ngress and
served many terms. He enjoyed the peculiar distinction of being
a member of Congress from Ohio, Senator-elect from Ohio, and
President-elect of the United States, all at the same time.

I attended the National Republican Convention of 1880, in which
Grant and Blaine were the leading candidates. I was at the time
Governor of Illinois and a candidate for re-election myself;
consequently I could not take any active part in the contest between
Blaine and Grant, but of course, naturally, my sympathies were with
General Grant.

I was not a delegate to the National Convention, but I attended
it, and it so happened that I occupied a room directly opposite
that occupied by General Garfield.

One evening, leaving my room, I met General Garfield just as he
was leaving his, and we dropped into general conversation and walked
along together.

I have always been considered a pretty fair judge of a political
situation in State and National conventions, and it struck me as
soon as Garfield had completed one of the most eloquent of all his
eloquent addresses, placing in nomination Mr. Sherman, that he was
the logical candidate before that convention.

To digress for a moment, it is a peculiar coincidence that McKinley
made his great reputation, in part, by nominating Mr. Sherman as
a candidate for the Presidency in the Minneapolis convention of
1892. Like General Garfield in 1880, Mr. McKinley was perfectly
willing to receive the nomination himself, although he was then,
as Garfield was in 1880, the leader of the Sherman forces.

But to return. General Garfield and I walked down the hall together,
and being very intimate friends, I used to call him by his first
name, as he did me. I said: "James, if you will keep a level
head, you will be nominated for the Presidency by this convention
before it is over." This was a couple of days before he was actually
nominated.

He replied: "No, I think not."

But as we walked along together discussing the matter, I contended
that I was right.

At the end of that memorable struggle between Grant and Blaine, in
which the great Republican party refused to accept General Grant,
the foremost Republican and soldier of his time, Garfield was
nominated.

I remember vividly the form and features of Garfield in that
convention. I see him placing Sherman in nomination, probably not
realizing at the time that he was nominating himself. I see him
taking an active part in all