THE GREELEY CAMPAIGN- 1872 171 



had also incurred the displeasure of very many leaders 

 of his own party, and of some of its most powerful presses, 

 yet he advanced steadily from high position to high posi- 

 tion, and won a lasting and most honorable place in the 

 history of his country. 



The same may be said of Senator Conkling. The at- 

 tacks on him in the press were bitter and almost universal ; 

 yet the only visible result was that he was reflected to the 

 national Senate by an increased majority. To the catas- 

 trophe which some years later ended his political career, 

 the onslaught by the newspapers contributed nothing; it 

 resulted directly from the defects of his own great quali- 

 ties and not at all from attacks made upon him from 

 outside. 



Almost from the first moment of my acquaintance with 

 Mr. Conkling, I had endeavored to interest him in the re- 

 form of the civil service, and at least, if this was not 

 possible, to prevent his actively opposing it. In this sense 

 I wrote him various letters. For a time they seemed suc- 

 cessful ; but at last, under these attacks, he broke all bounds 

 and became the bitter opponent of the movement. In his 

 powerful manner and sonorous voice he from time to time 

 expressed his contempt for it. The most striking of his 

 utterances on the subject was in one of the State conven- 

 tions, which, being given in his deep, sonorous tones, ran 

 much as follows : " When Doctor-r-r Ja-a-awnson said that 

 patr-r-riotism-m was the 1-a-w-s-t r-r-refuge of a scoun- 

 dr-r-rel, he ignor-r-red the enor-r-rmous possibilities of 

 the word r-ref a-awr-r-rm ! " 



The following spring (June 5, 1872) I attended the 

 Eepublican National Convention at Philadelphia as a sub- 

 stitute delegate. It was very interesting and, unlike the 

 enormous assemblages since of twelve or fifteen thousand 

 people at Chicago and elsewhere, was a really deliberative 

 body. As it was held in the Academy of Music, there was 

 room for a sufficient audience, while there was not room 

 for a vast mob overpowering completely the members of 

 the convention and preventing any real discussion at some 



