chosen temporary President by
acclamation and unanimously. As proceedings went on it was
thought best not to have any division or question as to a
permanent Chairman and it was at the proper time ordered,
also without objection, that I should act as permanent President.

But the Grant leaders were still confident. They felt sure
that none of their original votes, numbering three hundred
and more, would desert them, and that it would be impossible
for the rest of the convention, divided among so many candidates,
to agree, and that they would in the end get a majority.

I was myself exceedingly anxious on this subject. I also
felt that if the followers of Grant could get any pretext for
getting an advantage by any claim, however doubtful, that
they would avail themselves of it, even at the risk of breaking
up the convention in disorder, rather than be baffled in
their object. So the time to me was one of great and distressing
responsibility. The forces of Grant were led on the floor
of the convention by Roscoe Conkling, who nominated him in
a speech of great power and eloquence. The forces of Blaine
were led, as they had been in 1876, very skilfuly by Senators
Hale and Frye. Garfield was the leader of the supporters
of Mr. Sherman. One of the greatest oratoric triumphs I ever
witnessed was obtained by Garfield. There had been a storm
of applause, lasting, I think, twenty-five minutes, at the
close of Conkling's nominating speech. It was said there
were fifteen thousand persons in the galleries, which came
down very near the level of the floor. The scene was of indescribable
sublimity. The fate of the country, certainly the fate of
a great political party, was at stake, and, more than that,
the selection of the ruler of a nation of fifty millions of
people--a question which in other countries could not have
been determined, under like circumstances, without bloodshed
or civil war. I do not think I shall be charged with exaggeration
when I speak of it in this way. I can only compare it in
its grandeur and impressiveness to the mighty torrent of Niagara.
Perhaps I cannot give a satisfactory reason for so distinguishing
it from other like assemblies that have gathered in this country.
But I have since seen a great number of persons from all parts
of the country who were present as members or spectators,
and they all speak of it in the same way. A vast portion
of the persons present in the hall sympathized