tions were made that the substitution of Mr.
Conkling for General Grant would give him the nomination, and there
was a moment when General Garfield apprehended such a result. There
was, however, never a time when it was possible. The 306 would never
have consented unless Grant's name were first withdrawn by his
authority. A firmer obstacle would have been Conkling's sturdy refusal
to allow the use of his name under any circumstances."--Boutwell,
_Reminiscences_, Vol. 2, p. 269.]

Conkling's presentation of Grant was largely relied upon to gain the
needed votes. Prior to 1876 little importance attached to such
speeches, but after the famous oration of Robert G. Ingersoll at
Cincinnati, which became influential almost to the point of success,
the solicitude exhibited in the selection of dominating speakers
constituted a new phase in convention politics and added immeasurably
to the popular interest. By common consent Conkling was named to
present the Stalwarts' choice, and in most of the qualities desirable
in such an address his was regarded the best of the day.

The lines of Private Miles O'Reilly,[1690] suggested to the Senator on
the evening before he spoke, caught the convention as quickly as did
Ingersoll's opening sentences in 1876, and all that followed, save his
sarcasm and flashes of scorn, held the closest attention. "His
unmatched eloquence," said Brandegee of Connecticut.[1691] This was the
judgment of an opponent. "It had the warmth of eulogy, the finish of
a poem, the force and fire of a philippic," said the _Inter-Ocean_.[1692]
This was the judgment of a friend. All the art of which he was master
found expression in every sentence, polished and balanced with
rhetorical skill, and delivered with the emphasis and inflection of a
great orator. One critic thought it a revelation to find a man who
could be eloquent with studied composure, who could be fervid without
wildness, and who could hold imagery and metaphor to the steady place
of relentless logic without detracting from their special and peculiar
character.

[Footnote 1690:

"When asked what State he hails from,
Our sole reply shall be,
He comes from Appomattox
And its famous apple-tree."]

[Footnote 1691: From his speech nominating Elihu B. Washburne.--Chicago
_Tribune_, June 7, 1880.]

[Footnote 1692: Chicago _Inter-Ocean_, June 7, 1880.]

Not content with reciting the achievements of his own candidate,
Conkling seriousl