litzer, New York _World_; William Purcell,
Rochester _Union-Advertiser_; Henry A. Reeves, Greenport _Republican
Watchman_; E. Prentiss Bailey, Utica _Observer_. Although previously
of Democratic tendencies, the New York _Herald_, by 1865, had become
wholly independent.]

Manning took charge of the interests of Robinson, who did not attend
the convention, receiving Kelly's tactful and spirited assault with
fine courage. The Governor's enemies were more specific than
Cornell's. They predicted that Robinson's renomination would lose
twenty thousand votes in New York City alone, and an ingenious and
extensively circulated table showed that the counties represented by
his delegates had recently exhibited a Democratic loss of thirty
thousand and an increased Republican vote of forty thousand, while
localities opposed to him revealed encouraging gains. Mindful of the
havoc wrought in 1874 by connecting Church with the canal ring, Kelly
also sought to crush Robinson by charging that corporate rings,
notably the New York Mutual Life Insurance Company, had controlled his
administration, and that although he had resigned from the Erie
directorate at the time of his election, he still received large fees
through his son who acted as attorney for the road. Moreover, Kelly
intimated, with a dark frown, that he had another stone in his sling.
This onslaught, made upon every country delegate in town, seemed to
confuse if not to shake the Tilden men, whose interest centred in
success as well as in Robinson. The hesitation of the Kings County
delegation, under the leadership of Hugh McLaughlin, to declare
promptly for the Governor, and the toying of Senator Kernan with the
name of Church while talking in the interest of harmony, indicated
irresolution. Even David B. Hill and Edward K. Apgar, who desired to
shape affairs for a pledged delegation to the next national
convention, evidenced weariness.

Manning steadied the line. In proclaiming Robinson's nomination on the
first ballot he anticipated every movement of the enemy. He knew that
Henry W. Slocum's candidacy did not appeal to McLaughlin; that Chief
Justice Church's consent rested upon an impossible condition; and that
Kelly's threatened bolt, however disastrously it might end in
November, would strengthen Robinson in the convention. Nevertheless,
unusual concessions showed a desire to proceed on lines of harmony.
Tammany's delegation was seated with the consent of Irving Hall; Jo