you mean to lay,
Then, damn it, I'll take mine away."

I do not know that I can give a fair and impartial estimate
of Roscoe Conkling. I never had any personal difficulty
with him. On the other hand, he was good enough to say of
a speech which I made in the Presidential campaign of 1872,
that it was the best speech made in the country that year.
But I never had much personal intercourse with him, and formed
an exceedingly unfavorable opinion of him. He was an able
man, though not superior in ability to some of his associates.
I do not think he was the equal in debate of Mr. Blaine,
or of Carl Schurz, or, on financial questions with which the
latter was familiar, of John Sherman. But he was undoubtedly
a strong man. His speech nominating Grant at the National
Convention of 1880 was one of very great power. But he was
unfit to be the leader of a great party, and was sure, if
he were trusted with power, to bring it to destruction. He
was possessed of an inordinate vanity. He was unrelenting
in his enmities, and at any time was willing to sacrifice
to them his party and the interests of the country. He used
to get angry with men simply because they voted against him
on questions in which he took an interest. Once he would
not speak to Justin S. Morrill, one of the wisest and kindliest
of men, for months, because of his anger at one of Morrill's
votes. I suppose he defeated the Republican Party in New
York when General John A. Dix was candidate for Governor.
That opinion, however, depends chiefly on common rumor. Governor
Boutwell, in this "Recollections," says that Mr. Conkling
contributed secretly to the defeat of Mr. Blaine, although
he had been willing to support Blaine four years before.
He was one of the men whose counsel wrought grievous injury
to Grant, and persuaded him to permit the foolish attempt
to nominate him for a third term. The deserved respect which
the American people had for Grant, and his great influence,
would not induce them to bring Conkling and the men who were
his associates again into power. I can hardly think of a
man of high character in the Republican Party, except Grant,
who retained Conkling's friendship. His resignation of the
office of Senator showed how utterly lacking he was in sound
political wisdom, or in lofty political morality. That a
Senator of the United States should vacate his own office
because he could not control Executive patronage was a proceeding