and
unrelenting. For his friends he could not do too much. From his enemies
he would ask no quarter and would give none. More than one man of
national reputation has been made to feel his power, and suffer the
consequences resulting from his ill-will and displeasure. But for the
unfriendliness of Mr. Conkling, Mr. Blaine no doubt would have attained
the acme of his ambition in reaching the Presidency of the United
States. It was Mr. Blaine's misfortune to have made an enemy of the one
man who, by a stroke of destiny, was so situated as to make it possible
for him to prevent the realization of Mr. Blaine's life ambition. It was
due more to Mr. Conkling than to any other one man that Mr. Blaine was
defeated for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1876,--the year
in which he could have been elected had he been nominated.

Mr. Conkling was too much of a party man to support the Democratic
ticket under any circumstances, hence, in 1884, when Mr. Blaine was at
length nominated for the Presidency, Mr. Conkling gave the ticket the
benefit of his silence. That silence proved to be fatal. In consequence
of Mr. Conkling's silence and apparent indifference in 1884, Mr. Blaine
lost New York, the pivotal State, and was defeated by Mr. Cleveland for
the Presidency. The falling off in the Republican vote in Mr. Conkling's
home county alone caused the loss of the State and of the Presidency of
the United States to the Republican party.

The quarrel between Blaine and Conkling originated when both of them
were members of the House of Representatives. In a controversy that took
place between them on the floor of the House Mr. Blaine referred to Mr.
Conkling as the member from New York with the "turkey gobbler strut."
That remark made the two men enemies for life. That remark wounded Mr.
Conkling's pride; and he could never be induced to forgive the one who
had so hurt him.

As a United States Senator Conkling was both felt and feared. No Senator
ever desired to get into a controversy with him, because he was not only
a speaker of great power and eloquence, but as a debater he was cutting
and scathing in his irony. Senator Lamar, of Mississippi, who as an
eloquent orator compared favorably with the best on both sides of the
Chamber, had the misfortune to get into a controversy on one occasion
with the distinguished New York Senator. In repelling an accusation that
the Senator from Mississippi had made against him, Mr. Conkling said