coming forward, of whom Roscoe Conkling
was the recognized chief, imparted an energy and enthusiasm to the
canvass which proved irresistible. In Pennsylvania the contest was
waged with great energy by both parties. The result would determine
not merely the control of the local administration, not merely the
character of the delegation in Congress, but the future leadership of
the Republican party of the State. Simon Cameron sought a restoration
to his old position of power by a return to the Senate. During the
five years that had elapsed since he retired from the War Department
Mr. Cameron's supremacy had been challenged by the political _coterie_
that surrounded Governor Curtin. They boastfully proclaimed indeed
that the sceptre of power was in their hands and could not be wrenched
from them. But the reaction against them was strong and did not cease
until Cameron had driven his leading enemies to seek refuge in the
Democratic party.

In the West the hostility to the President and the support of the
policy of Congress were even more demonstrative than in the East. All
the prominent Republicans of Ohio were on the stump and the canvass
was extraordinarily heated, even for a State which has had an animated
contest every year since the repeal of the Missouri Compromise.
Governor Morton's candidacy for the Senate gave great earnestness to
the struggle in Indiana, while Senator Chandler not only rallied
Michigan to the necessity of giving an immense majority, but with his
tremendous vitality added nerve and zeal to every contest in the
North-western States. The whole result proved to be one of commanding
influence on the future course of public events. The Republicans
plainly saw that the triumph of President Johnson meant a triumph of
the Democratic party under an _alias_, that the first-fruits of such
a victory would be the re-establishment of the late Confederate States
in full political power inside the Union, and that in a little more
than five years from the firing upon Sumter, and a little more than
one year from the surrender of Lee, the same political combination
which had threatened the destruction of the Union would be recalled to
its control.

The importance, therefore, of the political struggle of 1866 cannot be
overestimated. It has, perhaps, been underestimated. If the contest
had ended in a victory for the Democrats the history of the subsequent
years would, in all probability, have been radica