men who happened to differ with
him on governmental policies. His life did not run back into the
quarrels between Greeley and Thurlow Weed, and he had no disposition
to be tangled up with them; but when he discovered that Greeley had
little use for him, he easily formed friendships among men who had
little use for Greeley. It was noticeable that Conkling did not
criticise Raymond's erratic run after Andrew Johnson. He heard
Shellabarger's stinging reply, he listened to the editor's hopeless
appeal for support, and he voted against the resolution of confidence
in the President, but he added nothing to Raymond's humiliation.
Perhaps this accounted for the latter's appreciation of the young
Senator. At all events, the _Times_ complimented while the _Tribune_
remained silent. It was evident the great Republican organ did not
intend advertising the ability of the strenuous, self-asserting
Senator, who was rapidly becoming a leader.

The existence of this jealousy quickly betrayed itself to Conkling's
admirers at the State convention. On the surface men were calm and
responsive. But in forming the committee on permanent organisation
Fenton's supporters, who easily controlled the convention, secretly
arranged to make Lyman Tremaine chairman. When this plan came to the
ears of the Conkling men, one of them, with the shrewdness of a
genuine politician, surprised the schemers by moving to instruct the
committee to report the Senator for permanent president. This made it
necessary to accept or squarely to reject him, and wishing to avoid
open opposition, the Governor's managers allowed the convention to
acquiesce in the motion amid the vociferous cheers of the Senator's
friends.

Conkling's speech on this occasion was one of interest. He outlined a
policy for which, he contended, his party in the Empire State ought to
stand. This was a new departure in New York. Heretofore, its chosen
representatives, keeping silent until a way had been mapped out in
Washington or elsewhere, preferred to follow. Conkling preferred to
lead. There was probably not a Republican in the State capable of
forming an opinion who did not know that from the moment Conkling
became a senator the division of the party into two stout factions was
merely a question of time. That time had not yet come, but even then
it was evident to the eye of a close observer that the action of the
Radicals, led by Fenton, turned in a measure upon their distrust of
Conkling