The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1901-06-20
BLAINE AND corKL1NG.


between James G. Blaine and Roscoe
Conkling. The bitterness of this was
confined to Nh. Conkling. Mr.. Blaine
had so clearly the advantage in the
personal controversy out of which the
feud came that he could afford to
be magnanimous. Besides, it was his
nature to be so. Mr.. Smith truly says
OF the two men: ''Mr. Blaine was gen
erous, impulsive and kind-hearted. He
cherished no resentment. Mr.. Conk-
ling was sensitive, self-consciOus, exact
ing and implacable. He had lofty
and naughty, but honorable pride" 1t
is to be remembered, also, that Ian
guage more personally insulting than
that applied to Mr.. Conkling by Mr..
Blaine was never uttered in debate.
The worst personalities of the stump
lave not surpassed what was here said
i'll the halls of Congress-. A cuticle
which it could rebound without pene-
and there has been no man in our politi-
cal history who could have felt it more
than Mr.. Conkling. The epithet, turkey
cock, which was contained in it, indeed
adhered to him in the public mind
through his life.
This, though it must have ranked in
the mind of Mr. Conkling as the worst
indignity he had ever received, as time
went on became only one of the griev-
ances which grew into hatreds with
him. His domineering spirit led him to
personal dislikes of all who did not de-
fer to him. There were few senators
whom he forgave for not taking this
attitude. Mr. Edmunds was one of
them, but he found In Mr. Edmunds
what he probably regarded as defer
ence in the fact that the Vermont Sena-
tor sympathized with his support of
stalWart party views, and had a pro-
found distrust of MI Blaine. Mr..
Conklings lordly spirit was sensitive
to the defeat of his political views to
an extent that Mr. Smith holds almost
made him ready to sacrifice his personal
antipathieS in order to save the former
We cannot quite agree that Conkling
would ever have yielded his resentment
toward Blaine to the extent of support
ing the latter for the presidency rather
than have it go to a candidate who was
not stalwart; yet Mr.. Smith repre-
sents the New York senator as tempted
to do so. The advance had to be made
first by Mr.. Blaine here, however.
Among the friends of Mr. Conkling
who had influence with him to the ex-
tent that his character made influence
possible was Senator John p Jones of
Nevada. Mr. Smith in writing of SEN
ator Jones, confirms the opinion that
we have more than once expressed that
Senator Jones is a man of extraordi-
nary ability. The country has had little
occasion to appreciate this from the cir
cumstance that Mr.. Jones is too much
absorbed in his private business to give
his talent to the service of the nation;
but his brother senators have under
stood it, and Mr.. Conkling was one of
the number who did so. As Mr. Smith
writes: Clones was Conkling's peer as a
senator: he was his match in repartee:
he had neither the timidity that shrinks
nor the homage that is blind; he could
meet prejudice with persuasion, unrea-
son with ridicule, and imperiousness
with unabashed courage and consuming
disdain.' With it all, Senator Jones
was devoted friend of Mr. Conkling,
and, as Mr.. Smith thinks, had whole
some check upon the New York senator.
Mr. Jones skilfully played in his con-
versatlon with Congling on the NORTH
cation to the latter which would come
from the triumph Of the more moderate
men of the Republican party Grant
and Blaine are both stalwarts, he urged;
don't therefore, let the stalwarts be de-
feated, as they will be if neither Grant
nor Blaine is nominated. While Conk-
ling was meditating on this astute pre-
sentiment of the situation, there came
to him that, through Senator Henry W.
Blair of New Hampshire, the case had
been presented in the same light to Mr.
Blaine, and that Conkling had been sug-
gested to Mr. Blaine as an alternative
to Grant in case Grant could not be
nominated, with Mr.. Blaine's acquies-
cence. This naturally touched Mr.. Conk-
ling's vanity and ambition, if it did
nothing more. He was still strenously
true to Grant, but he pondered over
what had been said to him so far as to
declare after the convention had begun
that, to use his own contemptuous
mated" Whether this embodied hopes
for himself, or marked his inclination
to go over to the support of Blaine, can
only be conjectured. If the latter, he
was not equal to making the personal
sacrifice implied in it when the test
came.
On the thirty fifth ballot Wisconsin
introduced the name of Garfield to the
convention, as the ballot was closing.
On the thirty-sixth ballot the State
delegations began to go over to him.
When Maine voted for Garfield, it was
the signal that the candidacy of Blaine
was abandoned, and the success of the
stampede for Garfield, secured. In this
crisis Senator Jones, who stood at the
side Of Conkling, said to the latter:
'Now is your chance to do the great
act; throw the vote of New York for
Blaine" Conkling hesitated. ''There
isn't time to poll the delegation" he
said. Cast the vote,'' responded Jones,
land then poll the delegation" Conk-
ling failed to do this. 1t is only con-
lecture that he wavered; he may not
have been willing to make the sacrifice.
Certainly he did not make it. In failing
to do so, he failed to stop the stampede
for Garfield, and Garfield was nomi-
mated.
Mr.. Smith feels confident that, if
Conkling had accepted Senator Jones
counsel, the tide would have been turn
ed and Blaine would have been the Re-
publican candidate instead of Garfield
He does not venture to assert, however,
the belief that Conkling was seriously
thinking of overcoming his antipathy
to Blaine. Gle was wellnigh inscrut-
able,'' is Mr.. Smiths expression in this