his Cabinet career. Those who did not question Sherman's sincerity doubted his stability on the ground that he 11 had frequently changed his views, apparently to conform 3.4 13 Senator Edmunds the fourth candidate was supported by the reform element, a group of independents consisting mainly of easterners. Many Republicans, who felt that it would be unwise to nominate either Grant or Blaine, since the result would probably be a split in the party looked to Edmunds, who was able, had had a long career in public service, and would make a good compromise candidate. As the Republican convention drew near the rivalry between the several candidates grew intense, and extremely personal. This fact, with its grave possibilities was widely recognized. Garfield, in a letter dated April 4, 1880, said, "It is 11. Alexander D. Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance, (New York, 1898), pp. 69-70. 12. Thomas Collier Platt, Autobiography, (New York, 1910), p. 111. 13. Sherman, Recollections, II, pp. 768-769. 14. Paxson, New Nation, p. 99. becoming every day more and more apparent that the friends of the leading Presidential candidates are becoming embittered against each other to such an extent that whichever of the three may be nominated there would be much hostility of feeling in the conduct of the campaign. It will be most unfortunate if we go into the contest handicapped by the animosities of the leading politicians" Grant in a letter written in May said, "The campaign east of the mountains has been unprecedented. The democratic party need not bother their heads for matter to fill up their campaign documents. All they need to do will be to republish what the republican papers have said 16 about the candidates whose nomination they opposed." 15 The "Nation" in May contained the following: "The extraordinary and indeed unprecedented vigor and bitterness of the conflict between the friends of the various Republican Presidential candidates before the meeting of the Convention promises to make the "wheeling into line" of those newspapers which have opposed the man who gets 17 the nomination a performance of great difficulty." It appears that Blaine and Sherman felt they were not making war on General Grant, but rather upon those who 15. Philadelphia Globe Democrat, July 16, 1880. Scribner's, L (1911), p. 477. 17. Nation, May 13, 1880, p. 357. they thought sought to use his fame for their own purpose. The leaders of the Grant forces decided to hold the Pennsylvania and New York State Conventions early in order to forestall the working of popular reflection on the Grant boom, and also to secure for the remaining state conventions the influence of the united Grant delegations, which they hoped to secure in their own states. In order to further their cause it was decided to have the state conventions instruct their delegations to vote as a unit for Grant, thus securing for him the total vote of all states a majority of whose delegates favored his nomination. In the Pennsylvania Republican Convention, which met February 4, 1880, the Grant forces encountered an unexpectedly bitter opposition on the part of the minority, who were nearly all Blaine men. Senator Cameron the Grant leader, however, by a vote of 133 to 113 succeeded in obtaining instructions for unit voting by the state 18 delegation at Chicago. In the New York Convention, held February 25, 1880, instead of a unanimous Grant vote, he had but a majority of thirty-seven, the resolution instructing the delegates to vote as a unit for Grant being passed by a vote of 217 to 180. 19 18. New York Herald, February 5, 1880. |