construction devised by Congress, he practically devoted his time.

Of the New York delegation Conkling was admittedly the ablest speaker,
although in a House which numbered among its members James A.
Garfield, Thaddeus Stevens, and James G. Blaine, he was not an
admitted star of the first magnitude. Blaine's serious oratorical
castigation, administered after a display of offensive manners, had
disarmed him except in resentment.[1113] The _Times_ spoke of him as
of "secondary rank,"[1114] and the _Tribune_, the great organ of the
party, had declined to put upon him the seal of its approval. Besides,
his vanity and arrogance, although not yet a fruitful subject of the
comic literature of the day, disparaged almost as much as his
brilliant rhetoric exalted him. Careful observers, however, had not
failed to measure Conkling's ability. From Paris, William Cullen
Bryant wrote his friends to make every effort to nominate him, and
Parke Godwin extended the same quality of support.[1115] His recent
campaign, too, had made men proud of him. Although disaffected
Republicans sought to drive him from public life, and the _Tribune_
had withheld its encouragement, he gained a great triumph.

[Footnote 1113: "As to the gentleman's cruel sarcasm," said Blaine, "I
hope he will not be too severe. The contempt of that large-minded
gentleman is so wilting, his haughty disdain, his grandiloquent swell,
his majestic, supereminent, overpowering, turkey-gobbler strut has
been so crushing to myself and all the members of this House, that I
know it was an act of the greatest temerity for me to venture upon a
controversy with him." Referring to a comparison which had been made
of Conkling to Henry Winter Davis, Blaine continued: "The gentleman
took it seriously, and it has given his strut additional pomposity.
The resemblance is great; it is striking. Hyperion to a Satyr,
Thersites to Hercules, mud to marble, dunghill to diamond, a singed
cat to a Bengal tiger, a whining puppy to a roaring lion."--_Congressional
Globe_, April 20, 1866, Vol. 37, Part 3, p. 2298.

"I do not think Conkling was the equal in debate with Blaine."--George
F. Hoar, _Autobiography_, Vol. 2, p. 55. "Conkling was the more
dignified and commanding, but Blaine more aggravating and personal.
When Blaine likened Conkling to a strutting turkey-gobbler, the House
slightly hissed. But on the whole that debate was regarded as a
draw."--William M. Stewart, _Reminiscences_, p. 206.