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England, Republican or Democratic, that spoke kindly of Zach.
Chandler for many years. He was disliked by the Democratic
press for his unyielding Republicanism. He was disliked by
the Republican press that supported Charles Sumner, for his
opposition to him. He was represented as a coarse, ignorant
and unscrupulous man. In the campaign of 1880 I sent him
a telegram, asking him to visit me in Massachusetts and make
a few speeches in our campaign. I added: "You will be received
with unbounded respect and honor." The telegram was an astonishment
and revelation to the old man. He had no idea that the people
of New England had that opinion of him. Governor Baldwin
told me that he happened to be passing Chandler's house just
as he received my message. Chandler knocked on the window
for the Governor to come in. He had the telegram in his hand
when the Governor entered, and exclaimed: "Look at that; read
that; and I did not graduate at Harvard College either." His
colleague, Senator Ferry, alludes to his gratification at the
receipt of this message, in his obituary delivered in the Senate.
He spoke in Worcester and Boston and Lowell, and in one or
two other places. His passage through the State was a triumphal
march. He was received as I had predicted. In Worcester
we had no hall large enough to hold the crowds that thronged
to see him, and were compelled to have the meeting in the
skating-rink. Chandler went back to Michigan full of satisfaction
with his reception. I think he would have been among the
most formidable candidates for the Presidency at the next
election, but for his sudden death. If he had been nominated,
he would undoubtedly have been elected. But, a short time
after, he was one morning found dead in his bed at Chicago.
In his death a great and salutary force was subtracted from
the public life of the country, and especially from the public
life of the great State to whose history he had contributed
so large and noble a part.

I have found among some old notes a few sentences with which
I presented him to a mighty audience in my own city:

"Worcester is here in person to-night to give a welcome from
the heart of Massachusetts to the Senator of Michigan. If
our guest had nothing of his own to recommend him, it would
be enough to stir the blood of Massachusetts that he represents
that honored State, another New England in her interests and
in her opinions. With her vast forests, her peop