Among the delegates were Conkling, Garfield, Harrison, Logan, and many other conspicuous and able leaders of the opposing factions. Blaine’s people, with the aid of the field, weakened Grant’s lines by preventing the unit rule in any delegation, whereby Grant lost a considerable number of votes in New York, Pennsylvania, and other States. That was a test of the distinctive Grant strength in the body. Conkling opened the nominations by presenting the name of Grant, and he did it in imperial grandeur and with a degree of eloquence that was most impressive. Next to the speech of Ingersoll, who nominated Blaine in 1876, Conkling’s appeal for the nomination of Grant will stand as the ablest of all the many able deliverances in the history of American politics. I sat quite close to him on the platform when he delivered it, and he was a most interesting study. Had he been as discreet as he was eloquent, it would have been a perfect exhibition of impressive oratory; but Conkling was inspired not only by his love of Grant, but more influenced than he confessed to himself by an intense hatred of Blaine, that he cherished until his death. [Illustration: JAMES A. GARFIELD] He mortally offended every friend of Blaine, and thereby made it impossible even to win the hesitating men in the Blaine ranks by his keen and pungent fling at the delegates who disregarded their instructions to vote as a unit for Grant, and by his aggressive assault upon Blaine when he referred to Grant as a candidate “without patronage, without emissaries, without committees, without bureaus, without telegraph wires running from his house to this convention or running from his house anywhere.” Unlike the Ingersoll speech nominating Blaine in 1876, the speech of Conkling, able, eloquent, and grand as it was, left Grant weaker, instead of stronger. Very general interest centred in General Garfield, who was at the head of the Ohio delegation, that was instructed for Senator Sherman for President. Garfield knew the situation; he knew that a third candidate must eventually be accepted, and he illy concealed his efforts to advance himself, while ostensibly struggling for Sherman. His speech nominating Sherman was a plea for peace rather than an aggressive presentation of Sherman’s claims, and it was well understood that his plea for peace was, in fact, a plea for himself. At various stages of the balloting tidal waves of enthusiasm would start for Garfield, and he narrowly escaped a spontaneous nomination. He was personally very popular, of imposing presence, a most accomplished speaker, and he was finally accepted by the friends of Blaine because he was not the partisan of either Blaine or Grant, and also because they could certainly win with him, and thus defeat Grant.