CONKLING AND FOLGER-1867-1868 145 



return to the old, better order of things was that the 

 people would not like it and would be inclined to vote 

 down the new constitution on account of it. 



In reply to this, Mr. Greeley arose and made a most 

 admirable short speech ending with these words, given in 

 his rapid falsetto, with a sort of snap that made the whole 

 seem like one word: " When-the-people-take-up-their- 

 ballots-they- want-to-see- who-is-to-be-governor : that's-all- 

 they-care-about : they-don't-want-to-read-a-whole-chapter- 

 of-the-Bible-on-their-ballots. ' ' 



Unfortunately, the majority dared not risk the popular 

 ratification of the new constitution, and so this amendment 

 was lost. 



No doubt Mr. Greeley was mainly responsible for this 

 condition of things ; his impatience with the convention, as 

 shown by his articles in the ' l Tribune, ' ' had been caught 

 by the people of the State. 



The long discussions were very irksome to him, and one 

 day I mildly expostulated with him on account of some 

 of his utterances against the much speaking of his col- 

 leagues, and said: " After all, Mr. Greeley, is n't it a pretty 

 good thing to have a lot of the best men in the State come 

 together every twenty years and thoroughly discuss the 

 whole constitution, to see what improvements can be 

 made ; and is not the familiarity with the constitution and 

 interest in it thus aroused among the people at large worth 

 all the fatigue arising from long speeches?" "Well, per- 

 haps so," he said, but he immediately began to grumble 

 and finally to storm in a comical way against some of his 

 colleagues who, it must be confessed, were tiresome. Still 

 he became interested more and more in the work, and as 

 the new constitution emerged from the committees and 

 public debates, he evidently saw that it was a great gain 

 to the State, and now did his best through the "Tribune" 

 to undo what he had been doing. He wrote editorials 

 praising the work of the convention and urging that it be 

 adopted. But all in vain : the unfavorable impression had 

 been too widely and deeply made, and the result was that 



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