Plumb, William Pitt Kellogg, and Blanche K. Bruce. Of the men soon to
enter the Senate were Benjamin H. Harrison of Indiana, Eugene Hale and
William P. Frye of Maine, William J. Sewall of New Jersey, Omar D.
Conger of Michigan, Dwight M. Sabin of Minnesota, and Philetus Sawyer
of Wisconsin. General Garfield, who already held his commission as
senator-elect, led the Ohio delegation, with Governor Foster and
Ex-Governor Dennison among his colleagues. Five of General Grant's
Cabinet Ministers were on the roll of the Convention,--Mr. Boutwell
of Massachusetts, Mr. Creswell of Maryland, Mr. George H. Williams of
Oregon, Mr. Edwards Pierrepont of New York, and Mr. Cameron (already
named with the senators). Among other delegates of distinction were
Chester A. Arthur of New York, Henry C. Robinson of Connecticut,
Governor Martin of Kansas, General Beaver and Colonel Quay of
Pennsylvania, William Walter Phelps of New Jersey, William E. Chandler
of New Hampshire, Emory A. Storrs of Illinois, Governor Warmoth of
Louisiana, Governor Henderson and J. S. Clarkson of Iowa, President
Seelye and Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts. Probably no other
Convention since that which nominated Mr. Clay in 1844 has contained
a larger number of eminent public men.

The two men who from the first especially attracted observation were
Mr. Conkling and General Garfield. By intellectual force, by ardent
zeal and earnest advocacy, and by common recognition, Mr. Conkling was
the master spirit and became the acknowledged leader of those who
desired the nomination of General Grant. General Garfield bore little
part in the management, and was not there to represent the main body
of those who opposed General Grant's candidacy. But the anti-Grant
delegates, though divided as to candidates, naturally made common
cause, and in the parliamentary contests of the Convention the
personal and intellectual ascendency of General Garfield made him,
though in a less active and aggressive sense, the recognized leader of
the opposition. Around the two chiefs clustered the loyalty and the
expectations which are always associated with leadership, and the
appearance of each, day by day towering above his fellows, was the
signal for an outburst of applause from friends and followers.

The preliminary meeting of the National Committee portended serious
trouble. The organization was adverse to the sentiment of the
majority, and there was some fear that in the heat