The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-24

one last attempt TO secure the withdrawal
OF ROhertsOn's name. This had been par
TALLY promised. but the New York Tri-
bune had published the rumor and when
Plat approached the President. the lat
ter had impatiently given the forestal-
ment OF his purpose as reason for re-
fusing TO further consider it, The report
did not come from u.s." said Conkling;
the Tribune was an administration or
gan, with the editor as the confidential
friend and adviser OF the President The
rlmor crept out through some friend
OF that paper and we were not 10 blame;
but he made this pretext for declining
TO further entertain the proposition. and
Plat came back, and entering my COM
mlttee room. sat down on a sofa as II he
would never get up again. He went over
his interview with the President, and af-
ter he had finished / asked him what we
were going TO do about it.
I don't know what you will do" he
replied. but l know what 1 am going
to do; I'm going to resign" This course
had not been discussed before. but Conk
ling replied that if Plat resigned he would
follow the example, and a few days af-
terward the whole country was astounded
to hear that their letters of resignation
were in the hands of the governor of
| New York. PLAT has been subjected to
| "A good deal of ridicule for meekly fol-
1 lowing my lead" said Conkling, land
/ gained the sobriquet of Me Too Plat
I Dul TIE TACT Is ne was the ledQGT ana i
was the me too"
If there had been any hesitation on my
/ part about making public the story as
/ Mr. Conkling told 1t to me, that doubt
was resolved into positive prohibition
/ when Garfield was assassinated and the
worlds sympathy went out to him. No
| personal grievance can stand against the
sweeping force of public pity. and recog-
/ nizing the improperly of any publication
which should keep alive the animosity
so unfortunately engendered between
these eminent men or between the friends
who had espoused their cause, l said
nothing more about the matter until
few months before Mr.. Conklings death.
when l requested him to give me an au-
! thorized version of his side of the ques-
| ton for publication. In making the re-
| quest, l inclosed him a proposed maya
zine article on the "Prerogatives of the
| President in which had referred to some
Of the salient points of his controversy
with Garfield but which article had been
| retained in my keeping, owing to the trag-
edy which attended the latters death
| In response to my request, he sent me
the following letter which is so charac-
teristic that 1 append it,
Wall Street, New York, Aug. 81, 1888
My Dear Sir-During my absence in
Washington ION a professional errand
your valued letter with enclosure came
here. and l take the earliest hour late
! at night, 10 answer II.
Referring first to the article herewith
returned as you request, l have read
it with care, interest, and, / may add,
with admiration. 1t seems to me able
and elevated. One reason of this is its
truth of argument and event But owing
! to the fatal result of the act of a mad
| brute you withheld and still withhold II.
Do not all the reasons for this besides
several more apply to my entering the
field of discussion? No one except myself
could enter such field exposed to the GER
tainty of the charge of personality and q
grievance. II, apart from personal feel
ings, there be any motive or Importance
in a review, surely enough has now
come to the knowledge of political stu
dents TO enable any of them to deal. as
your article in outline so we'll deals, with
the elements of the case. But other pos
tive objections are in the way. There
are, far from here, various documents
which, were / to attempt a statement,
must be consulted and such of them as
it is clearly right to use should be intro
duced All this requires time and consul
tation not now possible. l am under
professional engagements which demand
constant attention and which have weaned
attention from the matters in
question much more completely than l can
myself we'll understand. To begin such
an affair means to follow it up. For this
l have no time, and, however the future
may modify the feeling l am now utterly
averse to the trouble. Moreover the press
as at present motived, would generally
take the malevolent course. In short,
having resisted many like requests, not
always tempered with the considerable
moderation of yours, / must still hold
that the time has not come when the
truth may be wisely spoken by me. Thank
ing you warmly for many kind and gen.
erous words and for the friendship
wi I pola Wit
tions. l am, sincerely yours,
Roscoe Conkling.
Thus Mr.. Conkling's story, armed with
the grace and power which he could lend
it, has never been told. But the facts
as he related them to me are fresh in
my recollection and may prove of inter-
est to those who followed that contro-
versy with such mingled feelings of ad-
miration and regret
/ ought to add in justice to Mr. Conk-
ling, that he told me he had no inten-
ton of again becoming a candidate for
senator when he resigned. His thought
then was to retire to private life, at
least during the term of the Garfield ad-
ministration. But he was beseiged with
demands that he stand at once for re-
election and 'vindication," until he saw
that refusal would be regarded as an
abandonment of friends in the midst of
the battle when he yielded. And / re-
member with what bitterness he spoke
of one Of those "tumultuous friends" a
prominent member of the legislature,
who after exhausting every argument to
induce him to become a candidate, aban-
doned him at the crisis and went over to
the enemy. Gilbert A. Pierce.
%Conkling's statement that he made no
demands upon Garfield, but simply ac-
/ cepted what was proffered him by the
President-elect is verified by Mr.. William
Penn Nixon, manager of the Inter Ocean,
Chicago, who met Garfield the day
after Conkling's visit to Mentor Mr.
Nixon, although valued and consistent
friend of Conkling, sustained very cor
dial relations to Garfield, and in a late
conversation informed me that the latter
told him on the occasion referred to, that
Conkling was exceedingly modest about
asking favors and made no demands
whatever.
The two following cases would be diff
cult to surpass. says the Philadelphia
Press. One was in England. the other in