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administration, it will be remembered that its candidates were
subsequently endorsed by the Democratic party at its convention in
Baltimore, and that the fusion of such hitherto discordant political
elements added exceptional interest to the subsequent campaign. The
venerable Thomas Jefferson Randolph, grandson of the author of the
Declaration of Independence, although he had reached the advanced age of
eighty years, was chosen as the temporary chairman of the Baltimore
Convention. The proceedings of the Cincinnati delegates were replete
with interest and the enthusiasm was intense. During the uproarious
demonstration in the convention hall, immediately following Greeley's
nomination, Mr. Gouverneur's friend, John Cochrane of New York, of whom
I have spoken elsewhere, in the excitement of the moment gave expression
to his delight in an Indian war dance, and other usual scenes of boyish
hilarity prevailed.

My husband's paper had been the first of the Maryland press, and long
before the Convention, to place the name of Greeley at the head of its
columns, but others followed, and for a time the movement, both in that
State and elsewhere, appeared to gain strength and to assume formidable
proportions. Subsequent events, however, proved that it would have been
better if the newborn babe had been strangled at its birth, as it was
destined to enjoy but a brief and precarious existence. Although the
movement commanded the support of the united Democracy and enlisted the
active sympathies of able men from the Republican ranks--such as Carl
Schurz, Whitelaw Reid, Charles A. Dana, Charles Francis Adams, Lyman
Trumbull, David Davis, Andrew G. Curtin and many more--the voice of the
people pronounced for Grant, and in the latter part of the same month
that witnessed his defeat, poor Greeley died of a broken heart!

Greeley's defeat was a severe blow to Mr. Gouverneur. As the member from
Maryland of the national committee of the Liberal Republican Party, he
had engaged in the contest with his characteristic ardor, and his
strenuous but unsuccessful efforts had made inroads upon his health that
he could but ill afford. Under the circumstances, a change of scene and
employment seemed highly expedient, and we accordingly decided to break
up our attractive home in Frederick and return to Washington, where so
much of Mr. Gouverneur's life had been spent and where I, too, had so
many pleasant associations. It was in the summer of 1873