Chapter X: The Climax of 1880 (2)

General Logan inquired whether the rules permitted the seconding of nominations for candidates for President. The Chairman said no, that the rules did not provide for it. Garfield thought there would be no objection to the seconding of nominations. Unanimous consent was accorded for five-minute speeches in seconding nominations. Hale’s motion was then adopted without opposition.

The roll was then called down to Michigan, with no responses. When that State was named, James F. Joy arose and nominated, for President of the United States, James G. Blaine. Mr. Joy was not the kind of a man to arouse the enthusiasm of an audience, and when he had closed, Mr. Pixley, of California, seconded the nomination. These speeches were a great disappointment to the Blaine men. They still remembered Ingersoll’s famous “plumed knight” speech for Blaine at Cincinnati, in 1876. To remedy matters, Mr. William P. Frye, of Maine, obtained the floor by consent, and delivered the following brief, but brilliant little speech, which, in a measure, retrieved the mistake already made. He said:

“I saw once a storm at sea in the night-time, and our staunch old
ship battling for its life with the fury of the tempest; darkness
every-where; the wind shrieking and howling through the rigging; the
huge waves beating upon the sides of that ship and making her shiver
from stem to stern. The lightnings were flashing, the thunders were
rolling. There was danger every-where. I saw at the helm a calm,
bold, courageous, immovable, commanding man. In the tempest, calm;
in the commotion, quiet; in the dismay, hopeful. I saw him take that
old ship and bring her into the harbor, into still waters, into
safety. That man was a hero. I saw the good old ship, the State of
Maine, within the last year, fighting her way through the same
darkness, through the same perils, against the same waves, against
the same dangers. She was freighted with all that is precious in the
principles of our Republic—with the rights of American citizenship,
with all that is guaranteed to the American citizen by our
Constitution. The eyes of the whole Nation were upon her; an intense
anxiety filled every American heart, lest the grand old ship, the
State of Maine, might go down beneath the waves forever, carrying
her precious freight with her. But, sir, there was a man at the
helm. Calm, deliberate, commanding, sagacious, he made even the
foolish men wise. Courageous, he inspired the timid with courage;
hopeful, he gave heart to the dismayed, and he brought that good old
ship proudly into the harbor, into safety, and there she floats
to-day, brighter, purer, stronger from her baptism of danger. That
man, too, was a hero, and his name was James G. Blaine. Maine sends
greetings to this magnificent Convention. With the memory of her own
salvation from impending peril fresh upon her, she says to you,
representatives of 50,000,000 of American people, who have met here
to counsel how the Republic shall be saved, she says to you,
representatives of the people, take a man, a true man, a staunch man
for your leader, who has just saved her, and who will bear you to
safety and certain victory.”

Minnesota was next called; whereupon E. F. Drake placed in nomination William Windom, of Winona, a very able and distinguished Senator from that State.

Now was heard the call for New York; a call which meant Roscoe Conkling and the nomination of the great General and ex-President, Ulysses S. Grant.

As Mr. Conkling advanced to the front, he was greeted with tremendous cheers. Taking a commanding position on one of the reporter’s tables, he stood a few moments and regarded the audience while they grew silent at an imperious wave of his hand. Then he said:

“When asked whence comes our candidate, our sole reply shall be, he
hails from Appomattox with its famous apple-tree. In obedience to
instructions I should never dare to disregard, expressing also my
own firm conviction, I rise to propose a nomination with which the
country and the Republican party can grandly win. The election
before us is to be the Austerlitz of American politics. It will
decide for many years whether the country shall be Republican or
Cossack. The supreme need of the hour is not a candidate who can
carry Michigan. All Republican candidates can do that. The need is
not of a candidate popular in the territories, because they have no
vote. The need is of a candidate who can carry doubtful States. Not
the doubtful States of the North, but doubtful States of the South,
which we have heard, if I understand it aright, ought to take little
or no part here, because the South has nothing to give, but every
thing to receive. No, gentlemen, the need that presses upon the
conscience of this convention is of a candidate who can carry
doubtful States both North and South. And believing that he, more
surely than any other man, can carry New York against any opponent,
and can carry not only the North but several States of the South,
New York is for Ulysses S. Grant. Never defeated in peace or in war,
his name is the most illustrious borne by living man.

“His services attest his greatness, and the country—nay, the
world—knows them by heart. His fame was earned not alone in things
written and said, but by the arduous greatness of things done. And
perils and emergencies will search in vain in the future, as they
have searched in vain in the past, for any other on whom the nation
leans with such confidence and trust. Never having had a policy to
enforce against the will of the people, he never betrayed a cause or
a friend, and the people will never desert nor betray him. Standing
on the highest eminence of human distinction, modest, firm, simple,
and self-poised, having filled all lands with his renown, he has
seen not only the high-born and the titled, but the poor and the
lowly in the uttermost ends of the earth, rise and uncover before
him. He has studied the needs and the defects of many systems of
government; and he has returned a better American than ever, with a
wealth of knowledge and experience added to the hard common sense
which shone so conspicuously in all the fierce light that beat upon
him during sixteen years, the most trying, the most portentous, the
most perilous.

“Vilified and reviled, truthlessly aspersed by unnumbered presses,
not in other lands, but in his own, assaults upon him have seasoned
and strengthened his hold on the public heart. Calumny’s ammunition
has all been exploded; the powder has all been burned once; its
force is spent: and the name of Grant will glitter a bright and
imperishable star in the diadem of the Republic when those who have
tried to tarnish that name have moldered in forgotten graves, and
when their memories and their epitaphs have vanished utterly.

“Never elated by success, never depressed by adversity, he has ever,
in peace as in war, shown the very genius of common sense. The terms
he prescribed for Lee’s surrender foreshadowed the wisest prophecies
and principles of true reconstruction. Victor in the greatest war of
modern times, he quickly signalized his aversion to war, and his
love of peace by an arbitration of international disputes, which
stands the wisest, the most majestic example of its kind in the
world’s diplomacy. When inflation, at the height of its popularity
and frenzy, had swept both Houses of Congress, it was the veto of
Grant which, single and alone, overthrew expansion, and cleared the
way for specie resumption. To him, _to him_ immeasurably more than
to any other man, is due the fact that every paper dollar is as good
as gold.

“With him as our leader we shall have no defensive campaign. No! We
shall have nothing to explain away. We shall have no apologies to
make. The shafts and the arrows have all been aimed at him, and they
lie broken and harmless at his feet.

“Life, liberty, and property will find a safeguard in him. When he
said of the colored men in Florida, ‘Wherever I am they may come
also;’ when he so said, he meant that had he the power, the poor
dwellers in the cabins of the South should no longer be driven in
terror from the homes of their childhood and the graves of their
murdered dead. When he refused to receive Denis Kearney in
California, he meant that Communism, lawlessness, and disorder,
although it might stalk high-headed and dictate law to a whole city,
would find a foe in him. He meant that popular or unpopular, he
would hew to the line of right, let the chips fly where they may.

“His integrity, his common sense, his courage, his unequaled
experience, are the qualities offered to his country. The only
argument, the only one that the wit of man or the stress of politics
has devised is one which would dumbfounder Solomon, because he
thought there was nothing new under the sun. Having tried Grant
twice and found him faithful, we are told that we must not, even
after an interval of years, trust him again. My countrymen! my
countrymen what stultification does not such a fallacy involve. The
American people exclude Jefferson Davis from public trust. Why? Why?
Because he was the arch-traitor and would-be destroyer; and now the
same people is asked to ostracise Grant, and not to trust him. Why?
Why, I repeat? Because he was the arch-preserver of his country, and
because not only in war, but twice as Civil Magistrate, he gave his
highest, noblest efforts to the Republic. Is this an electioneering
juggle, or is it hypocrisy’s masquerade? There is no field of human
activity, responsibility, or reason, in which rational beings object
to an agent because he has been weighed in the balance and not found
wanting; no department of human reason in which sane men reject an
agent because he has had experience, making him exceptionally
competent and fit. From the man who shoes your horse to the lawyer
who tries your cause, the officer who manages your railway or your
mill, the doctor into whose hands you give your life, or the
minister who seeks to save your soul, what man do you reject
because, by his works, you have known him, and found him faithful
and fit? What makes the Presidential office an exception to all
things else in the common sense to be applied to selecting its
incumbent? Who dares—who dares to put fetters on that free choice
and judgment which is the birthright of the American people? Can it
be said that Grant has used official power and place to perpetuate
his term? He has no place, and official power has not been used for
him. Without patronage and without emissaries, without committees,
without bureaus, without telegraph wires running from his house to
this Convention, or running from his house anywhere else, this man
is the candidate whose friends have never threatened to bolt unless
this Convention did as they said. He is a Republican who never
wavers. He and his friends stand by the creed and the candidates of
the Republican party. They hold the rightful rule of the majority as
the very essence of their faith, and they mean to uphold that faith
against not only the common enemy, but against the charlatans,
jayhawkers, tramps, and guerrillas—the men who deploy between the
lines, and forage now on one side and then on the other. This
Convention is master of a supreme opportunity. It can name the next
President. It can make sure of his election. It can make sure not
only of his election, but of his certain and peaceful inauguration.
It can break that power which dominates and mildews the South. It
can overthrow an organization whose very existence is a standing
protest against progress.

“The purpose of the Democratic party is spoils. Its very hope of
existence is a solid South. Its success is a menace to order and
progress. I say this Convention can overthrow that power. It can
dissolve and emancipate a solid South. It can speed the Nation in a
career of grandeur eclipsing all past achievements. Gentlemen, we
have only to listen above the din and look beyond the dust of an
hour to behold the Republican party advancing with its ensigns
resplendent with illustrious achievements, marching to certain
victory with its greatest Marshal at its head.”

After Mr. Bradley, of Kentucky, had seconded Grant’s nomination, the call proceeded, and Ohio being reached, General Garfield arose. Amid great applause he advanced to Mr. Conkling’s late high station on a table, and, as soon as order was restored, said:

“Mr. President: I have witnessed the extraordinary scenes of this
Convention with deep solicitude. No emotion touches my heart more
quickly than a sentiment in honor of a great and noble character.
But as I sat on these seats and witnessed these demonstrations, it
seemed to me you were a human ocean in a tempest. I have seen the
sea lashed into fury and tossed into spray, and its grandeur moves
the soul of the dullest man. But I remember that it is not the
billows, but the calm level of the sea from which all heights and
depths are measured. When the storm has passed and the hour of calm
settles on the ocean, when sunshine bathes its smooth surface, then
the astronomer and surveyor takes the level from which he measures
all terrestrial heights and depths. Gentlemen of the convention,
your present temper may not mark the healthful pulse of the people.

“When our enthusiasm has passed, when the emotions of this hour have
subsided, we shall find the calm level of public opinion, below the
storm, from which the thoughts of a mighty people are to be
measured, and by which their final action will be determined. Not
here, in this brilliant circle, where 15,000 men and women are
assembled, is the destiny of the Republic to be decreed; not here,
where I see the enthusiastic faces of 756 delegates waiting to cast
their votes into the urn and determine the choice of their party;
but by 5,000,000 Republican firesides, where the thoughtful fathers,
with wives and children about them, with calm thoughts inspired by
love of home and love of country, with the history of the past, the
hopes of the future, and the knowledge of the great men who have
adorned and blessed our nation in days gone by,—there God prepares
the verdict that shall determine the wisdom of our work to-night.
Not in Chicago, in the heat of June, but in the sober quiet that
comes between now and November, in the silence of deliberate
judgment, will this great question be settled. Let us aid them
to-night.

“But now, gentlemen of the Convention, what do we want? Bear with me
a moment. Hear me for this cause, and for a moment, be silent that
you may hear. Twenty-five years ago this Republic was wearing a
triple chain of bondage. Long familiarity with the traffic in the
body and souls of men had paralyzed the consciences of a majority of
our people. The baleful doctrine of State sovereignty had shocked
and weakened the noblest and most beneficent powers of the National
Government, and the grasping power of slavery was seizing the virgin
Territories of the West and dragging them into the den of eternal
bondage. At that crisis the Republican party was born. It drew its
first inspiration from the fire of liberty which God has lighted in
every man’s heart, and which all the powers of ignorance and tyranny
can never wholly extinguish. The Republican party came to deliver
and save the Republic. It entered the arena when beleaguered and
assailed Territories were struggling for freedom, and drew around
them the sacred circle of liberty, which the demon of slavery has
never dared to cross. It made them free forever.

“Strengthened by its victory on the frontier, the young party, under
the leadership of that great man, who on this spot, twenty years
ago, was made its leader, entered the national capital and assumed
the high duties of the Government. The light which shone from its
banner dispelled the darkness in which slavery had enshrouded the
Capitol and melted the shackles of every slave, and consumed, in the
fire of liberty, every slave-pen within the shadow of the Capitol.
Our national industries, by an impoverishing policy, were themselves
prostrated, and the streams of revenue flowed in such feeble
currents that the treasury itself was well nigh empty. The money of
the people was the wretched notes of 2,000 uncontrolled and
irresponsible state bank corporations, which were filling the
country with a circulation that poisoned rather than sustained the
life of business.

“The Republican party changed all this. It abolished the babel of
confusion and gave the country a currency as national as its flag,
based upon the sacred faith of the people. It threw its protecting
arm around our great industries, and they stood erect as with new
life. It filled with the spirit of true nationality all the great
functions of the Government. It confronted a rebellion of unexampled
magnitude, with a slavery behind it, and, under God, fought the
final battle of liberty until victory was won. Then, after the
storms of battle, were heard the sweet, calm words of peace uttered
by the conquering nation, and saying to the conquered foe that lay
prostrate at its feet, ‘This is our only revenge, that you join us
in lifting to the serene firmament of the Constitution, to shine
like stars forever and forever, the immortal principles of truth and
justice, that all men, white or black, shall be free and stand equal
before the law.’ Then came the questions of reconstruction, the
public debt, and the public faith.

“In the settlement of these questions the Republican party has
completed its twenty-five years of glorious existence, and it has
sent us here to prepare it for another lustrum of duty and of
victory. How shall we do this great work? We can not do it, my
friends, by assailing our Republican brethren. God forbid that I
should say one word to cast a shadow upon any name on the roll of
our heroes. This coming fight is our Thermopylæ. We are standing
upon a narrow isthmus. If our Spartan hosts are united we can
withstand all the Persians that the Xerxes of Democracy can bring
against us.

“Let us hold our ground this one year, for the stars in their
courses fight for us in the future. The census to be taken this year
will bring reinforcements and continued power. But, in order to win
this victory now, we want the vote of every Republican, of every
Grant Republican in America, of every Blaine man and every
anti-Blaine man. The vote of every follower of every candidate is
needed to make our success certain; therefore I say, gentlemen and
brethren, we are here to calmly counsel together, and inquire what
we shall do. [A voice: ‘Nominate Garfield.’—Great applause.]

“We want a man whose life and opinions embody all the achievements
of which I have spoken. We want a man who, standing on a mountain
height, sees all the achievements of our past history, and carries
in his heart the memory of all its glorious deeds, and who, looking
forward, prepares to meet the labor and the dangers to come. We want
one who will act in no spirit of unkindness toward those we lately
met in battle. The Republican party offers to our brethren of the
South the olive branch of peace, and wishes them to return to
brotherhood, on this supreme condition, that it shall be admitted,
forever and for evermore, that, in the war for the Union, we were
right and they were wrong. On that supreme condition we meet them as
brethren, and no other. We ask them to share with us the blessings
and honors of this great Republic.

“Now, gentlemen, not to weary you, I am about to present a name for
your consideration—the name of a man who was the comrade, and
associate, and friend of nearly all those noble dead whose faces
look down upon us from these walls to-night; a man who began his
career of public service twenty-five years ago, whose first duty was
courageously done in the days of peril on the plains of Kansas, when
the first red drops of that bloody shower began to fall which
finally swelled into the deluge of war. He bravely stood by young
Kansas then, and, returning to his duty in the national legislature,
through all subsequent time his pathway has been marked by labors
performed in every department of legislation.

“You ask for his monuments. I point you to twenty-five years of the
national statutes. Not one great beneficent statute has been placed
on our statute books without his intelligent and powerful aid. He
aided these men to formulate the laws that raised our great armies
and carried us through the war. His hand was seen in the workmanship
of those statutes that restored and brought back the unity and
married calm of the States. His hand was in all that great
legislation that created the war currency, and in a greater work
that redeemed the promises of the Government, and made the currency
equal to gold. And when, at last, called from the halls of
legislation into a high executive office, he displayed that
experience, intelligence, firmness, and poise of character which has
carried us through a stormy period of three years. With one-half the
public press crying ‘Crucify him!’ and a hostile Congress seeking to
prevent success—in all this he remained unmoved until victory
crowned him.

“The great fiscal affairs of the nation and the great business
interests of the country he has guarded and preserved, while
executing the law of resumption and effecting its object without a
jar, and against the false prophecies of one-half of the press and
all the Democracy of this continent. He has shown himself able to
meet with calmness the great emergencies of the Government for
twenty-five years. He has trodden the perilous heights of public
duty, and against all the shafts of malice has borne his breast
unharmed. He has stood in the blaze of ‘that fierce light that beats
against the throne,’ but its fiercest ray has found no flaw in his
armor, no stain on his shield.

“I do not present him as a better Republican, or as a better man
than thousands of others we honor, but I present him for your
deliberate consideration. I nominate John Sherman, of Ohio.”

The addresses of Conkling and Garfield are given here, that the reader may contrast these two great leaders at their best. Garfield’s speech made a profound impression, not only on the Convention, but on the country,—and strengthened the already powerful sentiment in favor of making himself the nominee.

Edmunds and Washburne were the only other nominations proposed. They, with Sherman, were minor candidates, whose only hope lay in the enmity of the Grant and Blaine factions, whose evenly-balanced powers would prevent the success of either.

At twelve o’clock the Convention adjourned over till Monday,—but not for a Sabbath of repose! On Sunday very few of the delegates found time for church, but devoted the day to mustering forces, polishing arms, and a general preparation for the battle of the ballots on Monday. Of the group of great men who led these hosts of enthusiasts, Garfield was one of the very, very few, who attended religious worship. Bound by the good habit of Sabbath observance, he went his solitary way to a little congregation of Disciples, where the tumult and turmoil of the time was smoothed away in peaceful contemplation of the eternal.

A bright, cool, and delightful morning made the Convention open pleasantly on Monday, and at half-past ten the Hall was filled with an immense crowd, made up largely of ladies, come to see the climax of this great battle, and to be in at the finish. The Blaine men were confident. Grant’s followers were not so confident, but still determined. All were hopeful, as the uncertain always may possibly favor us, and most men believe in the luck of their own stars.

On motion, when called to order, the roll of States was called for the first ballot, which appears in full on the opposite page.

After this vote it became evident that there would be no immediate choice, and with a long breath of resignation to its fate, the multitude settled down to a prospectively long siege. There were twenty-eight successive ballots taken, when the day’s work ended, and still no choice.

On Tuesday, June 8, the sixth and last day of the Convention, the great work of nomination was completed. “It was done, and well done.” We give the work of the day somewhat in detail:

On the twenty-ninth ballot Sherman’s vote suddenly went up from 91 on the previous ballot to 116. This resulted from a change in Massachusetts, which broke for him to the extent of twenty-one votes. On the thirtieth he reached his best vote, 120, and then steadily sank to 99 on the thirty-fifth ballot.

Finally that wonderful Grant column of three hundred and five, which had stood so nobly by their great candidate for many hours, began to gain. Pennsylvania gave him an increase, and on the thirty-fourth ballot he had 312 votes. It then became evident that the anti-Grant factions must combine at once, or be beaten.

FIRST VOTE.

─────────────┬─────────┬─────────┬─────────┬─────────┬─────────┬───────── STATES. │ Grant │ Blaine │ Sherman │Washburne│ Edmunds │ Windom ─────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────── Alabama │ 16│ 1│ 3│ │ │ Arkansas │ 12│ │ │ │ │ California │ │ 12│ │ │ │ Colorado │ 6│ │ │ │ │ Connecticut │ │ 3│ │ 7│ 2│ Delaware │ │ 6│ │ │ │ Florida │ 8│ │ │ │ │ Georgia │ 6│ 8│ 8│ │ │ Illinois │ 24│ 10│ │ 8│ │ Indiana │ 1│ 26│ 2│ 1│ │ Iowa │ │ 22│ │ │ │ Kansas │ 4│ 6│ │ │ │ Kentucky │ 20│ 1│ 3│ │ │ Louisiana │ 8│ 2│ 6│ │ │ Maine │ │ 14│ │ │ │ Maryland │ 7│ 7│ 2│ │ │ Massachusetts│ 3│ │ 2│ 1│ 20│ Michigan │ 1│ 21│ │ │ │ Minnesota │ │ │ │ │ │ 10 Mississippi │ 6│ 4│ 6│ │ │ Missouri │ 29│ │ │ 1│ │ Nebraska │ │ 6│ │ │ │ Nevada │ │ 6│ │ │ │ New Hampshire│ │ 10│ │ │ │ New Jersey │ │ 16│ │ 2│ │ New York │ 51│ 17│ 2│ │ │ North │ 6│ │ 14│ │ │ Carolina │ │ │ │ │ │ Ohio │ │ 9│ 34│ │ 1│ Oregon │ │ 6│ │ │ │ Pennsylvania │ 32│ 23│ 3│ │ │ Rhode Island │ │ 8│ │ │ │ South │ 13│ │ 1│ │ │ Carolina │ │ │ │ │ │ Tennessee │ 16│ 6│ 1│ │ 1│ Texas │ 11│ 2│ 2│ 1│ │ Vermont │ │ │ │ │ 10│ Virginia │ 18│ 3│ 1│ │ │ West Virginia│ 1│ 8│ │ │ │ Wisconsin │ 1│ 7│ 3│ 9│ │ Arizona │ │ 2│ │ │ │ District of │ 1│ 1│ │ │ │ Columbia │ │ │ │ │ │ Montana │ │ 2│ │ │ │ New Mexico │ │ 2│ │ │ │ Utah │ 1│ 1│ │ │ │ Washington │ │ 2│ │ │ │ Dakota │ 1│ 1│ │ │ │ Idaho │ │ 2│ │ │ │ Wyoming │ 1│ 1│ │ │ │ ─────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────── TOTAL │ 304│ 284│ 93│ 30│ 34│ 10

It was at this point that Wisconsin pointed them the way to victory. Garfield’s manly course in the Convention had created a favorable impression on all sides, the result of which in the Wisconsin delegation was that he was freely talked of for second choice. They held no caucus, and during the night of Monday were anxiously waiting to see some other State make the break for Garfield. After the adjournment on Monday night the matter was talked up in the delegation, and it was agreed that, if no other solution offered itself within three or four ballots, the delegation would throw its solid strength to Garfield. No consultation was had on the subject with the other leaders, as it was intended to operate as a feeler, Wisconsin being among the last States called on the roll. The result of this feeler is now a matter of history. The thirty-fifth ballot developed a Garfield strength of 50 votes.

Amid the most intense excitement another call was ordered. It was GRANT or GARFIELD—which?

Here General Garfield rose to a question of order. He challenged the vote on the ground that votes had been given for him without his consent, which consent he absolutely refused to give. The point was overruled. The roll call proceeded. When Connecticut was reached, eleven of the twelve votes were given for Garfield. This was the beginning of the excitement. Then Illinois gave seven votes for Garfield, followed by Indiana with twenty-nine votes. Next came Iowa, which had voted for Blaine on every ballot, with its full twenty-two votes for Garfield. When Maine was reached it voted for Garfield. This settled the question. Blaine was out of the field, and Garfield was speedily nominated. Vermont, Edmunds’ State, gave a solid vote for Garfield.

At this point the people could no longer be controlled. The breeze had grown into a storm of enthusiasm. Delegates crowded around Garfield; the people in the galleries, ignoring the lines that had divided them, cheered and waved their hats and handkerchiefs. In this 10,000 people were engaged. It was taken up by almost as many people on the outside, where cannon were also discharged. The scene was one that will not soon be forgotten by those who were present. Republicans, without regard to previous differences, felt and acted as if a great and crushing weight had been removed, and as if they had safely emerged from an impending danger—a danger that threatened the very existence of the party.

The result was read out as follows: Whole number of votes, 755; necessary to a choice, 378; Grant, 306; Blaine, 42; Sherman, 3; Washburne, 5; Garfield, 399.

There was immense cheering, and the Chairman found it difficult to restore order. But order being secured, he said: “_James A. Garfield is nominated for President of the United States_.”

In the midst of all this, Garfield sat deeply moved. He was overwhelmed. Loud calls of “Platform” and “Speech” were unheard by him, and he sat silently in the heart of the hurricane which had caught him up.

As soon as a hearing could be obtained, Mr. Conkling arose, and, after a few remarks on the subject of unity and harmony, and in praise of the nominee, moved that the nomination be made unanimous. This motion was seconded, with warm pledges of support, by several distinguished gentlemen, previous leaders of factions, now leaders of a united and satisfied political party.

At half-past two o’clock the Convention adjourned to meet again at seven in the evening. In view of the fact that the man nominated for the second place on the National ticket was, in fact, a future president, it may be well to give this closing session a passing notice.

When the time of reassembling came, business was begun at once. The principal names presented for Vice-President were: Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois; Marshall Jewell, of Connecticut; and Chester A. Arthur, of New York. On the first and only ballot the New York gentleman received 468 votes to 288 for all others. A vote to make the nomination unanimous carried with a good will, and Garfield and Arthur were at last before the country on their records and their characters, both to be approved and both to be elected.

The following table gives the results of each ballot in the well-contested struggle, of which this brief chronicle has been trying to tell the story:

KEY: A—Grant B—Blaine C—Sherman D—Washburne E—Edmunds F—Windom G—Garfield H—Hayes I—Harrison J—McCrary K—Davis, of Texas L—Hartranft, of Pa.

───────────────────────┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬─── BALLOTS. │ A │ B │ C │ D │ E │ F │ G │ H │ I │ J │ K │ L ───────────────────────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼─── First │304│284│ 93│ 30│ 34│ 10│ │ │ │ │ │ Second │305│282│ 94│ 31│ 32│ 10│ 1│ │ │ │ │ Third │305│282│ 93│ 31│ 32│ 10│ 1│ │ 1│ │ │ Fourth │305│281│ 95│ 31│ 32│ 10│ 1│ │ │ │ │ Fifth │305│281│ 95│ 31│ 32│ 10│ 1│ │ │ │ │ Sixth │305│280│ 95│ 31│ 32│ 10│ 2│ │ │ │ │ Seventh │305│281│ 94│ 31│ 32│ 10│ 2│ │ │ │ │ Eighth │306│284│ 91│ 32│ 31│ 10│ 1│ │ │ │ │ Ninth │308│282│ 90│ 32│ 31│ 10│ 2│ │ │ │ │ Tenth │305│282│ 92│ 32│ 31│ 10│ 2│ 1│ │ │ │ Eleventh │305│281│ 93│ 32│ 31│ 10│ 2│ 1│ │ │ │ Twelfth │304│283│ 92│ 33│ 31│ 10│ 1│ 1│ │ │ │ Thirteenth │305│285│ 89│ 33│ 31│ 10│ 1│ │ │ 1│ │ Fourteenth │305│285│ 89│ 35│ 31│ 10│ │ │ │ │ │ Fifteenth │309│281│ 88│ 36│ 31│ 10│ │ │ │ │ │ Sixteenth │306│283│ 88│ 36│ 31│ 10│ │ │ │ │ │ Seventeenth │303│284│ 90│ 36│ 31│ 10│ │ │ │ │ 1│ Eighteenth │305│283│ 91│ 35│ 31│ 10│ │ │ │ │ │ Nineteenth │305│279│ 96│ 32│ 31│ 10│ 1│ │ │ │ │ 1 Twentieth │308│276│ 93│ 35│ 31│ 10│ 1│ │ │ │ │ 1 Twenty-first │305│276│ 96│ 35│ 31│ 10│ 1│ │ │ │ │ 1 Twenty-second │305│275│ 97│ 35│ 31│ 10│ 1│ │ │ │ │ 1 Twenty-third │304│275│ 97│ 36│ 31│ 10│ 2│ │ │ │ │ Twenty-fourth │305│279│ 93│ 35│ 31│ 10│ 2│ │ │ │ │ Twenty-fifth │302│281│ 91│ 35│ 31│ 10│ 2│ │ │ │ │ Twenty-sixth │303│280│ 93│ 36│ 31│ 10│ 2│ │ │ │ │ Twenty-seventh │306│277│ 93│ 36│ 31│ 10│ 2│ │ │ │ │ Twenty-eighth │307│279│ 91│ 35│ 31│ 10│ 2│ │ │ │ │ Twenty-ninth │305│278│116│ 35│ 12│ 7│ 2│ │ │ │ │ Thirtieth │306│279│120│ 33│ 11│ 4│ 2│ │ │ │ │ Thirty-first │308│276│118│ 37│ 11│ 3│ 1│ │ │ │ │ Thirty-second │309│270│117│ 44│ 11│ 3│ 1│ │ │ │ │ Thirty-third │309│276│110│ 44│ 11│ 4│ 1│ │ │ │ │ Thirty-fourth │312│275│107│ 30│ 11│ 4│ 17│ │ │ │ │ Thirty-fifth │313│257│ 99│ 23│ 11│ 3│ 50│ │ │ │ │ Thirty-sixth │306│ 42│ 3│ 5│ │ │399│ │ │ │ │ ───────────────────────┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───