say whether they submitted to the instructions. Woodin and Curtis
voluntarily surrendered. Thus the Grant forces accomplished by
indirection what prudence deterred them from doing boldly and with a
strong hand.[1675]

[Footnote 1674: The vote on the resolution endorsing Grant, stood 216
to 183.]

[Footnote 1675: Roscoe Conkling, Alonzo B. Cornell, Chester A. Arthur,
and James D. Warren, were selected as delegates-at-large.]

What the managers gained by indirection, however, they lost in
prestige. If the Harrisburg convention punctured the assumption that
the people demanded Grant's nomination, the Utica assembly destroyed
it, since the majority of thirty-three indicated an entire absence of
spontaneity. Moreover, the convention had scarcely adjourned before
its work became a target. George William Curtis declared the
assertion "audacious" and "ridiculous" that a district delegate was an
agent of the State convention, claiming that when the latter
relinquished the right to select it abandoned the right to instruct.
Furthermore, the National Convention, the highest tribunal of the
party, had decided, he said, that State instructions did not bind
district delegates.[1676] The _Tribune_, voicing the sentiment of the
major part of the Republican press, thought the convention had clearly
exceeded its power. "It was the right of the majority to instruct the
delegates-at-large," it said, "but it had no right to compel district
delegates to vote against their consciences and the known wishes of
their constituents." This led to the more important question whether
delegates, pledged without authority, ought to observe such
instructions. "No man chosen to represent a Blaine district can vote
for Grant and plead the convention's resolution in justification of
his course," continued the _Tribune_, which closed with serving notice
upon delegates to correct their error as speedily as possible, "since
a delegate who disobeys the instructions of his constituents will find
himself instantly retired from public life."[1677]

[Footnote 1676: _Harper's Weekly_, March 13, 20, April 3, 1880.]

[Footnote 1677: New York _Tribune_, February 26.]

As the campaign waxed warmer and the success of Grant seemed more
certain if Pennsylvania and New York voted under the unit rule, the
pressure to create a break in those States steadily increased. The
Stalwarts rested their case upon the regularity of the procedure and
the delegates' acceptance of