Year: 1877




proud of the great ability Of It's leading
Senator. There is wide difference OF
opinion in this State respecting the sound
ness of Mr.. Conklings opinions. but
what has happened during the extra
session establishes his claim TO be
regarded as the ablest political leader
among contemporary statesmen. The SUI
prone test of ability is success. II Is the
physician who cures desperate diseases. the
general who wins victories against great
odds, the lawyer who has q knack
Of winning cases that establishes his
reputation. In popular estimation failure
is q proof Of incapacity, and success,
especially If it be brilliant and surprising
success, is accepted as evidence Of great
abilities.


BY this popular rule Of judging Mr. Conk-
ling outranks all contemporary politicians.
It is quite certain that he has achieved re-
markable success. When he began his
campaign against the President it was
doubtful which of the two most truly repre-
sented the average sentiment Of the repub-
lican party. The result has proved that
Mr. Conkling was the more sagacious judge
of the drift of republican opinion. In
tracing the history Of this remarkable con-
test there is no need of going further back
than the Republican State Convention at
Rochester. 1t was the general impression at
that time that Mr.. Conkling had perpetrated
an irretrievable blunder The hostility to
President Hayes by other republican State
conventions had been negative and halt
ing that Of the New York Convention was
bold and aggressive. There was wide-
spread feeling that Mr.. Conkling had
ruined himself by his vindictive assault on
the administration but the result has proved
that he was better judge of the drift OF
republican sentiment than Mr.. Blaine had
merely restrained the Republican Conven-
ton in that State from indorsing the adj
ministration, and better judge than the
republicans Of any other State With the
exception Of Massachusetts, which sided
with the President, they sought to
events. But Mr.. Conkling courageously
took time by the forelock, and what seemed
al the time so audacious has been proved by
the event to have been the dictate of pene-
trating sagacity and correct judgment.
Mr. Conkling, at that early date, had
party would submit to than any other
public man in the country His
perceptions may have been sharpened
by his personal animosity, but certain it is
that he understood the situation, or at least
the possibilities of the situation, better than
any other republican statesman. When
others hesitated and temporized, as if in
political fog Mr.. Conkling saw his way and
staked all his political hopes on the cor
rectness of his judgment. Thus far events
have surprisingly attested the sagacity and
justified the boldness of Mr.. Conkling.
He has gained more influence since the
Rochester Convention than in any previous
five years of his public life. 1t is shining
proof Of his talents that he is SO prompt to
seize opportunities and turn them to ac-
count.


When Mr.. Conkling put the Rochester
Convention in an attitude Of open hostility
to President Hayes he staked great deal
on the result of the election in this State.
Had the republican party been badly
beaten in November Mr.. Conkling would
have been stranded and left high and dry
as a political hulk on the beach. The inter-
val between the Rochester Convention and
the New York election must have been to
him period of intense anxiety. Mr.. Conk-
ling's career as public man would have
soon ended if the New York election in
November had resulted in an over
whelming defeat Of the republican
party The defeat would have been
charged to his bitter attack on the
President. But the election returns showed
that the republican party had not been
weakened by Mr.. Conkling's open war on
the administration. The republicans elected
majority of both branches of the Legisla-
ture and reduced the democratic majority Of
last year on the general ticket.


As soon as this result was known Mr..
Conkling knew well enough that victory
had perched on his standard. He, of
COuTse, lclt Jubilhnt, uuu ~ WIS Wueu
he was in this condition Of mind that
an interviewer, whose report was printed
In tho HERALD, encountered him in
this city when he was on his way
back from Utica to Washington. How
ever faulty the report Of that in
terview may have been in some details
nobody can doubt now that it truly repre-
sented the sentiments Of Mr.. Conkling in
its substance. He afterward tried to dis
credit the interview in brief speech made
in the Senate 1t is quite possible that it may
not have been strictly accurate in some par
ticulars 1t did not profess to be verbatim
report; IL was never meant to be regarded
rs a stenographer's literal transcript of the
very words Of q conversation. 1t was,
therefore, subject to two sources of possible
error. The impulsive warmth of Mr..