ARTHUR, CLEVELAND, AND BLAINE-1881-1884 201 



of a member of the German parliament who had 

 died suddenly while on a visit to our country Edward 

 Lasker. I had known him well in Berlin as a man of 

 great ability and high character, and felt it a duty to 

 accept the invitation to give one of the addresses at 

 his funeral. The other address was given by my friend 

 of many years, Carl Schurz; and these addresses, with 

 some others made at the time, did, I suppose, something 

 to bring to me the favor of my German fellow-citizens in 

 New York. 



Still, my main thoughts were given to Cornell Univer 

 sity. This was so evident that on one occasion a newspaper 

 of my own party, in an article hostile to those who spoke 

 of nominating me for the governorship, declared: &quot;Mr. 

 White s politics and religion are Cornell University. 

 But suddenly, in 1884, I was plunged into politics most 

 unexpectedly. 



As has been usual with every party in the State of New 

 York from the beginning of the government, the Republi 

 cans were divided between two factions, one supporting 

 Mr. Arthur for the Presidency, the other hoping to nomi 

 nate Mr. Blaine. These two factions thus standing op 

 posed to each other, Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, with a few 

 others in various parts of the State, started an independent 

 movement, with the result that the two main divisions of 

 the party, detesting each other more than they detested the 

 independents, supported the latter and elected indepen 

 dent candidates as delegates at large to the approaching 

 Republican Convention at Chicago. Without any previous 

 notice, I was made one of these delegates. My position was 

 therefore perfectly independent; I was at liberty to vote 

 for whom I pleased. Although iny acquaintance with Mr. 

 Blaine was but slight, I had always felt strong admiration 

 and deep attachment for him. As Secretary of State, dur 

 ing a part of my residence in Berlin, he had stood by 

 me in a contest regarding the double standard of value 

 in which I had feared that he might waver ; and, far more 

 than all this, his general political course had caused me, 



