Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1891-10-29
BLAINE AND CONKLING'S DISPUTE.
When the Man From Maine Called
Roscoe Turkey Cock.

~-""Os NitherihS SARCASM rs said to
have Thwarted the Highest Ambition
Of His Life To Be President.
Ginton Lloyd in Philadelphia Times
Several letters recently received from
nadcrs OF my previously published arti-
cle, asking me to give full account of
sne Blaine-Conkling controversy in the
House, seem to show public interestin
the matter that justfies compliance
with a request.
The controversy, which was regarded
~ the time as one Of those effervescences
IN parliamentary debate which would
disappear very speedily, has proved to
be OF historical Importance and fur
nishes illustration, as have before said,
OF the power of apparently trivial cir
cumstances TO control human destiny.
Oliver Wendell Holmes says somewhere
that If Mrs. Galyani had not happened
to be an invalid and needed some
frog broth for her nourishment the
world might still be without the
magnetic telegraph and the electric
light, that makes the midnight
brighter than the MONDAY. The Ell
fects of that controversy have influenced
tho political situation ever since it oc-
CURED and have no doubt changed the
current of American history. 1t entered
into the contest for the Republican
Presidential nomination in 1876, in
which Blaine and Conkliz- were rival
aspirants, and produced the nomination
OF Hayes. The friends of both Blaine
and Conkling, deeply anxious as to the
effect of this controversy, tried earnestly
to bring about reconciliation. Blaine
was willing to do anything that due
regard to his own self-respect would
permit, but Conkling would concede no
terms except what Blaine could not ac-
ccpt without political degradation. The
result was that each was disappointed
of the object of his most ardent ambi.
ton, and to the sulking of "Ajax in his
tent" in 1884, is 10 be fairly charged
the'victory of Cleveland, whose election
was only made possible by beggarly
1900 majority in the state of New York,
and which would have been easily over.
come if Blaine had received even a half.
hearted support from Conkling.
They were well.matchcd pair of
gladiators, very nearly the same age,
Conkling being just three months the
elder, and both men of splendid ply
sique. The only advantage Conkling
possessed was in having had six years
previous parliamentary experience as
member of the seth, 3Tth and 3Sth Con-
crosses. Blaine was in his second term
of congressional service. The style of
speaking of the two men was entirely
different. Conkling spoke in a calm,
q, stately, deliberate manner, with his
usual hauteur, the word waiting on the
thought, and as exactly fitted to give it
expression as if it had been measured
and cut for the purpose by skilled
artisan. Blaine, more rapid and impet-
uous, with the thoughts crowding each
other in their efforts to find expression,
and without much regard to the style or
fit of the dress in which they should be
clothed; the one the comparative quiet
but resistless flow of the rapids, the
other the cataract's plunge and foam
and whirl. The occasion was one not
likely ever to be forgotten by any one
who was witness of it.
The alteration arose during discus
sion on the gath day of April, 1866, of a
bill in relation to the office Of provost
marshal.general, then filled by General
James b. Fry, to whom Conkling had
conceived an intense aversion, growing
subordinate officers in western New
York. He said ave, in the western
district of New York, had sent to rule
over US an assistant provost marshall
general n man who never saw battle;
who never received q scratch in the mil
jtary service; man hcnored with the
especial personal intimacy and conf
dence of the provost marshal-general,
md x1yh In rl- I'D nd
degree, reflected the will and favor of
his chief. The spokesman, so trusted
and so fortunate, did not come to us
alone. There came at the same time
other creatures of the head of the bureau
at Washington. The western division
swarmed with these chosen favorites
and they illustrated to the full the
genius and morale of their mission. BY
acts Of their own and by acts done by
their superior at Washington they
turned the business of recruiting and
drafting into one carnival of corrupt
disorder, into a paradise of coXcombs
and thieves"
He went on to charge them with the
grossest frauds, and said that he had
been employed by the government to
prosecute them, and that he had tried
and convicted the assistant provost mar
shal-general.
Blaine's participation in the debate
was fully warranted, perhaps unavoid,
able, as the bill had been reported by
him as a member of the committee on
military affairs having it in charge. In
answering Conkling he charged that he
had been governed in his remarks by
zsrsonal hostility to General Fry, and
e2ated that among Conklings earliest
acts in that Congress was the introduce
ton of a resolution directing the war
department to report upon the expedi-
ency of abolishing the office of provost
marshal-general, and read letter from
General Grant advising against abolish
ing the office in which lie said 81 think
the officer best fitted for that position,
by his experience during the present
war, is General Fry" Blaine then said:
The gentleman from New York has had
his issues with General Fry at the war de-
paftment. They have been adjudicated
upon by the Secretary of War; and leave
it for the gentleman to say whether he
came out first best. / do not know the
particulars; the gentleman can inform the
House. All have to say Island in this |
believe speak the sentiment Of amajority
of this House-that james Is. Fry is II
most efficient officer, heightened gentle
man, whose character is without spot or
blemish; a gentleman who stands second
10 no officer in the American army. and
he is ready to meet the gentleman from
New York and all other accusers anywhere
and everywhere.