230 POLITICAL LIFE-XII 



wherein were shown some points in German life which 

 Americans might study to advantage; had also delivered 

 an address on the Contributions of Germany to American 

 Civilization&quot;; and had, at various times, formed pleasant 

 relations with leading Germans of both parties. The fact 

 was perfectly well known, also, that I was opposed to the 

 sumptuary laws which had so largely driven Germans out 

 of the Republican party, and had declared that these were 

 not only unjust to those immediately affected by them, but 

 injurious to the very interests of temperance, which they 

 were designed to promote. 



I was passing the summer at Magnolia, on the east 

 coast of Massachusetts, when an old friend, the son of 

 an eminent German- American, came from New York and 

 asked me to become a candidate for the governorship. 

 I was very reluctant, for special as well as general rea 

 sons. My first wish was to devote myself wholly to cer 

 tain long-deferred historical work; my health was not 

 strong; I felt utterly unfitted for the duties of the cam 

 paign, and the position of governor, highly honorable as 

 it is, presented no especial attractions to ine, my ambition 

 not being in that line. Therefore it was that at first I 

 urged my friends to combine upon some other person; 

 but as they came back and insisted that they could 

 agree on no one else, and that I could bring to the sup 

 port of the party men who would otherwise oppose it, 

 I reluctantly agreed to discuss the subject with some of 

 the leading Republicans in New York, and among them 

 Mr. Thomas C. Platt, who was at the head of the organ 

 ized management of the party. 



In our two or three conversations Mr. Platt impressed 

 me curiously. I had known him slightly for many years ; 

 indeed, we had belonged to the same class at Yale, but as 

 he had left it and I had entered it at the beginning of the 

 sophomore year we did not know each other at that period. 

 We had met occasionally when we were both supporting 

 Mr. Conkling, but had broken from each other at the time 

 when he was supporting Mr. Elaine, and I, Mr. Edmunds, 



