════════════════════════════════╤══════╤═══════╤══════╤═══════╤═══════ │First.│Second.│Third.│Fourth.│Fifth. ────────────────────────────────┼──────┼───────┼──────┼───────┼─────── Benjamin F. Wade, of Ohio │ 147 │ 170 │ 178 │ 206 │ 38 Reuben E. Fenton, of New York │ 126 │ 144 │ 139 │ 144 │ 69 Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts │ 119 │ 114 │ 101 │ 87 │ ―― Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana │ 115 │ 145 │ 165 │ 186 │ 541 Andrew G. Curtin, of Penn. │ 51 │ 45 │ 40 │ ―― │ ―― Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine │ 28 │ 30 │ 25 │ 25 │ ―― James Speed, of Kentucky │ 22 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― James Harlan, of Iowa │ 16 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― John A. J. Creswell, of Maryland│ 14 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Samuel C. Pomeroy, of Kansas │ 6 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― William D. Kelley, of Penn. │ 4 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ════════════════════════════════╧══════╧═══════╧══════╧═══════╧═══════ The swift mutations in American politics were strangely illustrated in the nomination for Vice-President at that convention. Senator Benjamin F. Wade, of Ohio, who was about closing a term of eighteen years in the service of the Senate, who was then President _pro tem._ of that body, and who was expected to reach the Presidency for a period of eight months by the impeachment and dismissal of President Johnson, was the prominent candidate for Vice-President before the meeting of the convention. It was generally believed that Johnson would be successfully impeached; that Wade would become President for the remainder of the term, with illimitable patronage, and that his nomination for the Vice-Presidency was apparently assured. But when many delegates were on their way to Chicago on Saturday, the 16th, the trained lightning sped the message westward that Johnson had been acquitted by a single vote in the Senate, and that ended Wade’s candidacy. He had many friends independent of the prospective power that had made him formidable, and they made a stubborn battle for him, but though he was highest of all on the 1st ballot, on the 5th and final vote he had but 38 votes to 541 for Schuyler Colfax and 69 for Senator Fenton, of New York. Thus two crushing disasters had befallen Wade in a single week. He had the Presidency apparently within his grasp—and this would have carried the Vice-Presidency for another term—but he was smitten in both efforts, and these crowning disasters closely followed his defeat for re-election to the Senate. He was the sturdy, bluff, uncompromising patriot of the Senate during the war, and after these three disasters came upon him in quick succession, the old man groped his way along for a few years in solitude and then slept the dreamless sleep of the dead.