunity to go by unimproved. This blum
der they repeated on the fourth, fifth,
and sixth ballots and then, when it was
too late for them to accomplish anything,
and when the receding tide was carrying
Mr.. Blaine out into the deep waters of
defeat, their efforts to stem il were wholly
unavailing.