St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-07-02
The Republican Convention
HOW EITHER EDMUNDs OR sHER,

HOW EITHER EDMUNDS OR SHERMAN
COULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED.
Edmund Hudsons Review of the Great Contest
Crowds and noise were the distin
gushing characteristics of the conyen-
tion of 1880, and there was only one
person who never got lost in the crowd,
and who never made any unnecessary
noise. That was Senator Hoar of Mas
sachusetts, who presided over the con-
vention with such skill that, if it hadn't
been for Garfield. he might have proved
to be the dark horse in the contest for
the nomination. The thought certain
ly was not absent from the minds of
some who were present in the cOnven-
ton. There were two men, one of
whom should have been nominated for
president by the convention. One was
John Sherman and the other was Sen
atOr Edmunds. Mr.. Sherman would
have been nominated if Ohio had been
sufficiently earnest and substantially
united In his support. Mr.. Edmunds
could have been nominated by Grant
men easily if they had not preferred
defeat with Grant to success with any
other candidate. The result of the
convention was not so much defeat
tor Grant as for the syndicate of his
self-constituted managers. They were
routed at every point save the choice
of candidate for vice-president, which
they obtained through a weak cOnces-
sion on the part of the Ohio men. They
would not have obtained this advan-
tage If Mr.. Sherman had been nOmi-
mated, for to have put on Arthur with
Sherman's name at the head of the
ticket would have been mere horse
play, and the convention might better
have never been held. The nOmina-
tion of Sherman was the natural and
proper thing for the convention to do,
and it was very near to being accom-
plished. A. majority of the convention
certainly felt kindly to Sherman. The
Blaine men generally felt kindly toward
him. There never was any chance for
J Mr.. Blaine, for the very excellent rea-
I s3n that majority of the convention
thought his nomination would not be a
wise one. So, when the question arose
as to whom the anti-Grant forces should
combine on, it was Mr.. Sherman rather
than Mr.. Blaine who would have been
the beneficiary of this movement. But
among the Blaine votes were nine from
Ohio which were given for Blaine with
the express purpose of defeating Mr..
Sherman. If Mr.. Blaine had under
taken to transfer his forces to Sherman,
then these nine Ohio men would have
gone to Grant in order to beat Sher-
man. Two of these nine delegates
came from the district represented in
Congress by Mr.. Garfield. On Monday
evening, after the 2S continuous bal |
lots, it became evident that Mr.. Blaine
and MIR. Sherman together had not
votes enough to nominate either one of
them If they combined. Still, there
were the votes of Massachusetts, Yer
mont, and MInnesOta-46 altogether
which could all have been concentrated |
on Sherman, but the Sherman leaders
we're afraid to try it. They made no
efforts to induce the Wisconsin and In
diana men to lead off for Sherman, as |
they would have done if urged to do so. |
| Mr.. Sherman was slaughtered in the |
house of his friends.
The failure of the Sherman leaders
to put him in nomination was paral- |
leled in folly by the failure of the Grant
men to nominate Edmunds. They fol- |
lowed the mislead of Conkling, who |
persistently asserted that it was impos-
sible for the anti-Grant men to com
bine, palpable error which should |
compel the retirement from active pol
itics of the man who is capable of com
mitting it. Mr.. Conkling believed that
Blaine was stronger than he really was. |
and he expected to see Blaine get $50
votes at some point in the convention.
which, as he we'll knew, would have
assured the nomination of Grant. The |
moment he perceived how weak Blaine |
really was, Conkling should have made |
his arrangements to go to Edmunds, |
for the weakness of Blaine made it alb
solutely certain that the Blaine men
Tonld seek to put some other candidate |
in nomination. If, on Monday night |
Conkiing, realizing the strong desire of
the Blaine men to name the candidate. |
and the helplessness of Sherman lead |
ers, had invited the Indiana and Wis
consln men to join the Grant forces in |
gong over to Edmunds, he might have
nominated the Vermont senator over
the heads of both Sherman and Blaine, |
and walked off with some, if not all of |
the honors of victory. But he was
crazy over Grant, and let all opportu-
mites for victory slip by him. What is !
the explanation of this extraordinary
halluclnatiOn about Grantq many peO-
pie Will ask. The explanation is that
IN 1917, when Grant went out of the |
| White House, Mr.. Conkling went to
Grant and made to him a solemn and |
formal promise that he (Roscoe Conk-
lnIg) would put him back into the
White House in 1880. Relying on that
promise, Gen. Grant has been for years
awaiting the honor which he was fool
lsh enough to believe Mr.. Conkling
was capable of securing for him. The |
whole Grant movement rested at last
on Conkling's personal assurance to
Grant in 1877.
Could Gen. Grant have been nomi-
mated by the convention under any
circumstances? l think he could, but
not with such leadership as Conkling
gave to the movement. The Grant |
managers never cOndescended to argue
the case in his behalf. They did not
permit themselves to discuss the uues-
tion as to whether Grant was preferable
TO Blaine or Sherman or Washburne or
anybody else. But they loftilv as
sumed that he was the only candidate
with whom there was any possibility of
winning in the campaign of this year,
and they treated all persons who diff
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